Hataraku maou-sama ! Volume 9 Part 2

Hataraku Maou-Sama ! Vol 9 

Hata-Maou Vol 9 Translations

Vol 9 Part 2:

Haraku maou sama volume 9 part 2 :)

Hataraku Maou-Sama Vol 9 

Translation Vol 9

 Chapter 2: The Hero, Perplexed about her Hometown

“What are you planning?”
A set of items were sent to the room Emi was assigned to, she looked towards those things and asked in a stern voice.
“Do you not know after seeing them?”
The man pointed at the items on the table with a relaxed look on his face.
“Actually wanting me to fully equip myself, Olba, do you have a suicide wish?”
One of the six Archbishops of the Church who used to fight the Demon King Satan alongside Emi but was currently her enemy, Olba Meyers, what he bought over was at one look, a high grade double edged sword and a full set of armour providing full body protection.
In addition, the design of the armour did not belong to Afashan, where Emi was imprisoned right now, but Saint Aire of the Western Continent.
“Of course, I have a reason for doing so. From tomorrow, we wish to ask you to move to the Royal City, Azure Sky Canopy.”
Emi frowned.
“Do you want me to meet with the Unifying Azure Emperor? I heard that Afashan declared war against the world for the holy sword, are you aking me to hand the ‘Evolving Holy Sword, One Wing’ over to end the war?”
Emi had only seen the ruler of Afashan, the Unifying Azure Emperor, once in the past.
She remembered that the other party was an aged emperor such that it would not be strange for him to leave the world at any time.
Olba lightly supported his chin with his hand and answered Emi’s question with a smirk.
“Hm, I say that you are close to the mark.”
“Huh?”
“Anyway, Emilia, you should still remember that it is not a short distance from Fangan to Azure Sky Canopy. And we still cannot use the ‘gate’, this kind of specialized magic to move to that place in one go. If the young holy sword girl needs anything, then you should take the chance today to ask the maid to prepare it. We are setting off early tomorrow.”
After saying this, Olba turned his back towards Emi without any defenses and left the room.
Emi imagined the scene of her raising the sword and stabbing that back while in reality, quietly waiting for him to lock the room door.
“What exactly……is he planning?”
After calming down, Emi walked towards the armour and sword which Olba left behind.
“It’s just a normal armour and sword huh.”
Because she did not know what was done on them, Emi did not dare to touch them carelessly.
But even if she carefully scrutinized the details, she was unable to find anything especially strange, the armour and sword which look like they were given to commander grade personnel in Saint Aire were considered excellent even among high quality goods.
As one of the members of the knights, before Emi was able to learn how to use the ‘Evolving Holy Sword, One Wing’ and Evil Repelling Armour, there was a period of time when she uses similarly designed armour.
“The sword has been sharpened. And it does not look like a replica. What are his intentions?”
Considering the reason which Emi was bought here for, after getting these weapons, it would not be strange even if she singlehandedly made a ruckus at the military habour Fangan, it was impossible for Olba to not know about this.
Even though Emi hated her weak mental state with all her might, as it made her to be unable to do such a thing in reality, not only did Olba give Emi these things, he also wanted her to head towards the Royal City, Azure Sky Canopy by land.
This made her think back to the journey when she wen to fight the Demon King Satan.
At that time, Emi, Olba, Emerada and Alberto also landed at this military habour Fangan first as their starting point in Afashan.
During that period, the Eastern Continent was still under the control of Ashiya, a.k.a Alsiel, Emi remembered that the whole group was moving carefully and spent a week to reach the Royal City, Azure Sky Canopy.
Even though the first time they visited the Royal City, Azure Sky Canopy, because they had to head to the eastern side of the continent from Azure Sky Canopy, they were unable to immediately fight with Alsiel……
“Even though it’s so time consuming, why must he specially want the fully equipped me to move to Azure Sky Canopy?”
After Emi stared at the armour’s helmet for some time, she sighed deeply and slumped over the bed.
“If I knew things would turn out this way, when I first started on the journey, I should not have left the negotiation and tasks which needed brain power to Em and Olba, I should have used my head a little as well……”
Emi spoke to herself in a vexed manner and announced that she had given up.
Even though Emi was definitely not inept at mind or information battles, in political power or negotiation abilities, Em and Olba, specialists in these fields were one class above her.
Like this, Emi and Alberto naturally became responsible for taks requiring fighting power.
And the disadvantage of this arrangement had already shown itself in Japan.
Currently Emi could already clearly feel that compared to Maou, her own interpretation of things are too shallow.
“The Demon King is the boss, and the Hero is a contractor huh.”
The Hero thought back to a certain memory.
Before Suzuno had clearly become Emi’s comrade, Ashiya had used the employees of competing companies to explain Maou and Emi’s relationship to Rika.
“It feels like it’s something which happened a long time ago…….at that time Alas=Ramus wasn’t around too.”
Emi lay on the bed on her back and looked at the ceiling in an absent manner.
“I wan to go back to Japan……”
“Mama……?”
Alas=Ramus, in her merged state, initiated a conversation with her mother within her mind like she was concerned.
Emi smiled lightly----
“Don’t worry. I’m fine already.”
And said thus like she was reassuring her young ‘daughter’.
“Really?”
“Yeah. Because Alas=Ramus is with me.”
Emi answered vaguely, got up, and looked towards the flask placed next to the room’s entrance.
For unkown reasons, there were two water flasks.
Black particles were gathered at the bottom of one of the flasks.
These few days, Emi intentionally kept the water flask filled with the black particles and barely managed to maintain the hatred within her gradually weakening mental state.
“But because of something of just this standard……I have become unable to fight. Ignoring what intentions Olba has……am I really able to fight?”
The black deposit at the bottom of the water flask, awakened Emi’s memories of the day she returned to Ente Isla.

When she started to see the light at the other end of the rainbow coloured ‘gate’, Emi felt the power pulling her hand suddenly get stronger.
She was being pulled over.
It was not by the friend in front of her.
The world on the other side of the ‘gate’ was pulling her.
The next instant, the unique sound within the ‘gate’, like the spinning of various noises disappeared, and she felt a ring in her ears.
Strong wind blew around her body and Emi felt the restrictions of gravity on herself.
“Ugh……ehhhhhh?”
When her vision widened, Emi could not help but shout out loud.
Because her position was really too unexpected.
It felt as if her body was falling downward, attracted by gravity.
One second, two seconds, five seconds, ten seconds, twenty seconds……no matter how much time passed, Emi’s body was still falling under the attraction of gravity.
“W, why are we in the air……cough?”
Emi, who breathed in the thin air when shouting, could not help but choke a bit.
In addition, the air was thin. Emi, who had not calmed down, discovered a sea of clouds below her.
“Because I don’t know where we could be seen by someone~~!”
Emi’s friend, who guided Emi within the ‘gate’, said leisurely from the side.
“So I thought if it’s from such a high place~~we would probably not be discovered by anyone~~!”
“Even so! Isn’t this too high?”
It looks like the exit of the ‘gate’ was opened in the sky quite faraway from the ground.
Emi, who started falling at her own will, saw the star covered sky above the sea of clouds.
“Ah……”
Amongst the many stars, she noticed two especially bright stars, overlooking them from above.
The blue and red moons.
Two mysterious moons which did not exist in the skies of Earth.
In her whole life, this was the sky Emi was most familiar with.
“Emilia~~! We’re entering the cloud layer~~! Be careful of your eyes and ears~~!”
Even though the momentarily rush of feelings caused Emi to almost forget herself, she immediately came to her senses because of her friend’s warning and looked down towards the cloud layer.
“Fu!”
After adjusting her position in the air, Emi closed her eyes and rushed into the cloud layer headfirst.
The loud rush of the wind and clouds were heard next to her ears, but compared to when she passed through the ‘gate’, this only happened for an instant.
Emi’s body quickly pierced through the cloud layer and the sounds around her changed again.
After she opened her eyes, what she saw was----
“……Ente Isla……”
Filling the corner of Emi’s eyes were tears in order to moisten her dry eyes caused by the strong wind.
Even though she though this in her mind, what cannot be suppressed cannot be suppressed.
Ever since she started her journey as the Hero, the situations she had been dragged into, rather than remaining the same, they have developed into more complicated and chaotic problems.
This place right now was not a place Emi could live safely in.
Eve so, the wide expense of land in front of her----
“I……have returned……”
Was still the home in a faraway world which was missed that she even cried for it in her dreams.
“Emilia~~”
Her friend’s temperature wrapped around Emi’s hands which she subconsciously spread apart.
Emi’s comrade who guided her back to her home, her irreplaceable good friend----Emerada smiled at Emi.
“Welcome back~~”
“…………Yeah.”
Emi wiped away the tears she could no longer hide with her free hand.
“Ahaha~~looks like we have to find a place to take care of our clothes……”
Even if Emerada showed a dry smile, Emi and her clothes will not dry.
They were not just wet.
Both of them were covered in mud.
“……Sigh, luckily the luggage is fine……”
“I, I’m sorry~~! I never thought~~that there would be such a large swamp after we land……”
Emerada lowered her head and apologized repeatedly.
A huge energy reaction will be generated when a ‘gate’ is opened, the reason why she set the exit of the ‘gate’ to such an extremely high altitude was to lower the chances of it being detected by others.
Even though the opening and closing of the ‘gate’ was still mainly done by the ‘Angel Feather Pen’ which Emi’s mother Lailah left with Emerlada rather than Emerada’s spell, the fact that it will create a huge holy magic reaction did not change.
Even if the both of them started freefalling after the ‘gate’ closed, until they got close to the ground, Emerada did not allow Emi to use flying spells.
The reason why they chose to reach at night time was to decrease the chances of someone seeing them falling from faraway, the light emitted when using flying spells might cause suspicion amongst the garrisons and knights who were stationed in nearby towns.
Considering the political situation in Ente Isla right now, the both of them cannot leave any traces of the return of Emi, Hero Emilia or the lone actions of an important person of Saint Aire Empire, Emerada.
From falling until they got close to the ground, until executing their spells when they went along the earth surface, it was still considered smoothsailing.
But because free flying would use up large amouts of holy magic, the both of them only planned to land via gliding, the troublesome thing is that the forest they landed in had a swamp, and Emi and Emerada both landed at the edge of the swamp.
It was already too late when they discovered the swamp and frantically tried to start flying, the wind gliding pressure caused the mud of stick to the both of them, and in the end, Emi and Emerada could only shake off the strong smelling mud while standing quietly in the dark forest.
“……But this is good as well. Thinking of it in another way, after getting the smell of the forest, it might be harder to be attacked by beasts, and my bag is alright……look, Japan’s torches will not spoil because of something like this.”
Emi took the headlight out from the huge bag she prepared for her hometown trip and tried to light it.
“Sorry~~!”
Emerada, covered in mud, was still lowering her head and apologizing under the illumination of the white LED.
“It’s alright. Forget about me, are you alright like this Em? Those are official robes right?”
Emi, fixing the headlight to her forehead asked her friend.
“Uu……just take it as I fell down accidentally when I was inspecting the farmland……”
Even though this reason was a bit forced, there was no meaning to rebuke on this point.
“Then again, what is the rough location of this place?”
“Hm~~let me think……augh…..it’s sticky……”
Emerada look out a map from within the cape of her robes and let out a groan after discovering that it was covered in mud.
It was a magnified map detailing all the strongest national powers in the Western Continent at the same time, shows the eastern region of Emi and Emerada’s home country Holy Saint Aire Empire.
"Emilia’s hometown Sloan is here~~we should be in this forest right now~~”
After Emerada pointed towards a certain area on the map, she quickly moved her finger in a southwest direction on the paper.
“As long as we travel along the roads, we will meet a few large villages and towns.”
After explaining as her finger moved----
“I’m not sure if it’s considered lucky or unlucky~~but among these, none of them are at the same scale as they were before the war……”
Emerada lowered her volume slightly.
Before the war, in other words, refer to before the invasion of the Demon Army.
“Then……”
“That’s right~~even though the largest one around here, Cassius City~~was restored at a fast pace because it has a chapel directly affiliated with Church~~but the surrounding villages and towns~~are practically the same~~”
“Practically the same?”
Emi widened her eyes in surprise.
“How is that possible? I remember that this village has a horsecarriage guild and a military horse farm, so it was quite prosperous?”
Emi pointed towards a village close to Sloan.
Emerada shook her head in reply,
“We discovered something in one of our recent investigations~~”
“Yes.”
“Even though it’s difficult to say this to Emilia~~but after the nearby towns were invaded by the Western Invasion Army led by Lucifer~~they lost a lot of villagers~~”
“Don’t worry, I have already sorted out my feelings with regards to those things. Then?”
“Yes~~then~~during the time Alberto and I reunited with Emi! The chapel in Cassius City seems to have consecutively bought the ownership and development rights of the nearby lands~~”
“Since it’s bought by the chapel, then it means that the Church is orchestrating the restoration? Then again, is that even possible? The restoration should be the job of the country owning the land……which is Saint Aire right?”
