Heroes and Machine Girls Looking at Profiles

76 – The land where the warrior sleeps

“Captain!!”

“Huh?”

At the sound of her adjutant’s voice calling her own, the woman turned her own blue eyes and looked behind her.

Head of the 2nd Holy Knights of the Goddess Church, Elena Philod.

She had a majestic appearance wearing strong armor decorated with pure white goddess religious symbols.

But looking at her face, she had such a gentle appearance that I wondered if she was really her knight.

In fact, she was a farm girl who never envisioned her future as a knight during her childhood.

The atrocities of her crazy pagan religion led her from being a farm girl to becoming a paladin.

…If there had been no fanaticism, she would not have lived as the daughter of an ordinary farmer.

And, the same goes for the members of the Second Holy Knights led by her.

“I found their traces!”

“Yes, judging by the traces he left behind, it looks like he left in a hurry… Of course, there must be a clue left behind.”

Currently, the place where the 2nd Knights, including them, is located was none other than a relic facility that had been stolen.

When they arrived, it was already empty, with no fanatic imperial soldiers remaining.

So, we were searching the ruins and looking for their traces.

“Yes…And…Inside the ruins…”

“Huh?”

As her adjutant’s voice trailed off, Director Elena looked at her.

The adjutant could not bear to continue speaking and pointed to the door leading inward.

That place is the deepest part of the ruins, where the statue of the goddess Erdiya is located.

Looking at the adjutant’s face, her anger showing as she pointed to that place, Elena had an ominous feeling and hurriedly left the place.

“…These…These rotten heretics…”

There, only the terrible traces of the statue, which had been shattered and the remains of which remained, remained.

At this situation, which was tantamount to blasphemy, all the knights around were trembling with anger.

“Some of the knights will stay here, and the rest will go after them. We can’t just leave them alone.”

“Yes, Captain!!”

The Holy Knights, energized by the broken statue of the Goddess, quickly advanced in pursuit of the heretic’s footsteps.

It was almost like a forced march, but none of the Holy Knights moved without a single complaint.

And then, what caught their eyes…

“This…This…”

“Oh my god…”

Numerous imperial soldiers and corpses of fanatics, or heretics.

It was also lying in a horrible shape, as if it had been torn apart with great force.

“Ugh…”

“Off…It’s terrible…”

It was such a terrible scene that even those who had been burning with anger against those who had ruined the Goddess Church’s facilities and statues just a moment ago turned their heads away without realizing it.

“…What happened?”

Director Elena, who was following her footsteps with a life-like spirit, also looked at her surroundings with trembling eyes, as if seeing something strange about her, and muttered.

“Umm…”

「What are you doing?」

As I was looking at the map and feeling sick, I heard Reinforce’s voice.

“…Something is strange. It’s completely different from the terrain depicted on the map.”

「Yes?」

The map clearly showed that there was a valley around here.

But where there was clearly a valley marked on the map, there was nothing.

Did it collapse and disappear in the aftermath of the war?

But even so, there is no way it could have disappeared so cleanly without a trace.

「…Huh?」

“What’s wrong?”

「…Over there, over there…Yes, a little further to the right.」

I gently turned her direction as Rein Force said, and then looked at the place where she told me to stop.

There was nothing there.

Still, since Reinforce was sensitive to these things in many ways, she moved forward, thinking that she might know something.

The time when Ortrinde stood in front of me and Zikrune stood behind me and moved as if guarding me.

Suddenly, Ortlinde disappeared.

“This is…”

「Welcome, this is a magic spell. Yap!”

It seemed like a little divine power was coming out from the Reinforce, and the surrounding scenery changed as if it were falling apart.

Ortlinde, which had disappeared, appears, and the scenery of the forests where there was nothing around becomes blurred.

While doing so, a small village appeared.

…I’ve never heard of a village in a place like this, and it’s not even marked on the map.

Furthermore, it has a high magic resistance, so it is an illusion magic that fooled even me, who is immune to most illusion magic.

It must have been created by someone with extremely high skills who took time to create it.

With that thought in mind, as she was shaking her head, she felt a presence.

“Master.”

Ortrinde raised her guard, raising her shield and sword.

I could feel the presence and gaze of about a dozen people around me at the same time, and there were people pointing arrows at us.

…Well, neither I nor the Valkyries will die from arrows like that, but it does hurt if we get hit.

He calmly raised his hand and showed that he had no will to fight.

Ortlinde and Zikrune also holstered their weapons and slowly raised their arms.

…If you think about it, we were the ones who broke the illusionary spell and invaded at will.

Among those who were surrounded, one person walked forward.

She was a young woman.

“…Who are you? How did you come into this village?”

A woman with long brown hair was glaring at us sharply.

…Honestly, coming here was completely by accident.

