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  Prologue: Target

  In the Kingdom of Beltrum, inside the capital of Beltrant...

  The wedding ceremony between Charles Arbor, eldest son of the Duke Arbor family, and Celia Claire, daughter to the Count Claire family, was suspended.

  After having his bride kidnapped, Charles met with Reiss, the Proxia Empire ambassador, in the drawing room of his estate. Reiss was clad in formal dress, its subdued coloring conforming to that of a military uniform.

  He sat down on the sofa opposite to Charles. “What a terrible misfortune this has been. You must be most pained to have your beloved fiancée abducted like this. As a long time friend, I’d like to express my deepest sympathies for your woes,” Reiss consoled in a low and calm voice.

  Meanwhile, a somewhat panicked expression flickered over Charles’ face. “I-Indeed. I am most grateful for your kind words. It fills me with shame to have you come all the way to our kingdom only to be subject to such a spectacle— I fear that this incident may have caused inconvenience to the Proxia Empire...” he said, watching Reiss’ expression.

  “Unfortunately, that is correct,” Reiss agreed without mincing words. “At present, the situation is terribly regrettable from the viewpoint of the Proxia Empire too. The current Beltrum monarchy led by the Duke Arbor faction must always be at its best, after all. Surely the negative impact to your country in this incident cannot be overlooked, don’t you think?” There had to be a considerable number of nobles in the capital that secretly held antipathy towards Duke Arbor’s faction, and he was asking if they could be silenced.

  “...There is no need for you to worry about that. The current capital has no opposing nobility with any power.” Despite nearly tripping over his words, Charles managed to reply calmly. “In that case, all is well. But there has been movement from the Huguenot faction to create ties with the Galarc Kingdom. There will be trouble if the rebels left and drifted that way instead, yes? For the current Beltrum monarchy to be weakened any further,” Reiss said in a somewhat dubious tone.

  “Of course, I am aware of that.” Charles nodded with great vigor, his voice squeaking in a strange manner.

  “That is wonderful to hear. If the alliance annulment between Beltrum and Galarc were to be taken off the table, then it is possible my kingdom would back out of the friendship treaty,” Reiss said nonchalantly.

  “T-That would be a problem! That isn’t what we agreed on. We have already started to distance ourselves from the Galarc Kingdom, as we negotiated. There is no way we can compromise at this late stage!” Charles objected, suddenly taken aback.

  “That is why I am saying that the Duke Arbor regime must maintain a tight grip of the reins on the Beltrum monarchy... at all costs. I’m counting on you. There’s no turning back at this point.”

  It is because of you Arbor factionists that the Kingdom of Beltrum is like this, after all... Reiss added in his mind, a cold sneer lingering on his mouth.

  “Guh... B-But of course. This much will be of no concern.” Charles was rendered speechless for a moment, then agreed in a panicked voice as though he was trying to convince himself. After finally making a comeback when it came to his own honor, he couldn’t afford to stumble here.

  Reiss appeared satisfied for a moment. “How reliable to hear. That will allow me some peace of mind. But, that aside... Are you taking any actions to solve the kidnapping case of your bride?” he suddenly inquired. “...In the name of the Kingdom, the perpetrator has been eliminated. However, as you know, Celia’s whereabouts cannot be determined at this moment in time. The perpetrator most likely had a hidden accomplice who took her away. My subordinates have sealed all the roads in the residential outskirts near the capital and are searching every nook and cranny, but...” Charles grimaced with a bitter expression as he offered somewhat useless information.

  “Oh? Eliminated, you say? I only saw him from afar, but he seemed to be quite the skilled individual... My, my, how splendid indeed.” Reiss widened his eyes exaggeratedly.

  “...He was indeed a handful to deal with. But according to the report, the man was struck by a single blow from Alfred of the Royal Guard and was blown apart, leaving no remains. A fitting fate for a bandit.” With no corpse to be confirmed, it would have been more correct to say his status was unknown, but Charles exaggerated the facts without hiding his disdain.