The Church, with its headquarters at the westernmost point of the Western Continent had influence all around the world and not just the Western Continent, besides being the largest religion in Ente Isla that power was also expressed by its hundreds of millions of public believers.
Even if it was not strange for a high ranked inquisitor to have more authority than the royalty from a small country, since Saint Aire had enough national power to oppose the Church directly, naturally the Church cannot interfere one-sidedly.
At least within the country of Saint Aire, situations where the Church ignored the authority of the country and bought surrounding villages for restoration like with Cassius City should not occur……
“Their methods are ingenious~~”
According to Emerada’s explaination, other than most of the villages, owners of the land, dying during the invasion of Lucifer’s army, even the boundaries of the land have become unclear.
After the Demon King Satan and the Demon Army were driven out because of the final battle at the Central Continent, in order to kick start the restoration of these areas, Saint Aire naturally called for new immigrants from within the country.
So at the same time, they sent dealers who were able to transport all the materials for the restoration and knights responsible for commandeering the front lines to the scene.
“Because Cassius City has a chapel which is directly affliated with the diocesan bishop~~so in the beginning the Church took part in the restoration business through bidding~~after that they obtained the authority to completely oversee the restoration business around Cassius City.”
The Church restored Cassius City at a rapid pace, and under the reason of fixing the city walls, they expanded the size of the city area.
In addition, they sold the rights to move into the newly expanded Cassius City area to the nearby villagers at a cheap price.
To new immigrants, compared to villages in the countryside, moving to a large city with a chapel directly affiliated with the diocesan bishop meant brighter propsects in the future.
Then what happened after the restoration of various villages and the immigration rights?
In the end, it ‘turned out’ that everyone immigrating there was related to the Church.
The current situation is now like this, and in reality, the restoration had not progressed at all.
“W, wait a minute. What are the knights of Saint Aire doing? Whether it is Cassius City or the nearby villages, there should be people from the knight troops right? And even if the Church has the main authority for related businesses, the things they can do are still limited light Even if the authority is in their hands, this is still the soil of Saint Aire……”
“……It’s really shameful~~”
Emerada mumbled.
“This area~~is all under the jurisdiction of the garbage scum Pepin~~”
“Garbage sc……eh?”
A curse suddenly came from Emerada’s cute lips, causing Emi to get a huge shock.
“Ugh, the Pepin you’re talking about refers to General Pepin from the Saint Aire Imperal Knights?”
“There’s no need to call him General Pepin, just call him food waste Pepin~~”
“……What’s wrong, Em, do you dislike that person?”
Pepin Magnus, leading the Holy Saint Aire Empire Imperial Knights, is in reality at the top of the Saint Aire Knights in Saint Aire.
Emi had met him before when she saved the Saint Aire Emperor, but because she only had this degree of interaction, she could not even remember his name clearly.
But from Emerada’s tone of voice, her friend, who does not normally openly show her emotions, seemed to dislike that person a lot.
“During that time, why didn’t Lucifer just kill that sewer rat general~~”
“Eh, Em?”
“What is hateful is~~amongst those knight captains who were sent over for the restoration! The people chosen to be in charge of the nearby areas governed by the Church~~seems to be subordinates trained by that sewer Pepin rat~~”
“I, I see.”
“Looks like the monitoring of Cassius City by the Saint Aire Knights are filled with loophoes~~after that guy took bribes, not only did he approve of the plans according to the Church’s instructions~~even the immigration situation of the surrounding villages were tampered with~~that cesspit Pepin, to make things easier for the people at the Church~~is secretly skimming profits like a rat~~”
“O, oh……”
“The reason why the restoration plan did not follow the intial plan~~is definitely because that old stinky general is playing tricks in the backgound~~”
“How much do you dislike General Pepin!”
Since Emerada could say it so strongly, it was obvious that Pepin was not an honest and upright person, even so, Emi did pity the general who was bad-mouthed so badly, whose face she did not remember.
“But too bad, as expected of a thief general~~I can’t catch his fox tail at all! And I do not know the reason for intentionally delaying the restoration~~the reason I can leave the royal capital this time~~is in the name of ‘observing’ the delay of the restoration plan~~”
“……I see.”
“Then~~the biggest problem~~is that those rotten Pepin members~~might take action against the Sloan village which Emilia is heading to~~”
Emi sucked in her breath slightly.
“Sloan is still Emilia’s hometown after all~~a prudent restoration plan was drawn up~~so it was confirmed since the beginning that it would start later~~so even if Sloan village is restored later~~there is no way to judge where it is unnatural~~”
“Anyway that place could be monitored by General Pepin or someone connected to the Church right?”
“That’s right~~so you must be especially careful~~”
Emerada said she she folded the map,
“In addition~~this is the identification certificate for Emilia’s use~~”
Even though this thing was also stained with mud, but it looked like a wooden plaque with a brand burned on it.
“This is an identification certificate issued using my authority! But because it is issued by the Sorcery Management Institute~~it might give the members of the black hearted general a bad impression!”
“It’s going to get messier if this goes on, so please just call him Pepin even if you don’t like him.”
Emi gave a wry smile.
“I’m amazed how you can continuously say bad things about General Pepin. Won’t you accidentally let it slip in front of other people?”
“Those people call me a short broccoli behind my back anyway~~just treat it as an eye for an eye!”
It looks like the both of them were definitely incompatible since birth.
Or is it that the relationship between the Imperal Knights and the Socery Management Institute was bad in the first place?
“But that kind of person being able to run rampant like this. What happened with General Lumark?”
Emerada answered Emi’s question with an expression of ‘good question’ on her face,
“That’s right~~people will normally think this righ~~if General Lumark is in the country~~this kind of thing will not happen~~”
Emerada said with a sigh.
“General Lumark volunteered to be the representative of the Western Continent for the Five Continent Knight Alliance for the restoration of the Central Continent~~and ever since Afashan declared war on the whole world~~she has between travelling between the Central Continent and Saint Aire~~and has no time to handle internal affairs~~”
If Pepin Magus is the commander within the country, then Heather Lumark is the frontline commander.
Ever since she started her journey to fight Lucifer’s army, Emi had met Lumark a few times in the battle to recover the North Continent and the attack on the Demon Fortress in the Central Continent.
Even though the both of them were not close, Emi, who had fought together with Lumark a few times, remembered that she was a capable and honest general.
“But thinking about it in another way~~for a dense and foul mouthed person like Pepin~~he would be unable to conduct fierce and noble external negotiations like General Lumark~~such a dilemma~~”
As expected, Emerada had high praises for Lumark.
Anyway, Emi knew that once she acted separately from Emerada after this, it would be better to treat everyone around her as an enemy.
“Yeah, I have a rough grasp of the situation. If anything bad happens, I will use this identification certificate……anyway……”
“Is anything wrong~~”
“This ‘EMI YUSA’, its obvious that this is my fake name right?”
“I feel that this would be easier to understand~~”
If her fake name was different from her actual name, it would not be easy to fake it, but it feels that it is another problem when done to this extent.
Even though it was frequently forgotten, but ‘Yusa Emi’ was not her actual name.
“That…………yeah, sigh, forget it, thanks.”
Even so, once she remembered that she had named herself ‘Emi’ because her name is ‘Emilia’, she changed her thinking and felt she had no right to complain. Emi carefully placed the permit with the stamped seal belonging to the Socery Management Institute official, Imperal Soceress Emerada Etuva into her bag.
“Because I have already made preparations to camp out for one week, I would not get that close to the Cassus City market, as long as I find an old clothes seller outside the city walls, I would be able to handle things on my own. The identification certificate was really a backup.”
“I also feel that it is better that way~~and~~even though the money is not for buying clothes~~these are the travelling expenses I prepared for you……these are mostly Airenia coins~~as long as you use water to wash it a bit……”
After Emerada nodded once, she pulled out a leather pouch covered in mud in a guilty manner.
When Emi took it, she discovered that the bag was very heavy.
“……Thank you, I will definitely find a way to repay you later.”
“Eh~~? It’s fine~~this kind of thing is nothing!”
“This is a problem of feeling.”
Even though it was something she could not control, the thinking that she could not just accept money for free has already been burned into Emi’s values.
In addition, with Emi’s current job, for such heavy Airenian coins, regardless of whether they were changed into Japanese Yen or calculated using Ente Isla’s coin value, it was an amount which cannot be easily accepted.
With a renewed understanding of the importance and weight of money, Emi wiped off the mud on the leather pouch.
“But the business outside the wall can only be done in the day……to wish that there is a Jeans Mate 24 or a Don Quijote, it can be seen that I am really too deeply influenced by Japan.”
“What do those terms mean~~”
“Those are a clothes shop and general store which are open 24 hours in Japan.”
“Eh~~? Amazing!? Are there people normally buying clothes at night in Japan~~?
“I’ve never tried it before……but this kind of stores exists because there are people who would buy right?”
“Japanese are so hardworking~~actually having a store which will open the whole day~~I cannot imagine how it is operated~~basically just having people working at that time is already exaggerated enough~~”
Emi gave a wry smile and said,
“It can’t be done even if you wish to imitate it. It can only be like this in Japan.”
According to the common knowledge of Ente Isla, those people who will go out late at night were the knights on patrol and the drunkards and criminals arrested by the knights, no matter how safe the area was, unless it was someone confident in their own power like Emi, a female travelling alone was equivalent to suicide.
In most of the systems in Japan, 99% of people take pride in the fact that they were unwilling to commit crime, because Japan eas a country where its citizens naturally bear in mind not to cause chaos and live life above board, they were able to establish this situation.
“It’s more like that side is a miracle. Since I’m going to move around alone, I must be on my guard.”
Emi spoke to remind herself.
“No matter when~~the Hero and her company cannot relax~~”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Emerada seemed to have said similar words before, Emi sighed deeply after listening and said,
“The reflections end here. Em, thank you for bringing me over. Where should we meet when going back?”
“Talking about this~~I think……it should be better for Emilia to hold onto this~~?”
Emi looked at the thing Em handed over and showed a rather complex expression.
Angel’s Feather Pen. It was a treasure from Heaven which allowed anyone to open a ‘gate’.
And the feather used as the material, came from the wing of Emi’s mother Lailah.
“I don’t need it.”
Even if everything was covered in mud, only that item had a bright white glow, however Emi did not trouble over it for long and pushed that thing back to Emerada.
“Even if I do not plan to do so, I might still meet up with some strange obstacles. Even if the percentage is not even one in ten thousand, there is still a one in hundred million chance. I’ll leave it to Em and Albe for safekeeping. For that one in hundred million, the aces should be dispersed as much as possible.”
“……I understand~~”
After Emerada hesitated for a while, she still accepted Emi’s explanation and kept the feather within her robes.
“Don’t worry about the meeting point~~because I’m heading to Sloan village after this~~”
“Is it alright?”
Emi, who did not expect Emerada to coordinate with her to this extent, asked in return.
“Like this, Emilia’s investigation time can be increased as much as possible~~and the purpose of the inspection is to monitor the situation in this area~~it would be more natural and convenient this way~~”
“I will definitely find useful information for you!”
Emi could not raise her head because of Emerada’s perfect arrangements.
“Don’t force yourself too much~~I said that often right!? You must stay calm, collected and fight cooly~~”
Emerada advised the agitated Emi like this when they were journeying in the past, specially using the language of Ente Isla, she placed her finger in front of her lips, and gave a radiant smile to the young female Hero who was younger than her but travelled carrying the fate of the world.
Emi sucked in a breath because of the unmeasureable charisma behind that expression.
If it was a direct attack from the front, then Emi’s power greatly surpasses Emerada.
But Emerada, besides being the strongest soceress in the world, she was also an experienced politican, a warrior who can use unmeasureable resourcefulness to defeat strong powers, and obtain victory through intelligence.
Emi kept the warning from her senior who could stand on an equal battlefield as her in her mind.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“Of course! In addition, your body no longer belongs to you alone!”
Emerada stopped emitting the unmeasureable charisma which felt like an ice blade, smiled and pointed at Emi’s chest.
“……What do you mean by that.”
“What I said is true~~ne~~Alas=Ramus-chan~~”
“Sigh……Alas=Ramus.”
Emi sighed, stretched her hand in arm of her and summoned Alas=Ramus.
“Em-onee chan, what is it?”
“You’re really~~cuteeeee!”
“Eeuuuu?”
Emerada’s shout caused Alas=Ramus, solidifying in mid air, to curl up in fright.
“Hey, Em, don’t make her cry again okay?”
When Emerada went to Japan to fetch Emi, because she shouted excitedly from the too cute Alas=Ramus whom she was seeing for the first time, she made Alas=Ramus cry.
“Ahh~~I’m sorry~~Alas=Ramus-chan~~older sister is not scary at all~~turn your face in this direction~~?”
“Uuuu……”
Even if Emerada tried to coax Alas=Ramus in a nice tone, the girl was still wary.
“Alas=Ramus-chan, you have to watch Mama carefully~~don’t let her force herself too much okay~~?
“Foss?”
“And also~~you have to listen to Mama and be a good child okay~~?”
“Good child, Alas=Ramus is a good child!”
Alas=Ramus clenched her small soft hands, nodded and replied, causing Emerada’s control to disintegrate.
“Kyaaa! Too cuteeeeeee!”
“Eu, uwahhhh!”
“Em!”
It was rare of Alas=Ramus to listen seriously, but it was Emerada who could not resist and let out a strange sound, causing Alas=Ramus to cry.
“Sorry~~”
Emerada stuck out her tongue with an expression like she was reflecting, clenched her small fist and stretched her arm towards Emi.
Seeing this, Emi smiled while showing a serious expression, stretched out her arm and hooked onto Emerada’s hand.
“Don’t hold onto hope.”
“Move forward.”
“Only the pioneers can survive!”
During the invasion of the Demon Army in the past, this was the slogan the human forces created after their first victory against Lucifer.
Even if they defeated Lucifer’s army, the fear brought by the Demon Army in the Central, North, East and South Continents were still deeply ingrained in the human’s minds.
Even though the appearance of the Hero and the freeing of the Western Continent brought hope, the people in the frontlines definitely did not feel optimistic about the future because of this.
At one point, the human world had almost yielded to the power of the Demon Army.
The appearance of the Hero and the counterattack it brought could only be described as a miracle. Then when the miracle is still present, they will have to save the world.
If they had the leisure of holding onto hope, then they should change the world through battle and moving forward.
That was the first counterattack slogan the warriors in the Western Continent shouted in the battle with Demon King Satan.
Through their memories of that time, the minds and bodies of Emi and Emerada strongly felt the reality of placing themselves in battle.
“Then~~Emilia~~you have to return safely one week later!”
“Yeah, Em as well.”
“Em onee-chan left.”
“That’s right……now it would be a single person……wrong, a two person trip with Alas=Ramus and me.”
“Alas=Ramus, will be a good child!”
“Then please settle down a bit. You should return for a while first.”
Emi rubbed the mud of her hands and lightly touched Alas=Ramus’s head, cancelling her solid form.
“……Alright, anyway, let’s go to Cassius City market first. I need to find a way to get some clothes.”
Part of the reason was because she was covered in mud, but the clothes Emi were currently wearing were bought in Japan.
The clothes she wore when she drifted to Japan from Ente Isla were of course, the piece she wore below her armour.
Even though she could also ask Emerada to prepare it, her good friend needs to avoid acting unnaturally as much as possible, and she did not know what kind of actions General Pepin and the people against Emerada would do.
“I don’t understand those people who plan to harm others, which part do they find interesting?”
Emi sighed for an unknown time that day, and covered in mud, took the first step in the dark forest towards her hometown.

“Convenience store……I want a convenience store……”
The second day after returning to Ente Isla.
Emi immediately weakly surrendered.
She was currently in a town which developed as an inn at its center, one day’s walk away from the eastern side of Cassius City market.
As the carriages and travelling merchants will gather in this town, based on its scale, it can be considered a place filled with activity.
“Uum……euu……”
Alas=Ramus slept on the bed with a gloomy expression.
Even though she did not have a flu or something, it looks like she was not happy with the food here.
In order to hide the fact that she has a child with her, Emi basically ate inside the room of the inn, however the food which can be packed were mostly unsuitable for children to eat.
Emi felt surprised at the crudeness of the food in her hometown---Saint Aire and the Western Continent.
The food found here were basically, meat, meat, wine, then meat again, and only occasionally were vegetables seen. Even if Emi wanted to buy some prepared dishes, Emi could only find meat based dishes which would fill her stomach up quickly and taste very salty. In this place, everyone would eat this during the day to go with their wine.
Even though as long as she walked around the market, it’s not as if she could not find any vegetables or fruit at all, but the taste of all of them did not taste as fine as the ones in Japan, besides the fact that they have similar shape, they were totally different things.
Emi spent her first day at a cheap inn at a town near Cassius City market, and after trying her best to collect ingredients similar to Japan, she used the kitchen provided to the room guests to cook food for Alas=Ramus.
However, after seeing Alas=Ramus, who was not picky about food in Japan at all, actually frowning and spitting out carrot after just one mouthful, Emi realised once again how much she was used to the food and water in Japan.
Is the food from her hometown’s land really so bad? Emi picked up the ingredients one by one, falling into gloom.
In Japan, all their vegetables had a deep taste, bittersweet and mild, to the point that Emi could not understand why Japan’s children were so picky with their food.
Even though this was the result of the people related to agriculture continuously improving the quality because of they wish for the consumers to eat delicious food, regrettably, the vegetables around Western Continent Saint Aire were still very far away from this state.
Carrots where their fibre will leave a bitter soil taste on the teeth, tomatoes with tongue tingling sourness, small cucumbers which were so bitter that they might be more bitter than a bitter gourd, corn which were drier than frozen food. Even Emi, who had been eating these foods before going to Japan, would still hesitate subconsciously when she was chewing.
Even though it would be fine as long as just fruits were bought, these types of products were very expensive here.
Even though she received plenty of travelling allowance from Emerada, even if she just wanted to eat something which was at the level of Japanese supermarket canned food, it would cost one silver coin here.
The whole of Saint Aire has always been prevalent for brewing fruit wine, so high quality fruits were mostly bought by people related to the industry or the lords of the land.
Common citizens were only able to eat apples or oranges and similar fruits at most, and not only were they not that tasty (after all this is measured against Japanese standards), the price was a few times more expensive compared to vegetables.
In addition, forget about being able to buy white bread in Japan for 100 yen, there were no bakeries here at all, so even if Emi wanted to make sandwiches and manage somehow, she could not do anything.
On the contrary, things considered premium products in Japan, black bread, oat bread and rye bread, all this can be bought here, even if milk and sugar were added, all these breads, which did not go through fermentation, all had a hard texture and a strong sour taste, and were totally different from the bread which Alas=Ramus had eaten.
As a result, in order to let Alas=Ramus eat, Emi was forced to take out the instant food which she bought from Japan to use as a last resort, causing her to have to completely change her meal plan.
Even though she was able to easily settle the clothes shopping, done warily and including Alas=Ramus’s share, she did not expect for a blind spot to be hidden in the area of food.
On the second day after the both of them barely made it past the first day.
In the town which Emi and Alas=Ramus stayed in, they faced a new problem which they did not think of because of the overanxiousness they felt during the first day.
“That toilet……how can it be that dirty……”
Emi looked at Alas=Ramus’s frowning sleeping face, and frowned.
Anyway, the toilet was very dirty. Even though she knew there would not be advanced hygiene facilties like a flush toilet, the toilets she saw during their journey were abnormally dirty.
And it was not just dirty.
Even though they were so dirty, they were not free.
The inn guests need to pay when they use any of the toilets.
Beside every toilet, there is an eldery person known as a fee collector watching. Even though the normal fee is five bronze coins, the scary thing is these toilets where fees need to be paid to use were at the standard where it would be good as long as there was a door.
Of course, it was impossible for the place to always have toilet paper, and because they were not cleaned at all, there was a constant stink.
Forget about herself, Emi seriously did not want to bring Alas=Ramus to that kind of place to go to the toilet, and even though this would make her rather unhappy, Emi still decided to use the diapers which she brought here.
Even though Emi faced two huge setbacks in the beginning of the journey in food and toilets, the two irreplaceable things in a civilized society, she still spent a lot of effort today to prepare food, and was barely able to make Alas=Ramus eat all of her dinner.
Turning steam potatoes in mash, adding the pepper she brought for seasoning, and mixing it with hot water.
After that, she put in diced mushroom, onions and chicken, heating them up to form a soup, Emi was finally able to successfully make Alas=Ramus say ‘delicious’.
Considering the water bills, the fees for the firewood for fuel and using the kitchen, if it was just a journey with adults, Emi would definitely not cook this kind of thing, but this time, there was no choice.
“Convenience store……microwave……instant food…..vending machine……coffee shop……”
Emi, who was close to crying, swore in her mind that once she achieved her life’s goal someday in the future and returned to Ente Isla, she would definitely bring a microwave and fridge back.
It was certain her expression right now must have become haggard because of weakness.
Luckily, this cheap inn would not display premium products like a mirror which would show her face, so she would not feel depressed because she saw her face.
At this moment----
“Miss EMI, Miss EMI.”
someone knocking on the door was suddenly heard, giving Emi a shock.
That was the voice of the inn owner.
“C, coming.”
After getting up and frantically tying her hair, Emi walked towards the door and opened it a crack warily. She used her body to block the view of inside the room.
“Ohh?”
The person standing in the corridor was the inn owner after all, the eldery person did not expect someone to open the door, and showed a genuinely surprised expression.
“What is it?”
“Ah, t, that, I did not expect you to open the door……”
“Ah……”
Emi, who came to a realization, cursed her own mistake.
This was not Japan. No one can guarantee that the inn owner was definitely a good person, if the visitor was an evil person disguising as the inn owner, then under normal circumstances, Emi would have been pushed into the room.
Basically even if someone came to the door, the door has to be locked before safety could be confirmed, she never thought that she would encounter a malady even in this kind of place because she was too used to Japan.
“Erhm, this is about what you asked of me before, it looks like a merchant caravan would pass by the Warloski village you talked about. After I mentioned this to those people, they said they can allow you to travel with them as long as you pay a reward.”
“Oh, is that so.”
Emi nodded.
Warloski village was near Emi’s hometown Sloan village, a village which could be reached in half a day.
When Emi checked into the inn, she did not mention Sloan village, but asked if any immigrants or merchant caravans will pass by the surrounding villages.
As for the reason to ask about other locations, of course it was to not let others discover her true destination.
Even though from here, whether she goes to Sloan or Warloski, she would have to walk a very long distance, but as long as she is able to travel with a merchant caravan with horse carriages, she would save a lot of time.
“Thank you. Then, this is the deposit.”
Emi took out the two silver coins she prepared beforehand from within her clothes and passed it to the owner.
This is because in this cheap inn without any safety facilities, even if she was in front of the owner, she cannot let others see her money bag.
Carlessly opening the door even though she considered to this extent, Emi was really regretful about it.
Even though two silver coins was a high price for deposit, one of the coins was a tip for the boss.
One cannot be petty when money should be spent, this was a lesson from Alberto.
“Yeah, I understand. Then I’ll take my leave now.”
The inn owner grasped the silver coins, nodded in satisfaction and left after giving a little greeting.
Emi locked the room door and breathed a sigh of relief.
“How difficult. Even though it was supposed to be something I am accustomed to before.”
After letting down her tied up hair, Emi slowly sat on the bed, and warmly stroked the hair of Alas=Ramus, who seemed to be having a nightmare.
“No, it’s not like that. The time I was truly alone……was actually that one year in Japan after I met the Demon King. Before that, I was always……”
Ever since the awakening of her aptitude as the Hero until the time she released Holy Saint Aire Empire from the clutches of Lucifer, whether it was Olba, who was now her enemy, or the knights, they were her kind protectors and comrades.
Emi met Emerada when she was freeing Saint Aire and became everlasting friends with her.
After defeating Lucifer and freeing the Western Continent, Emi, who chose to head towards the Northern Continent, met Alberto on the ship, and borrowing his intelligence and power, she successfully completed the journey of the Northern and Southern Continent, fraught with harsh weather.
Alsiel’s army in the Eastern Continent retreated before formally engaging Emi and the others in battle, and the four of them, with Emi at the head, attacked the Demon Fortress in the Central Continent with the support of the whole world, then only Emi alone drifted to the world where the chances of meeting danger were rather low.
“Even though I posed myself as the Hero, I wasn’t able to do anything myself in the end. I never expected that I would worry about this and that when going out on a trip, it’s really not funny.”
“Ah-uh……uh-hm.”
“Alas=Ramus, I will cook something more delicious for you tomorrow.”
Emi smiled lightly, and without waking Alas=Ramus, she got onto the bed without changing her clothes or taking off her shoes.
“Getting into bed with shoes on, so uncivilized.”
Emi recalled the time she went with Maou and Alas=Ramus, the three of them going to Seiseki-sakuragaoka to buy Alas=Ramus’s futon.
At that time, Alas=Ramus climbed onto the chair, saying that she wanted to look at the scenery outside, so Emi asked her to take her shoes off first----
“Hey, Alas=Ramus, be good and listen to Mama.”
“Seriously……why is she so obedient to Papa’s words……”
A voice which sounded in her mind subconsciously caused Emi to groan.
If Alas=Ramus became sick because she was not used to the food or weather here, then that man who thought himself to be the father would definitely be angry and criticize Emi a lot.
Being able to think about this kind of thing even though she had told herself to be careful, Emi, in disbelief about this, sighed again in pain.
“Father huh……”
Even though openly admitting this was painful, compared to before, her current self was definitely losing her feelings of hatred and wanting to challenge the Demon King.
One part of the reason was definitely because she knew that her father was still alive, the other part was because she was occasionally become unable to understand this existence known as Demon King Satan.