  “Is that so... If the renowned strongest of the Beltrum Kingdom—the King’s Sword—took him on, then your conclusion makes sense. How unfortunate for that bandit... No, it was a reckless attempt to begin with.” Reiss nodded contemplatively.

  He probably just concealed his whereabouts well. After the commotion, the powerful spirit aura disappeared outside the capital. It seems reasonable to assume that the spirit materialized and took the bride away. The bandit was most likely a powerful spirit arts user, too. Why, the whole thing is so daring, it could even be called a work of art... Reiss analyzed quietly in his heart, contrary to his spoken words.

  “...Truly, there should be a limit to how reckless, foolish, and shameless one can be. How despicable...” Charles fumed with gritted teeth, tone dripping with deep-set hatred.

  Even with the perpetrator dead, as long as Celia was missing, Charles and the Duke Arbor family would remain in a state of shame. He was trying to remain collected in front of Reiss, but he was seething with rage underneath the surface.

  Reiss could see clearly through Charles’ current state of mind and condition. I don’t know what the bandit was aiming for by abducting the bride, but it wouldn’t be good to have only the Beltrum Kingdom continue to suffer blow after blow. It would be best if the Duke Huguenot faction could cause some significant damage to the Galarc side... Goodness, this man is a handful to deal with indeed, he thought tiredly to himself as he watched Charles fuming before him.

  “At any rate, I pray that you can find your bride as soon as possible. I will inform my country of this incident in a way that doesn’t disadvantage the Beltrum Kingdom. It is the least I can do to lessen your burdens right now, as a friend,” Reiss said cheerfully, pasting an empty smile over his face.

  “...I am most grateful for your consideration.” Charles sighed in relief, bowing his head at Reiss with utmost respect.

  “It is nothing. Our fates are already intertwined. Let’s see this through to a successful end, yes?” Reiss said, chuckling quietly.

  “Indeed.” Charles nodded with great vigor.

  “Ah, speaking of which. I heard the president of the Ricca Guild, Liselotte Cretia, is among the invitees. Out of all the invitees from the Kingdom of Galarc, isn’t she the most important?” Reiss suddenly changed the topic, recalling the matter.

  “Hm? Yes, she was invited in place of the royal family. The Ricca Guild’s influence in our kingdom is fairly deep-seated, after all,” Charles said somewhat uncomfortably. He was probably thinking about how undesirable it was to invite a great noble of Galarc amidst the current peace negotiations with the Proxia Empire, which were leaning towards the distancing of their relations with the Galarc Kingdom.

  “Well, it’s true that you cannot ignore them outright. I’ve heard that she’s quite the talented woman, that Liselotte Cretia. The Ricca Guild’s name has reached even the Proxia Empire, after all.” Reiss showed no signs of concern towards the fact Liselotte was invited to the ceremony, chatting as though he was gossiping instead.

  “Well, she’s still a fifteen-year-old girl. I’m sure the capabilities of her father, Duke Cretia, played a big part...” Charles said, watching Reiss’ expression carefully.

  “However, that economic influence cannot be ignored, yes? For our future, too,” Reiss said with an implying tone.

  For now, I suppose I can make an a
ttempt at meddling with her. It’s a bit early in the grand scheme of things, but we originally planned on attacking Amande anyway.

  The corners of his mouth turned upwards faintly in a repulsive smile.

  Chapter 1: The Plan From Here

  Revisiting the evening when Rio took Celia away from the capital...

  Accompanied by Aishia, Rio carried Celia as he flew through the air with spirit arts, heading towards Duke Cretia’s territory in the Kingdom of Galarc towards the southwest. Their current position was in the skies above a vast forest near the border of Beltrum, directly east of the capital.

  In the vicinity was the trading city of Amande, where the Ricca Guild was based and Liselotte Cretia acted as governor. Rio had chosen Amande in the Kingdom of Galarc to escape to, partially because he wanted to put as much space between them and the capital of Beltrum, and partially because he wanted to stock up on all the daily necessities Celia would need at the Ricca Guild.