Because they had passed a few months together in Japan, questions like this would be generated----
The character, personality and thinking of ‘Maou Sadao’, how did they come about?
With things as they are now, Emi even started to suspect if Maou was really the Demon King Satan.
She had seen him as an enemy and watched him closely, and now she actually returned to Ente Isla, strongly believing that it was not possible for him to do bad things in Japan, Emi’s impression of Maou Sadao and Demon King Satan was that different.
“After I return to my hometown, I wonder if I would be able to recover some feelings of hate against that guy……”
Emi said to herself as she looked at Alas=Ramus’s sleeping face.
Regardless of what kind of ‘human’ Maou was now, the fact that he was behind Lucifer’s army, who destroyed Emi’s hometown, was an indisputable fact.
And as for the fact that her father was still alive, she only heard it from an untrusted archangel, there was no evidence at all.
Currently, to Emi, Maou was still her father’s murderer, her sworn enemy who destroyed her hometown and everything in her childhood.
That’s right, even though she already told herself this many times.
Her mental state was greatly shaken due to the fact that her father was still alive. It was something with no basis. It really made her feel pathetic.
“W……what am I fighting for, who am I fighting for……”
As the question no one could answer dissipated in the darkness of the room, Emi’s consciousness also drifted into the dreamscape.

“Is it really fine to stop here? You gave us a lot of money, it would be fine even if I brought you pass two more villages to the city you know?”
The merchant caravan captain asked with unhidden business spirit and some slight worry in his tone.
“As you can see, Warloski does not have any inns for travelers to stay, and for the nearby villages, from Mility, Goff to Sloan, they are still abandoned villages without any signs of recovery. Even though you wish to go on a priglimage, there are no villagers who will hear your prayers, yeah?”
Next to the road heading to Warloski village, Emi got off the merchant carriage.
“It’s alright, thank you for your care during this time.”
Because she travelled with the merchant carriage, Emi saved more than one day of travelling time.
Using an adult’s walking speed, it would be a half day’s walk from Warloski to Sloan.
“And in some sense, a priglimage is just an excuse, I lost an important person when the Demon Army invaded, so at the same time, this is also a journey for me to look for that person’s traces.”
“……I am really too ignorant. A girl travelling alone actually had such a reason for doing so.”
The captain, on the driver’s seat of the horse carriage, took off his wide brimmed hat and pressed it against his chest.
“I will pray to the gods of trade for you to be able to find memories of that important person. There is no need to be bothered about it, since you gave me so much money, just treat this as part of the service.”
“Then let me thank you in advance for your good intentions.”
Emi smiled at the captain who had put on a show.
“Then, I hope we can meet again.”
The captain put on his hat once more, and pulled the ropes for the merchant caravan to continue its journey.
The men who were part of the group of six horse carriages each waved goodby to Emi and disappeared at the other end of the road.
After she no longer saw any traces of them, Emi pressed her hand against her chest and said,
“Actually feeling so shaken, I have really become weak.”
The captain’s sincere prayer brought some warmth to Emi’s heart.
“……Because it’s too peaceful, I forgot that this is Ente Isla.
As if to not forget that warm heart, Emi took a very deep breath.
It was not an illusion, she really felt filled with power.
“A warm heart will become power. Right now, I will not lose to anyone.”
Emi turned her back to the road heading towards Warloski village, in high spirits while feeling the holy magic enveloping her whole body and headed in the direction of Sloan village.
(T/N: Just a gentle reminder, positive feelings become Holy magic)
In her previous journey, she could only depend on moonlight and starlight when walking at night.
However, right now, Emi was wearing a headlight, with a good tool from the scientific civilization of Earth in her right hand----a LED light emitting a strong glow to light up the road at night.
When she was at Sloan village, her sources of light were basically these two items.
The batteries installed in this LED torch was a good tool which uses solar energy batteries such that there was no need to worry about running out of electricity, and even if she overused it such that there was no electricity at night, it could be charged manually.
As long as the provided endpoint and cable were connected, even her mobile phone can be charged. A rare feature was that the front facing light emitting LED portion can be used at the same time as the small lightbulb installed at the side of the main body which acts as a standing light. In order to save energy, the fact that there are two stages of brightness was also a plus point.
When going around dense forests, Emi had even used the attached alarm feature, and without having to fight, she chased away fierce wild animals hiding in the darkness of the trees such as wolves, bears and so on.
“In addition, as long as a lighter or swiss army knife is added to the back and sold, it would leading to a dramatic change to travelling in Ente Isla.”
Saying lines which resembled those from a television shopping channel, Emi discovered a small scale ‘ruin’ which she would have missed if she was not careful on the other end of the forest.
Emi turned off the light after confirming her goal.
Considering that bandits or similar people might be occupying that place, it would be better not to reveal her movements.
And this ‘ruin’ was different from other places.
Perhaps like what Emerada was worried around, it might be watched by more dangerous people.
Emi carefully sensed the air around her and moved forward, taking twice the amount of time she would normally take.
She quickly approached the distance where she could roughly see the outer shape of the building under the moonlight, and stopped to observe the situation.
“……There was no one after all.”
Emi sighed and said.
Even though she had to move carefully, thinking about it, Emi had already left Ente Isla for more than a year.
And the angels, demons and part of the personnel related to the Church, had already confirmed half a year ago that she was still alive.
In such a long period of time, no matter which faction it is, they will not have the time to station their troops in a place when they were not even sure if Emi would come at all.
After all, before the invasion of the Demon Army, this village did not have any special characteristics at all, it was just a farming village which could be found anywhere.
Emi, who slowly approached the streets, discovered a dilapidated flat land.
It used to be farmland.
Emi walked through the small road surrounding the farmland, and approached the shadows of the ruins in the night.
Finally she stood at the ‘main road’ that was barely able to allow horse carriages to pass through.
“……I’m back.”
At this place, no insect cries could be heard, and no field mice could be seen, it was as though the passage of time of this village had stopped.
Only a refreshing breeze answered Emi’s shaking voice.
Sloan village, with its own body as the gravestone, quietly rotted.
“Mama, it’s okay to come in on our own?”
Without obtaining any permission, Emi walked into a house in better condition closest to the street and set up the tent she brought.
This was to avoid people seeing the glow Alas=Ramus gave off when she solidified as well as the smoke when cooking from far away.
“There’s no need to worry. Because……this is the home of someone Mama knows.”
Emi showed a lonely smile, and quickly made preparations for dinner.
Today’s dinner was the paste of the potato soup cooked to dryness the previous night, together with the instant rice brought from Japan----the familiar “Gotou Rice”.
Even though people normally thought that these things can only be cooked using the microwave, it can be heated up with water and eaten.
Emi poured the water in the multipurpose pot, and boiled it using the camping furnance which does not produce a lot of smoke.
After adding some hot water to turn the potato paste back to soup, she used the remaining hot water to heat the white rice.
Then she took out some preserved meat which can be kept for a long time, and completed a minimum level of dinner.
“As dinner for returning back home, this is not bad.”
“Mama, potato!”
Alas=Ramus, illuminated by the light from the torch, was not afraid of the strange dark surroundings at all, and wanted to drink the potato soup which she seemed to like a lot.
“Alas=Ramus, what do you need to do first?”
“Uu……o, oh! I’m digging in!”
“Yes, very good. Eat it after blowing on it okay.”
Because it was for Alas=Ramus to eat, Emi carefully adjusted the temperature, and just like normal, passed the soup to Alas=Ramus.
“Fu, fu……ah-um.”
“How is it?”
“Um, good.”
The dinner in her neglected hometown passed in a stable manner.
After Alas=Ramus filled her stomach with potato soup and white rice, Emi started to cook her own dinner.
As an adult, Emi was not picky about her food, so she just simply ate some oat bread and preserved meat, and some of Alas=Ramus’s soup.
“Mama.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Mama’s friends, why are they not around?”
“……About that.”
Emi knew that the friend the young girl was talking about should be referring to the ‘someone she knows’ which she mentioned earlier, so she coughed once and said,
“In this home, a grandfather called Kfar used to live here……”
In the past, a couple around ten years older than Emi’s father Nord lived here, Emi even remembered that they were great conversationalists.
“How about over there?”
Alas=Ramus did not wait for Emi to finish speaking and pointed at an abandoned house opposite the window.
“Ugh……that should be Grandma Lilina’s house. She’s an old lady who’s good at knitting.”
“Why are they not around anymore?”
“……”
What kind of purpose did Alas=Ramus have when asking this question?
Was it an innocent question of a child, or was she seeking the truth, showing her occasional deep wisdom?
“Because a group of scary demons attacked the village, so everyone ran away.”
After Emi accepted the protection of the Church, Sloan village became a sacrifice for Lucifer’s army not long after.
Considering the travelling distance between Sloan village and the westernmost point of the Western Continent, Holy Saint Ignord, the incident probably happened one mouth after Emi left the village.
But, the village could have been destroyed before Emi reached Saint Ignord.
Influenced by hatred, lament, youth and especially time, Emi could no longer recall her memories at that time, and right now was unable to confirm the exact date of when the village was destroyed.
Just as Emi swallowed her dark memories together with the bread she bit off, Alas=Ramus asked another question.
“Mama, the demons you said, is it Fake White Face?”
“Eh?”
“Scary, and made everyone cry, is it Fake White Face?”
“It, it’s not, you know?”
Why was Gabriel mentioned at this time?
No, Emi knew that before the both of them developed into their current relationship, Alas=Ramus haboured a strange animosity towards archangel Gabriel, but even so, this question was still very abrupt.
“Then does demon, refer to angels?”
“Uh, erhm, I’m sorry, I don’t really understand what Alas=Ramus is saying……”
Then again, even though Alas=Ramus knew about ‘angels’ from the beginning, does she understand this concept of ‘demon’?
Logically, through becoming Emi’s holy sword ‘Evolving Holy Sword, One Wing’, she should have seen the demon forms of Maou and Ashiya a few times, but even so, Alas=Ramus’s attitude towards them did not change.
“What are demons?”
“…….About that……”
Emi was unable to reply.
If it was half a year ago, Emi should be able to fluently talk to these extremely scary monsters.
But floating up from the bottom of her memories, was what Gabriel said before.
“Biologically, angels are actually humans.”
Suzuno’s question shook Emi’s memory.
“‘Demons’…… what do you think they are?”
The King of Demons, Satan, who lived in Japan with a similar appearance to humans.
Biologically, what exactly is he?
The current Emi did not have an answer, so she was unable to answer Alas=Ramus’s question.
“……Mama?”
There was another reason which made her unable to answer.
‘The scary demons who chased everyone out of the village’ was not just anyone, but the ‘Papa’ Alas=Ramus admired.
Whether as a Hero, or as a human, right now, Emi was unable to tell Alas=Ramus that ‘Papa’ was someone who should be hated.
Even though somewhere in her heart, she knew that this would not benefit Alas=Ramus’s life, Emi was still unable to steel her heart in this short moment and tell her beloved daughter that she would have to turn her blade against her adored ‘Papa’.
In addition, in the current situation where she knew her father might still be alive, whether this might even be necessary had already become unclear to Emi.
No matter what, if she was willing to betray her daughter’s love to exact her own revenge, then wouldn’t Emi be the same as the ‘demons’ she hated?
“……I feel a little irritated.”
Even here, as long as she recalled that idiotic face of Maou which troubled her so much, Emi suddenly felt something different from the hatred and anger, frustration mixed with anxiousness.
“As long as I lose my temper on that guy, he would make me worry so much like now, and indecently talking about his own ambitions while leisurely passing his days, it’s maddening.”
“Uu?”
“Listen well, Alas=Ramus, demons are very underhanded, sly and do whatever they want.”
“Underhanded, sly……?”
“Seriously, what good does Chiho-chan see in that guy, I don’t understand at all.”
“Uu~I don’t understand.”
Emi, who felt irritated because of shallow things, showed an evil smile under the light like she suddenly thought of something.
“That’s right, Alas=Ramus, when we return……ask Papa to teach you.”
“Papa?”
“Yeah, you can ask Papa ‘What are demons’. Because Papa knows everything, he would definitely teach you.”
“I understand.”
It was really cruel.
But from Emi’s standpoint, she was unable to accept the fact that she was the only one being troubled about the relationship between Alas=Ramus and Maou.
If she did not let Maou also think about the future, then it would be unfair.
“When I return, I have to lecture him properly.”
When thinking about Maou panicking because of Alas=Ramus’s question, Emi naturally showed a smile.
“When would I be able to see Papa next time?”
“After a while more. We have to throw a party of Chiho-nee san later, at the time, Papa would definitely come.”
Emi spoke of the agreement after returning back to Japan naturally without hiding anything.
“Even though it’s a little early, but let’s sleep after cleaning everything up. We still have to wake up early tomorrow.”
Emi kept everything besides the tent, sleeping bag and torch into the bag, carried Alas=Ramus and entered the tent, opening the sleeping bag.
“So smooth and soft!”
Alas=Ramus burrowed into the feather down sleeping bag to play.