  They talked about many things on their way here: the topics changed from Rio’s original flight out of the kingdom, to what happened on his way to the Yagumo region, to what happened on the way back from Yagumo to Strahl, and so on. They took turns talking about what had happened in chronological order, but there was simply too much to touch upon to get through everything. Even now, they were still chatting away.

  “I see, so now you’re searching for the heroes from every area...”

  Rio had explained to Celia about Miharu, Aki, and Masato: how they were summoned from another world, how he had looked after them, how he had left them in the care of others, and how he was searching for their friends and family, who had a strong possibility of being heroes.

  “Yes. The incident this time allowed me to confirm that the hero of Beltrum wasn’t who I was searching for, but do you have any information about the other heroes, Professor?” Rio asked Celia hopefully. Despite how she had been shut away in the guest house of the castle for a while, he figured that, as a noble, she would have more gossip-like information coming her way than most others.

  “I didn’t hear it through an official announcement, but I know of two other places other than Beltrum with sacred stones that summoned heroes. Also, there’s another sacred stone within Beltrum, too. It was probably taken, along with Princess Flora, by the Duke Huguenot faction. Were you aware of that?” Celia asked.

  Rio’s eyes widened in awe before he smiled. “I knew I could count on you, Professor Celia. This is the first I’m hearing of any of that.”

  Celia’s cheeks reddened somewhat shyly. “I-It’s no big deal. The hero summonings made quite a buzz, so I did a little research of my own. The rest was what I heard and overheard from others.”

  “No, the researcher I questioned in the academy probably didn’t have any interest in current affairs, because he could only tell me the name of the hero that was summoned in the castle,” Rio said with a faint smile.

  “Ahaha. Well, the nobles that choose to work as researchers tend to be an odd lot. But when you say you questioned a researcher... Ah, I see. You snuck into my room in the castle. And you’re flying through the air like this. It really is amazing, this spirit arts thing...” Celia suddenly came to her senses, expressing her awe towards spirit arts for the umpteenth time that day. There were too many shocking events and stories that had happened, completely numbing her to everything, but her nature as a researcher was strongly drawn towards spirit arts.

  “Hmm. Rather than saying spirit arts is amazing, it’s more accurate to say that Aishia is amazing. The difference in ability is far more evident in spirit arts than it is in magic.” Rio hummed in contemplation before he spoke in reference to Aishia, who was flying beside them silently.

  “Haruto is more amazing,” Aishia said simply.

  Celia turned to Rio cheerfully, expression tinged with amusement. “Fufu. Aishia seems to be saying something to the contrary, though?”

  “Ahaha. That can’t be right.” Spirits were known as the progenitors of spirit arts, and Aishia was a considerably high ranked one among them. However, Rio decided to easily laugh it off, as the conversation would get long if he went into detail. After all, Aishia was unlikely to budge from her stance.

  “The two of you are both amazing to me... And I’m truly happy to see you’ve grown up into such a fine young man, Rio. You’re so much taller than me now, too.” Celia grinned as she complimented Rio.

  He had been especially ridiculed during his school days for being unable to use magic, but he had actually been able to utilize an amazing ability in spirit arts instead, which he had used to save Celia from her predicament. That fact made her so unbelievably proud and happy that she could hardly contain herself.

  “Thank you very much,” Rio said with a slight smile.

  Celia was looking up at Rio’s face with a pleased expression, when she suddenly thought of something. “...Huh? Hold on, wait a minute. There was another person who was summoned along with the hero in the castle, but they weren’t able to communicate with anyone other than the hero. Were the kids under your care able to communicate?” she asked, her mind having been derailed from the topic of the hero search.

  “Ah, umm... Well... I guess that part was kinda noticeable after all...” Rio grimaced with a somewhat troubled face.

  “...Umm, was it perhaps something I shouldn’t have asked about?” Celia must have noticed the change in Rio’s expression.

  “No, I was just wondering what would be the best way to explain... For now, since the sun is about to set, let’s rest around here for today. We’ll continue this conversation after that.” Rio shook his head evasively before turning to address Aishia beside him and slowly began to lower his altitude. “Let’s descend to a suitable clearing, Aishia.”

  Although he had experience explaining to Miharu and the others about how he had memories of his previous life, even if it was Celia — no, no matter who it was — he needed the time to prepare himself before explaining.

  “Ah, okay.” Celia nodded hesitantly, softly tightening her grip that was hugging onto Rio. Then, once they found a clearing in the forest that they could land in, Rio gently lowered Celia down to the ground.

  “I’ll prepare a place for us to sleep right away, so please wait a moment. Be careful not to get your dress dirty.”

  “...Okay. Are we staying here overnight?” With a slightly dazed expression, Celia looked around at the area nervously. There was nothing but dense undergrowth and thick trees in the dimly lit darkness, filling the forest with silence.

  “Yes. But we won’t be camping outdoors, so don’t worry.” Rio crouched down and touched his hands against the ground with a grin. He was currently using spirit arts to secretly stabilize the ground foundation, but there was no way Celia could know that.

  “Huh? But...” Celia tilted her head.

  “Dissolvo.” Rio stood up and chanted. He held up his left hand with the Time-Space Cache armband on it and manipulated his essence, activating the sorcery hidden in the armband.

  “Huh?! Wha...” Celia’s eyes widened in shock. Suddenly, the space before her eyes twisted and distorted, making a giant boulder appear.

  “It looks just like a boulder, but the interior is a house. Please, come this way,” Rio explained with familiarity, walking towards the front entrance. However, Celia remained standing in a daze, completely at a loss for words.

  “...”

  The standard of sorcery in the Strahl region couldn’t even use the basics of time-space sorcery, so her surprise was reasonable.

  “Professor?” Rio called out to Celia nervously, worried he had scared her a little too much.

  “What... is... this?” Celia’s mouth opened and shut wordlessly.

  “Umm, it’s called the Time-Space Cache. It uses a time-space sorcery that releases an isolated, empty space separated from time. Or rather, it’s a magic artifact with that inside it.” Rio folded back his left sleeve and showed Celia the Time-Space Cache he had equipped.

  “T
he Time-Space... Cache...” Celia murmured the name and looked at his armband with great interest.

  Then, after a long pause with nothing but her gazing at his arm, Rio called out to Celia once more. “Professor?”

  “I can’t... anymore,” Celia whispered quietly.

  “Eh? Could you please repeat that?”

  “Argh! I can’t take it anymore!” With no concern for how her dress hem was dragging along the ground, Celia closed in on Rio in one lunge.

  Rio was taken aback. “Y-Yes?” he stammered, taken aback.

  “I was holding back from asking about everything, figuring it’d be better not to carelessly ask about those logic-defying spirit arts things, but... enough! Tell me more about that armband, and everything else! Or, rather... Will you let me study that armband?!” Seeing the advanced sorcery crystal had awakened the researcher’s heart within Celia. She looked up at Rio’s face from close-range.

  “Wha... Ahaha!” Rio couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Celia returned to her senses with that and blushed faintly.

  “...W-What’s so funny?” She asked in embarrassment.

  “Nothing, it just brought back memories. Seeing that look return to your face makes me feel really happy, Professor.” Rio held back his laughter and smiled gently.

  Celia flushed scarlet and pouted her lips. “Wha... G-Geez! It’s all because of you, showing me all these impossible things! Anyone knowledgeable about sorcery would have reacted in the same way, not just me. You can’t show this Time-Space Cache or any of your spirit arts in front of others, got it?! It would cause all sorts of unnecessary trouble!” she lectured with reproachful eyes.

  “Ahaha, of course. But it’s only you right now, Professor, so there’s no need to hide it, right?” Rio gave a bright smile as he watched Celia in return.

  “Ah... Oh, geez!” Celia’s blush reached its peak as she struggled for breath. Unable to look directly at Rio’s face, she looked downwards instead.

  “Professor?” Rio inclined his head curiously, peering at Celia’s face.