“Hey, stop playing already.”
In the end, Emi burrowed inside as well, and after playing for a while, she pulled Alas=Ramus out.
Even though she showed an unhappy expression, after Emi turned off the lights, Alas=Ramus still obediently lay in her mother’s arms to prepare to sleep.
“Mama, tell me a story!”
“Story huh. About that……”
This was not the first time Alas=Ramus asked Emi to tell a story before sleeping, but it was still rare.
Even though a few common tales and legends from Earth came to her mind, Emi still shook her head light, and after turning on the light to its minimum setting, she said,
“Then……let me talk about an old legend of Ente Isla. This is a story about a princess being captured by a scary ‘demon’, and a young king going to rescue her……”
Emi placed her hand on the stomach of Alas=Ramus in the sleeping back, and moved it up and down in a rhythmic motion.
In the corner of the abandoned village where even moonlight does not reach, the dusk of ‘mother’ and ‘child’ slowly grew deeper.
The next morning, Emi opened her eyes before the sky turned bright.
Emi cancelled the solid form of Alas=Ramus, who was still sleeping and merged with her, then started to take a walk in the abandoned village under the bright sun.
Even though this was still a village so quiet that even the presence of small animals could not be felt, because Emi had taken a detour during her journey and came here to get rid of the wild animals and demon beasts settling in the village, there was almost no obvious weathering after that.
The surprising thing was, even though the scenery here became totally different after the buildings collapsed, her body still remembered the way.
The Justina home was in the direction the sun rises.
Sunlight shone from behind the faraway mountains, and Emi like she was attracted by it, crossed the ‘main road’ and reached the outer circle of the village.
And then because she saw something unexpected there, she froze.
The tree, where parts of it could be seen from the other side of the road, was the fixed location where Emi would eat lunch with her father who went to the fields to work.
This means that the neglected wheat fields currently around her were……
“Father’s……wheat fields……”
At this instant, as if they were responding to Emi’s words, dawn stretched out its arms from between the mountains to light up the land.
Tears naturally flowed from Emi’s eyes.
The land was filled with dense greenery.
The morning wind swayed the green scenery covering the land.
“Still alive……still alive……”
The green fruits filling up the large expense of land.
Those must be wheat.
And this farmland was obviously neglected for a long time.
The deep green scenery in front of her was mixed with countless light coloured tall weeds, and the wheat heads swaying in the wind also looked thin and weak.
Even from Emi’s point of view, she also knew that these wheat heads will not survive until autumn.
But even so, Emi still could not resist shouting to the morning sky with the rising sun,
“They’re still alive! The wheat father had planted are still alive!”
Even if they were trampled on by demons and lost a caretaker for many years, these resiliently living wheat were still constantly going through digenesis.
“Are you really still alive somewhere? Can we, still live together……?”
The evidence that her father was still alive was in front of her. The thing she thought she had lost after experiencing terror and despair was right in front of her now.
Emi did not wish to experience that despair anymore. No matter what happened, she would risk her life to protect this scene.
“……Uum……Mama? What is it, pwah!”
Emi’s shout even shaken her mental state.
She instantly materialised Alas=Ramus, who was frightened by the shout which shook her mental state, and even forgetting to wipe her tears, she hugged the young girl tightly.
“Alas=Ramus, I can still continue working hard……I have to work hard!”
“Mama……fwah……”
Emi tightly hugged Alas=Ramus again who was suddenly woken up and still really wanted to sleep, and frantically ran towards the road she took to get here.
That was because she wanted to quickly pack the lugguage she had at Kfar’s house and quickly go to the home which she had lived together with her father.
And with that place as a starting point, she would fulfil her purpose for returning to Ente Isla.
The home where she lived together with her father must be hiding something.
Something which can change the situation Emi was currently dragged into.
Enough to unravel part of the truth behind the mystery of Ente Isla and Earth.
After encountering an unexpected miracle, Emi harboured this almost convincing feeling.

“Sighhhhh……there’s nothing at all……”
Emi, whose concentration broke, sat tiredly in the place which used to be the kitchen.
Right now was the afternoon of the third day she searched her old home.
The first day when she discovered that her father’s wheat fields were unexpectedly preserved, Emi was even so touched that she cried, she saw this as a good sign, and believed that she would definitely find clues to break through the situation the worlds were currently facing, however from the time she was filled with motivation and moved to the old home she missed to find a starting point, currently three days have passed.
Until today, there were no results at all.
The Justina home was just a normal farmer’s house, they did not have an especially big luxurious mansion or land.
Even though there were signs of damage like the other houses, it still barely maintained a state close to Emi’s memories.
The kitchen where she cooked for her father.
The dining room where she ate dinner with her father.
The living room where they watched the flames of the stove together and drifted off to sleep.
When she saw the bed from when she was young, she felt hot tears in her eyes from extreme nostalgia.
Besides this home being the home of Emi and her father Nord, it was also the home of her mother who hid her movements and involved the people of Ente Isla and Earth----Lailah’s home.
Even though she did not know many things when she was young, those things which she was not allowed to touch or places she was not allowed to enter might hide some clues.
But after the Hero who saved the world search the house with all her might, the only thing she knew was that her father was a simple and energetic farmer through and through.
In the first place, her home did not have a lot of closets or bookshelves or furniture which could store things.
Even though this place could have been visited by bandits after it became an abandoned village, not considering the small sized valuables, no bandit would intentionally steal large furniture like closets.
Thinking that things might be hidden in places such as the attic or basement, Emi started to search these places, but in the end, within the attic, she could only find furniture suited for the season, empty buckets and jugs, as well as miscellaneous items such as nails and screws.
As for a basement, Emi’s house did not have one in the first place.
“During this moment, there should coincidentally be a secret basement or something……”
But even if she complained, it was meaningless.
After that, Emi searched the farming tools hut, behind the stove, as well as behind and inside the oven, places she she could not go near when she was younger, but other than get her face and head covered in soot and dirt, she did not find anything, and finally, only when eating dinner----
“Mama is so dirty.”
Alas=Ramus had pointed it out mercilessly, causing her to be very depressed.
“Then again, if important things were hidden behind the stove or inside the oven, then the person would no longer be able to take it out right?”
Like this, the only way left was to hide it in the trees or within the forest.
During the second day, Emi decided to search small number of books and documents left in the shelf.
Paper books in Ente Isla were premium products, so even if wood, sheepskin paper or papyrus paper, things which could not even be called crudely made paper, were used to produce important documents, it was nothing strange at all.
As there were not a lot of books or documents left behind, Emi had thought she would not spend that much time to finish reading everything……
“How……how tedious……”
Even though she started to investigate from morning, but even afer the sun set, she could not finish reading at all.
In the beginning, Emi was so touched she cried when she saw her father’s familiar handwriting, but she never expected that her methodical father actually used expensive notebooks to leave a detailed journal.
Even though most of the content had to do with the growth of the wheat and work, but since he left such careful writings behind, as Emi suspected some clue was hidden inside, she was still unable to casually browse through them.
Just as Emi was growing tired to reading the agricultural diary, and planned to check the wood or sheepskin paper documents, she discovered most of them were the certificates of tax payment for the past twenty years, and other than wheat, a lot of livestock certificates and applications were mixed in.
“……Ah, the inspector seal has changed.”
The first major change she found after spending two hours was that the brand on the wood had changed, Emi temporarily stopped reading and started to prepare food.
“Ne, Alas=Ramus.”
“What is it?
Alas=Ramus was currently drinking the instant canned soup dissolved in hot water in enjoyment, and Emi asked harbouring the attitude of giving things a try,
“Do you feel signs of a fragment of ‘Yesod’ around here?”
“No!”
The young girl replied without hesitation, causing Emi to lower her head, discouraged.
Even though she was only half serious, it felt she was once again forced to face a harsh truth.
But that was to be expected, if there was really that kind of reaction nearby, then Alas=Ramus would have discovered it when she entered the village.
In the end, even if the remaining data was not much, Emi was still unable to finish reading it today, until today, the third day, she was reading and organising the information in stages.
“Hmm……there’re no results here as well.”
Emi, who switched from agricultural trade documents to land authority inspection documents, sat on the old chair left behind, one leg crossed over the other.
“Or is it that……they have already been taken by Olba or Gabriel, who had the same thoughts?”
Emi moved the land boundary documents to the stack of documents which she had already read, and picked up another notebook.
“A normal diary can’t be just this right.”
This book could be the only gain, it was Nord’s diary.
Compared to the agricultural diary, the density in here was not considered high at all.
Compared to the agricultural diary, which was recorded in daily, no matter how frequent this one was, it was only one record a week at most. Rather than calling it a daily diary, it was more like a weekly report.
In contrast, even though daily activities and Emi’s exploits from when she was younger were recorded within, her mother, Lailah’s name, was not mentioned at all, and the date of the last page stopped at a few years before the Dmeon Army invaided.
“Based on the timeline, it’s really a diary which is not here or there.”
Even though it was a family member, this thought after reading someone’s dairy without permission was not normal at all.
Even though her father’s memory was precious, considering the timeline written about inside, the information Emi needed was obviously not recorded inside.
“There’s still two days until Em gets me……”
Her search had reached a bottleneck, causing Emi to sigh weakly.
“Land zoning reorganisation certificate, this is the farmland boundary certification, this is an application for fallow land tax deductions……”
Emi, who continued to organise the documents, categorised them after going through the wooden boards one by one.
“Certification of payment for deposit of the road reorganisation, what is this, the New Year greeting card from Village Head-san is actually mixed into this kind of place. The sheepskin paper is placed here, then……after this are permits and rights.”
Like a seasoned working class, Emi continued to organise the documents with practiced movements.
“Rights to chop timber from the common forest regularly, all the permits for the axes? They even have such a thing. Next is……”
Emi browsed through the subsequent documents while processing the many permits and rights which she had never heard before----
“The permit from the lord when building a house, permit for renovation, permit to build further, these are all documents related to the house. Permit to build the farming tools hut, this is a permit to open up new farmland……eh?”
And stopped in the end when she got to a piece of sheepskin paper.
“I remember that all the land related documents are here. Was it put in the wrong place?”
Perhaps her father made a mistake while organising?
Looking at it carefully, this is a document created during a similar period when this house was built.
Perhaps because proper organisation was not done at that time, it might have been forgotten as time passed.
Just as Emi was thinking this, and planned to put this permit to open up new farmland to the land related category----
“…………What is this?”
She sucked in a breath, and stared at the words on the sheepskin.
“Where is this?”
Permit to open up new farmland, just like what it says, is an application document when a person wishes to dig up new farmland, issued by the village head and the lord governing the area where the applicant lived based on the actual tax situation and the amount of harvest.
Even though the opening up of the land is done by the person himself, the good point is that the person is able to get the land for a cheap price, but because taxes or imposed based on the land area regardless of the fertility of the land, it might also end up increasing the tax burden as well.
So unless it is a farm with a lot of money to spare, they would not make this kind of application.
In addition----
“Why was such a faraway place chosen?”
The land indicated on top was in the mountains east of the village, and was a distance away from the other lands managed by the Justina family.
After referencing against the map obtained from Emerada, Emi discovered that even with an adult’s pace, it would take half a day to get from the village to that place.
“Hmmmm?”
Emi frantically looked through the document she had read before.
And in the document pile for the rights to use the irrigation facilities, she found another farming tool hut building permit, which looked like it was being hidden inside.
The location recorded on it was the same as the permit to open up new land.
“There’s actually that kind of place……I have never heard of it before.”
At least in Emi’s memory, the farmland of the Justina family were all located a little more than a 10 minutes walk away from this home, even when walking at a child’s pace.
Logically, other than wheat, her father should only be another hut at the house for taking care of chickens, and then taking those eggs to sell.
Then what is up with that farmland completely independent from the village? And for what purpose did her father build this hut?
Emi jumped up and quickly flipped through the farming diary she had already read, then on the date indicated on these two mysterious documents, she found a record on the operations of that nearby farmland.
She read the words written on it out loud with an excited expression on her face,
“No harvests, and nothing was planted. But……”
On the page of the date three days after the issue of the permit to build the farming tools hut, a small word which was missed during the first read-through was written.
“9……it’s the number 9……”
In the beginning, she had thought it was a mistaken or a simple note, and did not take note of the meaning the number represented, but now, this important piece of information was pressuring Emi.
It was difficult to think of this as a coincidence. Because the ‘Yesod’ Sephirah, which made up the core of the ‘Evolving Holy Sword, One Wing’ and Alas=Ramus, was the number ‘9’ Sephirah of the Tree of Life.
Emi could not suppress her agitated heartbeat, and pressed her hand against her chest.
“Alas=Ramus……”
“……Uh um.”
It looks like Alas=Ramus was currently taking a nap within Emi’s body.
But she needed to quickly confirm the meaning behind this piece of information.
Emi looked up at the sky dyed red by the sunset on reflex.
Emerada will come to pick her up two days later. But that place was located a half day journey away using an adult’s pace. If it was a situation where she had to conduct a wide search, she might not make it in time for the appointed time with Emerada if she walked there.
Even so, if she waited for Emerada and left her here, it might cause her trouble, as she needed to travel around and manage information at the same time.
“……Looks like I can only fly there.”
If it was just flying, if she did not fly too quickly, Emi might not be detected by her ‘enemies’.
“Basically, this place is not Japan, there are people all over the world who would use holy magic.”
Spells to light up lamps will be used at large cities at night, and including the crafting of magic tools as well the production of blessed food products such as what Suzuno brought to the Sasazuka Demon Fortress in the past, holy magic was used in many areas.
Especially in the Western Continent where the sorcery culture was more advanced than other continents, their consumption of holy magic every year was 30% more compared to other continents.
Considering the time left and Emerada’s standpoint, rather than feeling troubled on whether holy magic should be used, the problem caused by extending the investigation time was bigger.
“And……I have already promised Chiho-chan.”
After saying this, Emi looked at the watch on her left hand.
Until now, she intentionally wore the Riakkuma watch which she liked.
This was to compare the passage of the sun between Earth and Ente Isla.
Even though there was a time difference between the two places, but the length of one day on Earth and Ente Isla were almost the same, this could only be described as a miracle.
On 12th September on Earth, everyone planned to hold a birthday party for Chiho and Emi.
“I have to keep my promise.”
Emi kept both pieces of information, and kept the camping equipment inside her bag in order to leave her nostalgic home.
“When I return, I’ll take a detour back.”
Crossing the porch and looking up to stare at the yard which retained its appearance from the peaceful times, Emi pressed her lips together.
Because she arranged to meet Emerada at this village, she would ask her to open the gate in the sky above her home during the return journey.
As Emi thought about these things----
“I’m going.”
She slowly floated into the air, and it was only until the village became further and further in her vision did she fly towards the eastern sky, where her new destination was.
Referencing from the map, the targeted place was a huge mountain land with a lot of trees.
Emi had thought it was a piece of land which had not been opened up, but during specific seasons, it seems to be used for hunting.
There was a settlement site at the foot of the mountain, it looked like a small scale resting place to process the hunted prey.
Because the restoration work had not expanded to this place, causing this place to be unhabitated, but in front of a certain abandoned house, she discovered a map indicating the mountain path.
Emi had come here with a lot of motivation, thinking that it was a secret land, but from the mountain climbing log left behind, she could tell that a large group of hunters will enter the mountain during specific seasons, casuing Emi to worry if her father had just invested in the hunting business during a lull in the farming season.
Normally, some hunting huts will be dispersed around the hunting area, as long as a person becomes the manager here, he would get an amount of money from the hunting association.
“Don’t tell me father is unexpectedly able to do business……”
Because she is able to understand this kind of thing when she is grown up, unexpectedly seeing her father’s careful and meticulous calculations caused Emi to have complex feelings.
“But since these are permits for a farming tool hut and opening up land, it might be unrelated to hunting……”
Being able to find information which can be called a clue after much difficulty, she would first have to climb the mountain to the place to confirm it.
Emi, who entered the mountain with these thoughts, what she faced was an animal trail known as a mountain path.
Even though she never expected a neat mountain climbing path like the sightseeing mountains in Japan, Emi had never expected that she would go though a forest where amateurs would not know whether they were ascending or descending a mountain before the sun goes down.
Even though it was still daytime now, the mountain area was covered by broadleaf trees of primeval forest, was still very dark and was filled with a lot of life.
Perhaps because no hunters entered the place after the invasion of the Demon Army, Emi met with plants growing on the animal trail which blocked her way or large animals which she never had the chance to see in Japan appearing in front of her, causing her progress up the mountain to slow down significantly.
Even if wild animals were not Emi’s match at all, since she was considered the invader here, Emi still hoped to avoid fights with innocent animals as much as possible.
“Perhaps the view would be better from the air……seems like that’s no good.”
Emi wiped her sweat and looked upwards, then immediately rejected her thoughts.
The flourishing branches and leaves of the broadleaf trees covered the sky, and it was dark even though it was around noon.
Even if she flew in the air, Emi did not think that she would be able to see the situation on the ground which was being covered by trees.
“Would I, be able to find it by today?”
Emi, who felt uneasy, started to cross reference between the large area map she obtained from Emerada and the map recording the mountain paths.
Firstly, this mountain was really too large.
In addition, what was more troubling was that the deed only used words to record the location of the land, with the map she had now, she was not able to pinpoint that location.
When the sun set, she would be unable to continue searching.
Because it was impossible to camp in the middle of the mountain filled with wild animals, she could only return to the gathering point at the base of the mountain.
“Halfway up the mountain on the south slope……the south side is so huge, and the mountain path has not been cleaned up, who knows where the halfway point of the mountain is……I do feel I have climbed rather high up.”
Even though Emi entered from the west side, there is nothing in the mountain which would make her understand the boundary between the east, west, south and north areas.
And then----
“Hm? What is it? Why so sudden? Eh, you want to come out?”
Alas=Ramus inside her head suddenly had something she wanted to say.
“I, I understand, wait a bit……hah!”
Even though she was confused, Emi still obliged and let Alas=Ramus solidify.
Emi originally wanted to pick her up----
“Mama, this way.”
But unexpectedly, Alas=Ramus passed through Emi’s hands, and after landing, started running with her small legs.
“W, wait, Alas=Ramus?”
“Mama, quickly! This way!”
Even if she was anxiously turning back to hurry Emi, Alas=Ramus, running on the animal track, did not stop at all.
Even though she did not need to worry about being separated from Alas=Ramus no matter what happened, Emi still panicked.
“Wait, Alas=Ramus! Where are you going! At, at least spray some insect repellant……”
Emi, holding the anti-bug spray for children, started to chase behind Alas=Ramus with all her might.
Even though Alas=Ramus did wear long sleeves and pants, Emi was still worried if she would be bitten by mosquitoes, or if she would be scratched by her diapers if she ran so fast, these kind of small things.
The way Alas=Ramus ran and her gaze held no hesitation.
The young girl ran on the road which does not seem to have any signposts, at least from what Emi can see, and the both of them ran for close to fifteen minutes just like this.
In the end, Alas=Ramus stopped under a large tree at the side of the animal trail.
“W, what is going on……?”
Emi, who barely kept up, looked up to stare at the large tree next to where Alas=Ramus was standing.
Even though it was a large tree, but other than the animal trail, this mountain was not that different from a primeval forest.
So this tree did not look especially different, and it was not especially big, or part of some rare species. There only obvious different it had from the trees around it was----
“It’s withered already.”
When she looked up, she could tell that there were no leaves on the tree branches at all, and the moss and vines growing on the tree trunk basically would not grow on living trees.
“What’s wrong with this tree? Alas=Ramus.”
Alas=Ramus, standing next to Emi and staring at the withered tree, nodded to answer her mother’s question,
“This way!”
After saying this, she walked straight into the bark.
“……Eh?”
Emi took some time to understand the phenomenon which happened before her.
Alas=Ramus’s small body, just like penetration magic, was absorbed into the tree trunk with a faint glow.
“A, Alas=Ramus? W, wait a moment, come back!”
Emi dissolved Alas=Ramus’s solid form in panic----
“……Alas=Ramus? Eh……”
But the young girl did not come back.
In her body, she could not feel the Evolving Heaven Silver which made up the Holy Sword.
No matter how she shouted, she could not hear Alas=Ramus’s reply.
“It, it can’t be? What is going on? Alas……”
Just as Emi was becoming rather flustered because of this unexpected situation.
“Mama, are you not done yet?”
Alas=Ramus poked her head out from the withered tree trunk with a nonchalant expression on her face.
Alas=Ramus’s body and the tree trunk were giving off a mist like white glow, and the young girl’s own forehead was emitting a faint purple glow.
“Alas=Ramus!”
“Mama, this way. Mama is able to come in too. Quickly.”
But the young girl immediately retracted her face back into the withered tree trunk.
“W, what does able to come in mean……”
Emi, who confirmed Alas=Ramus’s safety, may feel shocked, but she still tried touching the whithered tree bark.
“It, it’s just a normal tree trunk.”
The feeling of touching the tree was the same as touching normal withered wood, and even if she applied slight pressure, it felt like she was unable to pass through like Alas=Ramus.
“A, Alas=Ramus, come back! I can’t go in!”
This time, no matter how much she shouted, the young girl showed no signs of returning.
“W, what is happening, what is this……”
Emi squatted to the bottom part of the whithered wood, touching the place where Alas=Ramus disappeared.
As expected, that portion also felt like normal whithered wood, and at this moment, Emi suddenly thought of something.
When Alas=Ramus poked her head out just now, her forehead was emitting a purple glow.
In other words, the ‘Yesod’ fragment making up Alas=Ramus’s core was glowing.
“If, if it’s like that……”
The ‘Evolving Holy Sword, One Wing’ and Alas=Ramus had already entered the withered tree.
Like this, there were only two fragments which Emi could use right now.
That would be the Evil Repelling Armour and the fragment embedded in the sheath of the sword belonging to Demon Minister Camio.
Emi took the small bottle containing the fragment which she made using the materials from Tokyo Hands and half believing, half doubtful manner, poured holy magic into it.
And then----
“Wah!”
Even if Emi, worried that the Heaven faction would detect the power of the fragment, only released a little bit of power, the fragment placed in the glass bottle still shot a beam of purple light at the center of the withered tre trunk.
“Is, is this enough?”
Emi swallowed her saliva in nervousness and pressed her hand against the place where the purple light shone on.
“Wahhh!”
This time, her hand which should be touched the surface of the withered wood actually entered the tree trunk without any resistance, and at the same time, Emi was also pulled in by a strong power, and she was sucked into the withered tree trunk, disappearing without a trace.
“It hurrrtss……”
Even if she was carrying the luggage, she unexpectedly did not feel any resistance at all, and because Emi was surprised, she fell in a manner which did not match the name of the world’s strongest person, the Hero.
Emi, who detected the smell of soil after she fell, slowly got up with a frown on her face.
Then sucked in a breath after seeing the scene in front of her.
There was a road in front of the glow of the withered tree.
It was definitely an animal trail.
But the trees next to the animal trail where like the roadside trees on the streets of Tokyo, lining up neatly following the path.
It was obviously not grown naturally.
“Mama, quickly come over here!”
Alas=Ramus was waving at Emi with all her might in a place not far ahead.
Even though Emi breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that Alas=Ramus was safe, she immediately controlled her expression and started to follow behind Alas=Ramus.
After Alas=Ramus confirmed that Emi was following, she lead the way, walking straight forward on the animal trail.
This path must be the clue connecting her father and mother.
The fact that it must guided by Alas=Ramus and the fragment of ‘Yesod’ confirmed this point.
The time on this path seemed to pass just like the glow of the withered tree, Emi raised the ‘Yesod’ fragment in front of her like she was using it as a replacement light to light up the darkness and moved forward.
As Emi walked straight on the quiet path where no cries of insects or birds could be heard and no presence of wild animals could be felt for around five minutes.
In front of her, where her range of vision suddenly widened, a small hut appeared.
The land next to the hut showed signs of being plowed. There were no forests around, and only a few trees which can provide edible fruit were planted.
No human presence could be felt, and even though this place looked like it was abandoned for some time, ever since she came back to Ente Isla, this was the first time Emi’s heart beat so vigorously.
The sun was currently disappearing on the far side of the horizon.
What replaced it were two beams of of moonlight and bright starlight started to appear in the twilight sky, casting the same light as outside, from the position of these celestial bodies, Emi can confirm that this was the southern slope which her father obtained the deed of.
“Mama.”
Alas=Ramus was waiting for Emi in front of the hut.
Emi kept the ‘Yesod’ fragment into her pocket, and walked towards Alas=Ramus.
“Alas=Ramus……where is this?”
When she came to her senses, Emi was already naturally asking this question.
When Alas=Ramus ran on the mountain path outside the withered tree, she was obviously aiming for this place.
However, Alas=Ramus gave an unexpected answer.
“Isn’t this Mama’s home?”
The young girl asked in return.
“……Why, do you think that?”
Emi felt disgusted with her weak mental state which made her unable to ask the question properly.
She had always been concerned about this.
The reason why Alas=Ramus called her ‘Mama’.
Alas=Ramus, who was deduced to be born from the Demon Fortress Maou built in the Central Continent, called Emi who logically did not have any other connection with her other than the fact that she was the holder of ‘Yesod’ fragments ‘Mama’.
Emi did not think that she was suddenly be forced to face this answer.
“Because it has Mama’s smell.”
Alas=Ramus’s answer was very cruel to the current Emi.
“Mother’s, smell……”
The sky was clear, and the scenery seen from the slope was vast.
However----
Emi’s heart at this moment, just like the day she separated from her most beloved father, deflated a little.
“……Ne, Alas=Ramus.”
“What is it?”
“Alas=Ramus’s…… ‘Mama’, what is her name?”
“Mama’s name?”
Alas=Ramus opened her mouth after being confused for a bit.
“Lailah.”
Alas=Ramus, who suddenly appeared in Villa Rosa Sasazuka had once said that ‘Papa’ is ‘Satan’.
However, when she was asked who Mama was, Alas=Ramus used her finger to point towards Emi.
Emi thought back to the short few months which she spent together with Alas=Ramus.
Even though Alas=Ramus called Emi ‘Mama’, she had never called Emi’s name.
Of course to Alas=Ramus right now, the ‘Mama’ she loved right now was definitely Emi.
But ever since arriving in Japan, Alas=Ramus had always been seeing the ‘Lailah’ behind Emi.
And if Alas=Ramus thought that her ‘father’ is Maou, the Demon King Satan, and her ‘mother’ is Emi’s mother Lailah, then----
“It was mother……who saved the that guy (Demon King) when he was young……”
In the ferris wheel of Tokyo Dome City, Emi had heard the past of Maou Sadao.
Even though Emi already had a suspicion at that time, once the truth was laid out like this in front of her, both her legs still shook to the point which she was barely standing.
“That……idiot Demon King……what do you mean by ‘someone I don't know’……”
Emi scolded Maou, who was not present, with a shaky voice.
When Emi asked who was the angel who saved the young Maou, Maou had replied ‘it’s someone you don’t know’.
It was true that Emi did not understand ‘her mother’, and also does not know ‘the angel known as Lailah’.
But even so, she at least knew ‘the angel named Lailah is her mother’.
“For me to……be this shaken, doesn’t it seem like I have already been seen through, and caused that guy to worry……”
No matter how much she scolded in anger, all Emi had seen so far, pointed to one truth.
Her mother saved the life of the young Demon King Satan, and when that Satan grew up, he invaded Ente Isla and destroyed her life with her father and the fortunes and lives of many humans.
“I……”
Emi was not so stupid that she would want to take responsibility of all the actions of her mother who had nothing to do with her.
Regardless of the current Emi, or Maou currently on Earth, they did not know the purpose behind Lailah’s actions, however they did not think that she was acting without thinking.
Then, what kind of motive did her mother have when saving the young Satan?
“……”
“Mama, what is it?”
Emi looked towards Alas=Ramus.
Alas=Ramus was born from the ‘Yesod’ fragment Lailah had entrusted to Maou.
From this point, perhaps it was possible to think that Lailah helped Maou in order for Alas=Ramus to be born into this world, however Maou only recently knew about the existence of Alas=Ramus, and had even forgotten about the fragment.
“But……”
Emi thought back to the time she attacked the Demon Fortress in the Central Continent with Emerada, Alberto and Olba.
In the past, she had believed that the purple light released by the holy sword was a guiding light straight towards the location of the Demon King.
Even though the legend of the light guiding the Hero to the location of the Demon King was passed down from generation to generation with the Evolving Holy Silver which made up the core of the Holy Sword and Evil Repelling Armor, right now, Emi already knew it was only the holy sword and the ‘Yesod’ framgent which became Alas=Ramus attracting each other.
“……Eh?”
Thinking until now, Emi suddenly noticed something.
The guiding light within the legends of the Church was just the effects of the ‘Yesod’ fragments attracting each other.
If so, if Emi defeated the Demon King Satan that way, how would things turn out?
“Will I meet you?”
“Uu?”
Emi stared at Alas=Ramus’s forehead.
If the guiding light did not disappear after Demon King Satan was defeated, that even the Emi at that time would think that there is something more. If she continued to move forward with the guiding light, and discovered the ‘Yesod’ fragment before Alas=Ramus gained this form……
“Would I merge with you……like now?”
Emi had thought that the ‘Evolving Holy Sword, One Wing’ merging with Alas=Ramus, was only something which happened coincidentally when she faced Gabriel on Earth.
But at that time, didn’t Alas=Ramus roll up the Holy Sword and eat it on her own will?
Fragments will attract each other.
In other words, they wish to regain their original shape right.
Just like Emi’s holy sword, evil repelling armour and Alas=Ramus.
“Even though mother……Lailah intentionally shattered the ‘Yesod’ fragments and scattered them to various places……she plans to spend time to let the fragments regain their original state?”
Why exactly is the reason?
Thinking about it carefully, Emi did not know the appearance and size of the ‘Yesod’ Sephirah at all, and because of that, would not know the total number of fragments.
In addition, since she did not know what happened for the Sephirah to become fragments, she naturally did not know who or how shattered it.
No matter what, Sephirah are still known as the gems which make up the world, and should not be easily shattered like glass cups.
Probably someone used a super strong power beyond Emi’s imagination to shatter it?
But these chain of actions had Lailah implementing them on her own since the beginning, so it felt that this would be too forced.
After all just one fragment was enough for guardian angel Gabriel and archangel Sariel to look for it personally with their lives on the line, so they must be other accompliances.
If that is true, then that secret person with a close relationship to Lailah should at least be a inhabitant of Heaven.
But who was it?
In that incident with the Tokyo Tower at the centre, Raguel had said that Lailah was currently pursued by Heaven, and the troubling thing was, talking about the existance with a similar situation to her, other than Urushihara Hanzo a.k.a fallen angel Lucifer, Emi could not think of anyone else.
“That……shouldn’t be possible.”
Emi denied that thought directly.
It was not because Urushihara’s living attitude was bad and unlike an angel.
It was because if Urushihara had something to do with the ‘Yesod’ fragments and is Lailah’s accompliance, then his attitude towards Emi’s holy sword and Alas=Ramus should be different.
When Emi faced Urushihara at the Western Continent and at Sasazuka, even though she had used the ‘Evolving Holy Sword, One Wing’, during both these battles, Urushihara only treated Emi’s holy sword with the attitude of ‘a strong weapon used by a human’.
When Alas=Ramus appeared in Sasazuka, he looked like he was totally confused about toddler matters just like Maou and Ashiya.
“Therefore, it should be someone I do not know then.”
(T/N: MAYBE HE WAS FAKING IGNORANCE!!!!)
Emi’s thinking also hit a bottleheck because she did not have enough clues, and she sighed.
But at least she knew a few things.
If the person who saved the young Satan=Maou is Lailah, that means that Lailah’s activity range included the Demon World, which meant that the other fragments might also be in the Demon World.
Even though the reason is unknown, but if her purpose was to combine the fragments once again, then the tales passed down within the Church about the holy sword and the Evil Repelling Armour should be a fake story which the long living angel Lailah intentionally changed and passed to the humans.
More importantly----
“Father knew everything.”
What her mother entrusted to Chiho, a memory about her father and the other holy sword.
And what her father said when he passed Emi to the Church which came to fetch her before the invasion of the Demon Army.
“Your mother should still be alive somewhere.” and the most obvious evidence is, this location which could not be entered without a ‘Yesod’ fragment. This meant that her father Nord already knew everything about Lailah. The reason why he specially applied for the deed and ownage rights was simply to have a reason to bring the needed tools and resources into the mountain to organise this place.
In addition, as long as Nord paid the set taxes properly, then the village and the lord would not be concerned about whether he used the hut or fields, and they would not spend effort to conduct land inspections for such a small land every year.
In reality, even if someone came to inspect the land, normal people would just see a withered tree and uncultivated forest. At most, they would probably think that the reclamation had failed.
“Other than that……one more thing is known.”
Emi turned back and looked towards the straight road from the withered tree to here.
“Actually the person who created this place should be mother.”
Her father was not a powerful sorcerer, that fact was definitely correct.
Even if he really knew sorcery, wanting to create a space where a ‘Yesod’ fragment is the key, even Emerada will find it difficult to do.
Anyway----
“As long as I investigate this place properly, I should be able to find father and mother’s secret.”
Even if she found the answer, it was not sure if she could clarify this complex and strange fact.
But she could not give up here.
After all, so many clues have appeared in front of her.
Therefore she could only pray now.
“‘Someone I don’t know’......huh?”
Emi discovered that her shivers from her feeling shaken had already stopped when she started thinking.
“I don’t know anything right now……and I also don’t know what the truth is.”
If she wanted to feel despair, it would not be too late to do so after obtaining the answer.
“First I need to search this hut thoroughly! Let’s go Alas……eh, Alas=Ramus?”
Emi, who forced herself to cheer up in a half spiteful manner, shouted in order to encourage herself, however after discovering that the important Alas=Ramus had disappeared, she frantically called the young girl’s name.
“Alas=Ramus? Where are you?”
No matter how she called, no one replied.
“D, don’t tell me?”
This flat ground was on the slope of the mountain.
And it was impossible for there to be a fence considerately installed on the boundary between the land and the slope to prevent falls, Emi who was worried that the young girl might have fallen down when she left Emi’s sight, momentarily turned pale.
Even though there was no need to worry about Alas=Ramus getting lost, and she could also fly in the air by herself, whether the young girl could make a proper judgement based on her situation to use her power was another matter.
Emi, who was worried that Alas=Ramus would get hurt by falling off the slope, went to the back of the hut to find the young girl.
“Oh, so you were here.”
When she discovered a small figure standing at the back of the hut, Emi breathed a sigh of relief.
“Alas=Ramus, we’re going into the house, come here.”
Emi called out to that figure, however----
“……”
“Alas=Ramus? What is it?”
Alas=Ramus did not react at all.
Emi walked up to the young girl’s side and looked towards the direction she was staring at.
“Seems like something was planted here before?”
Even though weeds have grown over time, on the ground where Alas=Ramus was staring at, there seemed to be a pit where something big had been buried.
“……Acies.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“…………Acies……Acies!”
“Eh?”
“Mama……where is Acies?”
“A, Acies?”
“Acies, where is Acies?”
Alas=Ramus was staring straight at the pit and shouting.
“Mama, Acies is here! Acies was here! But she’s gone! Why?”
“C, calm down a little, Alas=Ramus, who is Acies……”
Even though the sudden change in Alas=Ramus’s attitude made it difficult for Emi to hide her anxiety, she still knew that something important was going to happen.
Every time Alas=Ramus became talkative, and started to repeatedly mention terms which Emi did not understand and became a totally different person.
It was all when something related to the Sephirah happens.
Emi searched her memories with all her might for the name which Alas=Ramus had inarticulately shouted.
“Alas=Ramus, the ‘Acies’ you mentioned……does it refer to ‘Acies=Ara’?”
What Lailah passed to Chiho, and what Chiho passed on to Emi, the memory with regards to her father in the wheat fields.
At that time, her father had mentioned ‘Acies=Ara’.
Emi felt that the name which meant ‘Winged Blade’ in Central Trading language, was the other holy sword besides ‘Evolving Holy Sword, One Wing’.
However----
Alas=Ramus had said this,
“Acies was here.”
Emi had seen the same kind of existence of Alas=Ramus with her own eyes.
That would be the child who seemed to have been born from the ‘Geburah’ Sephirah, Iron.
If so, then ‘Acies=Ara’, who had the word ‘Wing’ in the name like Alas=Ramus----
“Is it the name of the child born from the ‘Yesod’ Sephirah?”
“Acies! I came! Acies! Where are you?”
Alas=Ramus shouted loudly at someone who had already disappeared.
If what Maou said was the truth, then Alas=Ramus should have been born from the ‘Yesod’ fragment buried in the ground. From this, it can be deduced that a ‘Yesod’ fragment, which was the original form of ‘Acies=Ara’, had been buried in the pit where Alas=Ramus felt something.
And considering that for a long time, nobody had visited this place which her father and mother had created----
“Alas=Ramus……it’s too bad, Acies is no longer here……”
“No! Mama must look for Acies as well! Acies’s smell is here!”
“Calm down a little, Alas=Ramus, Acies, like, like Iron, must have also gone to another place.”
Even if Emi tried to make Alas=Ramus calm down, the young girl did not give up.
When they first met Iron, Alas=Ramus had stubbornly went against Emi’s will and dissolved the solid form of ‘Evolving Holy Sword, One Wing’, and right now, Alas=Ramus’s expression when anxious to search for ‘Acies=Ara, was even more severe than that time.
“Mama, please, Acies……”
“Alas=Ramus……”
Even though Alas=Ramus could not be compared to a normal young girl, at least up till now, it was rare for her to disobey Emi to this extent.
Emi, who did not know what to do, decided to first pick Alas=Ramus up and comfort her so she could calm down, however, when Emi stretched out her hand----
“Mama!”
Alas=Ramus seemed to have thought of something, and used her small hands to tightly grab the fingers of both of Emi’s hands.
“Let’s look together!”
“Eh? Together means……eh? W, wait, Alas=Ramus……?”
The situation had developed to the point where Emi was unable to stop it.
Alas=Ramus’s forehead gradually started to glow, and a purple moon appeared.
“Aci~~es!”
Emi’s field of vision was momentarily dyed purple and white when Alas=Ramus shouted.
“W, why did things turn out like this!”
Emi shouted as she ran down the mountain with all her might.
Anyway, she had to leave this place as quickly as possible.
Even if she troubled over whether she should abandon the luggage on her back, Emi still became wary of the skies around her while running without care down the mountain.
Alas=Ramus’s actions were too reckless.
Alas=Ramus, who was too hung up on Acies=Ara, without any permission, activated the ‘Evolving Holy Sword, One Wing’, which had evolved to its final stage with its return to Ente Isla.
The holy sword released a large amount of holy magic which Emi had never experienced before, and the ‘Yesod’ light beam which pierced the sky could easily be seen even from tens of kilometres away.
Now was not the time to worry about lugguage, or about her agreement with Emerada.
The ‘Evolving Holy Sword, One Wing’ and the ‘Yesod’ fragment on Alas=Ramus’s forehad had already activated to this extent, and Emi was not so optimistic to think that she would not be discovered by anyone.
Without getting a chance to investigate that space, farming hut and the narrow flat ground, Emi ran with all her might.
The enemies which have confronted Emi with regards to the ‘Yesod’ fragments knew all about Emi’s true identity and hometown. Right now, she could no longer return to Sloan.
“……Not here, Acies is not here, why……?”
Alas=Ramus was bawling within Emi’s body.
Since such a strong power was released, then no matter which continent in Ente Isla the ‘Yesod’ fragment was on, there should be some reaction, however there was no response from Acies=Ara.
“Mama, sorry……sorry.”
Perhaps she understood what consequences her own reckless actions caused, when though she was crying from being unable to find Acies, Alas=Ramus still continuously apologised to Emi.
“It’s alright, Mama isn’t angry! Alas=Ramus didn’t do anything bad!”
Emi ignored the certain height difference and jumped down with all her might, and even if her face and body hit branches, she used the same aura and power for breaking the branches to rush down the mountain.
“To Alas=Ramus, Acies=Ara is an important existence just like Iron or ‘Malkuth’ right!”
“……Un.”
“You always, always wanted to meet them right! Because you have always been alone! Ever since you left the Tree lf Life, you have been alone!”
“……Un.”
“……Then we are the same! Mama is the same too!”
“Mama……is the same too?”
“Yeah……ahh, seriously, such a hinderance!”
Emi finally threw away all the luggage on her back which got in the way when she ran.
Emi, who abandoned all the complete camping equipment, food, and baby products for Alas=Ramus from modern Japan and became lighter, ran down the mountain with all her might.
Right now, what was left on Emi which could be considered luggage, was only the Slimphone in her pants pocket used to communicate via Idea Link with Suzuno and Chiho, who were staying in the faraway Japan.
“I have always been alone……and always been searching, so even if it is an enemy……even if it is an enemy I hate so much that I want to kill……I still want to see the person!”
Emi shouted as she descended the mountain at supernatural speed.
The animal trail grew wider and the slopes became less steep.
Both of them were about to reach the resting place for the hunters.
When she reached that place, confirmed the situation and activated her Heavenly Light Boots, whether in the air or on land, Emi escaped to the place that had nothing to do with her past.
Right now she could no longer meet with Emerada.
And could not fulfil her promise with Chiho.
She could not even return to Japan.
Even so, Emi was still unable to blame Alas=Ramus, and did not plan to do so.
Because she had always wanted to meet someone whom she did not need to hide her true self from, and also knew her true self.
Other than being related to the Tree of Life, Alas=Ramus was no different from a normal girl mentally. Thinking about how she had been staying in the ‘Yesod’ fragment core by herself ever since Demon King Satan was young, how could Emi blame her.
Anyway, the priority right now was to escape before being discovered by the ‘enemy’.
No matter which kind of enemy came, Emi should be able to fight and win.
But if the battlefield is Ente Isla, it was not difficult to imagine that the ‘enemy’ would be like Emi and wield power much stronger than when in Japan.
Depending on the enemy formation, she might be unable to hold back, and like this, the fact that Emi=Hero Emilia was still alive would naturally officially spread in Ente Isla.
Unavoidably, the many parties conflicting around Emi and the ‘Evolving Holy Sword, One Wing’ would start to plan, escalate and ignite violent clashes.
Emerada and Alberto will definitely be dragged in and the Church will not stay quiet as well.
If the Church Headquarters knew that Emilia had returned to her hometown, it might bring danger to Suzuno, who was in Japan.
If Suzuno was implicated, it would greatly increase the possibility of Japan, Chiho and Rika being affected by the danger.
If she came in contact with enemies, forget about Japan, in the end, there would be no safe place for Emi and Alas=Ramus in Ente Isla.
Forget about promises or the truth of the world.
Right now there was a need to hide her movements.
Emi ran continuously, even if her ‘enemies’ discovered that she was in Ente Isla, she could not let this matter become publicly exposed.
“…………Ugh?”
However----
“This, this is……”
When she was about to pass through the central plaza of the rest area, Emi frantically stopped in her tracks.
“Mama……”
Emi could not answer Alas=Ramus’s uneasy voice.
The space encompassing the entire rest area started to twist.
Just like a hole opening in the sky, the ground splitting, destruction of the streets, the scenery and space in front of her started to crack as if surrounding Emi.
“It’s a ‘gate’……”
Emi gritted her teeth.
It was too late.
The enemy had the advantage.
She did not expect that they would bring such a large group of forces and are willing to use ‘gates’ to chase a ‘Yesod’ fragment.
The first ones to appear from the crack in the ground were a group of people from the empire which ruled the Eastern Continent----the armed Afashan Knights.
Seeing that everyone had jade green bandanas with white borders tied around their hands, they should be troops from the Josuikin Knights.
As if surrounding a fierce beast, the Josuikin Knights pointed their spears at Emi once they appeared and surrounded her from all sides from far away.
“Ugh……”
Uncaring that Alas=Ramus, in a merged state, was still crying, Emi raised her hand, preparing to materialise the ‘Evolving Holy Sword, One Wing’.
“It would be better if you behaved, Emilia.”
However, after hearing the voice coming from within the Josuikin Knights, Emi momentarily held her breath.
“Even though with your power right now, you would be able to vanquish all the knights present, including me, but……”
“If you do such a thing, you’ll definitely regret it.”
Two men with vastly different appearances appeared from within the commanded troops.
One was an old man with a shaved head wearing dignified priest robes.
One was a young man with an afro hairstyle wearing a punkish leather jacket with words on it which definitely could not be found in Ente Isla.
“Olba……Raguel……”
Emi shouted the names of both the people with hatred.
“Don’t show such a terrifying expression.”
Raguel shrugged his shoulders.
“We already detected such a crazy reaction, it’s not as if we can leisurely stroll over when we’re attacking. Of course we’ll open a ‘gate’.”
“It’ll be troublesome if someone else came first.”
Olba said with a smile, that expression, just like when he travelled together with Emi and when he stood in front of her as an enemy after betraying her at Sasazuka, was difficult to read.
“……What business does an apostasy priest and a judgement angel have while bringing along so many Afashan troops? I really cannot see the meaning behind this combination.”
Emi said as she glared at the baldy and afro head.
“What do you think we are here for?”
Raguel ignored Emi’s stare and asked back in a belittling manner.
“About that. If the Church and Heaven came to ask me for help to rescue Afashan controlled by Barbariccia, it’s not as if I can talk to you guys about it.”
Emi said in a tongue-in-cheek manner while observing the reactions of the other party.
Then after Olba and Raguel looked at each other in shock for unknown reasons----
“I say that you’re not far from the mark.”
“……What does that mean?”
Even though Emi felt suspicious about the tone, like Olba was implying something with his words----
“Anyway, even though it depends on your attitude, our purpose this time is not snatching ‘Yesod’ fragments like that time in Japan. Because the situation has changed a little.
However, Raguel interrupted the conversation.
“Hero Emilia Justina, please come to Afashan with us.”
“Rejected.”
Emi replied immediately.
Olba and Raguel seemed to have expected things to turn out like this and did not even frown.
“For the moment, may I ask why?”
“Touch your conscience and think about what both of you did in Japan. People like you who nonchalantly do bad things and harm innocent people for your own purposes, how can you prove your justifiability?”
“I see, it does make sense.”
“Yeah, there’s nothing to say about that. Even so, you still have to come with us. You do not have the right to refuse.”
“Whatever you say. Either way my appointments this month are full. If it’s some cheesy supremacy playing house game, then look for the Demon King and play that.”
After Emi said that with a steadfast will, she faced Olba and Raguel, materialising the ‘Evolving Holy Sword, One Wing’.
“Olba, you are correct, I would be able to get rid of all of you with ease as long as I get serious. And I have no reason to hesitate. Back down, like this…………”
Just as Emi prepared to draw her blade and fight.
“Just now was……?”
A vibration was felt in the surrounding air.
Probably an explosion had occurred someplace faraway.
Wrong, no large destruction had occurred within her range of vision.
But Emi felt it.
The vibration came from west of her, which would be the direction of Emi’s hometown Sloan.
“Demonic magic……this is demonic magic?”
Not angel, and not human power, but energy which only belongs to demons from the Demon World.
The feeling of this kind of energy explosion came from the direction of Sloan.
Perhaps he had noticed that Emi had discovered that wave of demonic magic, Raguel showed a disgusting smile which made it hard to imagine that it came from an angel.
“A Malebrache, Draghi something, with a name which makes it easy to bite your tongue, is over there.”
Raguel said while intentionally looking in the direction of Sloan.
“Once I told him that the hometown of the enemy of the Demon General Malacoda is nearby, he insisted on following and wouldn’t listen to anyone.”
“……D, don’t tell me……”
Emi’s face turned pale.
“This is the Western Continent afer all, in order to avoid getting challenged by the Saint Aire Knight Troops which do not know anything, I did remind him not to do anything stupid. But if you’re unwilling to listen to us, I can’t guarantee how things will turn out.”
For stopping the strong superpower like the full powered Hero Emilia, Raguel’s way to saying this threat was too coarse.
“Malebraches are also demons. They are unable to obtain strong demonic magic in the Western Continent which is smoothly undergoing restoration. However it is still easy for him to destroy an unhabitated village.”
Emi will never be able to forget that soul so evil that it could not have belonged to a human hidden underneath Olba’s poker face at this moment.
“Emilia, I remember that your dream is to rebuild your father’s fields right.”
“O......Olba, w, what are you……?”
“I actually made a detour to take a look, your father’s wheat field, is still resiliently suriving.”
The blade of the holy sword started to droop like it was losing strength.
“So?”
Emi was unable to answer Raguel’s question.
Even though she was thinking with all her might, she was still at a loss.
Even if she threw off Raguel and Olba right now and flew towards Sloan with all her might, to a demon, it would be easy for it to destroy the fields and Emi’s old home.
When they took the chance to pass by Sloan during the journey to fight Demon King Satan, Olba knew about Emi’s old home.
Even though some wheat had survived at that time, her father was no longer around. Emi, who felt that the fields can no longer be restored, lost her hope.
After drifting to Japan, she had cried because she dreamed of that scene----the scene of living a stable and peaceful life with her father in her hometown village amongst the smell of wheat and the golden wheat heads.
A tear flowed out of the corner of Emi’s eye.
“I, I……”
The name of the Hero is the symbol of hope, the proof of justice.
In the past, amongst the bloody battles, Emi kept telling herself this.
However, her comrades in the past, Emerada, Alberto and Olba had realised that Emi’s motive for battling the Demon Army was only to fight her father’s sworn enemy.
This Emi saw this in the morning sun, she saw the time, which had been stopped since she was young by the Demon Army, turn again, the hope that her father might still be alive, the hope that the wheat she and her father planted had survived. However, the hope which would be able to move the time which had been cut off since the day she waved had a tearful goodbye with her father was going to be shattered in front of her.
It was not difficult to take revenge.
Even if the fields and her home were destroyed, Emi, under control of rage of hatred, would still be able to mercilessly make blood sacrifices out of Olba, Raguel, the Josuikin Knight Troops and the Malebranche standing by at Sloan village, it would be easy for her.
But like this, it would end.
Even though these are just fields and wheat.
But to Emi, this was the hope which deeply wished to regain ever since that day when she was young as she continued to gamble all of her life.
“What……should I do.”
Emi’s heart was easily conquered.
Was this the heart of the Hero who had saved the world from despair?
As if materialising the weakness of her heart, the ‘Evolving Holy Sword, One Wing’ in Emi’s hand became smaller and shorter than its form when materialised in Japan, and disappeared.
“Didn’t I say it before? You just have to obediently follow us.”
“……As long as I follow you, you won’t attack the village?”
“Of course. And I have said this in the beginning, we do not plan to harm you. But the pretext is that you would not resist or do something stupid like escaping back to Japan……”
“…...I don’t plan to do so.”
“I see, that’s good.”
After Raguel and Olba nodded in satisfaction, they raised their hands for the Knight Troops to lower their guard.
“Then let’s go.”
Ragule quietly announced, prompting Emi.
Emi started to listen and walked towards the ‘gate’ which Raguel and the others have opened.
When she stood next to the ‘gate’, Emi looked at the mountain slope she had just run down.
“……I’m sorry.”
After mumbling a sentence to the air, under Raguel’s prompting, she disappeared within the light of the ‘gate’.