“It’s a misunderstanding. Our map and the terrain around here are different… So we just came across this by chance while we were researching.”

“But our ancestors destroyed the original barrier. There is no way you are ordinary people.”

Ah.

That’s it again.

After going through so much trouble to destroy the pro-barrier, it’s natural to be angry.

“Ah… Uh… I’m sorry about something.”

“Huh?”

“You must have had a hard time hitting the barrier…”

“Oh, that’s no problem.”

When I raised my head to see what the woman was saying, something surprising happened.

The barrier that had clearly been destroyed was being restored.

…It seems like it was a barrier that a high-ranking mage worked hard to achieve.

“Destroyed barriers will be restored over time. There is no need to worry about that.”

“I…I see.”

“It’s different from the map… Was there a mistake made while readjusting the barrier? An investigation is needed.”

After saying that, the woman called her subordinate behind her and ordered her to do something.

Her subordinate was running somewhere, and she looked towards us again.

While Ortrinde, Sieg Rune, and I were making eye contact for a moment, the woman glanced at my waist for a moment and raised her hand.

The bows that were being aimed nearby went down at the same time.

“…There doesn’t seem to be any hostility. It could be our mistake regarding the barrier, so let’s leave this matter undisclosed.”

“Thank you… But may I ask where this village is?”

“Umm…Did you say you came in by mistake…?”

The woman stared at me, then closed her eyes as if thinking for a moment.

Then, she looked at me again and said.

“Well… Since you’ve already entered the village, you’ll find out later anyway. This place doesn’t have a name.”

The woman continued her words.

“However, we call this village Ariellezi.”

“Arielege…?”

“…This is the land where the hero Ariel sleeps.”

Hero Ariel, I didn’t expect that name to come up.

I continued the conversation while hiding my surprise.

“…I know that the hero Ariel lost his life while protecting people.”

“Well, I guess everyone knows that.”

The first hero, Ariel.

Full name is Ariel Belle Cloeti.

As you can see from the name, the Cloeti Kingdom is a dynasty that started from the family of the first warrior Ariel.

Well, that doesn’t mean they are Ariel’s direct descendants.

The actual ancestor of the royal family is said to be Ariel’s younger brother.

However, perhaps because they want to wear the glory of Ariel, the first hero, the Cloeti Kingdom boasts that they have inherited the bloodline of Ariel, the first hero.

Anyway, the first hero, Ariel, was originally supposed to be the king of the Cloeti Kingdom.

However, it is said that monsters suddenly appeared in various places, and Ariel, the first hero, was caught off guard in a fight with monsters, lost his life, and disappeared.

In the end, her younger brother sat on the empty throne and inherited her will and revived the kingdom.

Well, this is roughly the story.

But the hero Ariel, whose whereabouts were hidden, is said to have fallen asleep on this earth…

Something smells suspicious.

“Follow me.”

As I walked along with her, I was able to look around her village.

It was not a bad village with the atmosphere of a small country village.

「……Uhm…」

‘What’s wrong?’

「No, that’s a bit of a feeling of déjà vu…」

‘You were originally the sword used by the hero Ariel, right? So, maybe that’s how you feel.’

「Hmm… Is that so? But it was long after she died that her consciousness as me arose…?”

How long did I walk while having a little conversation with Reinforce?

When we arrived, it was in front of the tomb.

A simple, but neatly maintained tomb.

“…This is the tomb of the hero Ariel.”

Hearing the woman’s words, I looked at the grave.

Next to the small grave, there is a small tombstone.

And then, there was something next to the tombstone.

“Maybe it was because of the wind, wait a minute.”

Having said that, the woman approached and turned it.

It was a portrait.

Portrait of a blonde woman’s face.

“This is a drawing of the hero Ariel at that time.”

“…Ugh.”

The first hero, Ariel.

She is a beauty with blonde hair and blue eyes.

But to be honest, I was a little agitated and made an involuntary ugh sound.

「Ah… Hmmm…」

Reinforce was also a bit silent.

Why?

The appearance of the extremely beautiful warrior Ariel.

Because he looks exactly like someone I know very well.

Yes, with that damn woman, Anies della Cloeti.

…First of all, the bloodline itself seems to be certain.

While the woman was tilting her head at my strange reaction, someone came running towards me.

It seemed like he was a subordinate sent by the woman earlier.

When her subordinate said something, the woman nodded her head and approached us.

“…I checked the barrier. In fact, there was some adjustment that was slightly wrong. It was our mistake, so let’s apologize.”

“Yes, I know that barrier adjustment is more important than that…”

“You are shameless. Suddenly something strange happened around here. We had to make some hasty adjustments.”

It’s an oddity.

I don’t know what the strange thing is, but I decided to keep it in a corner of my mind.

“So, what do you think about this town?”

A random question from a woman.

I answered that question honestly.

“…It’s a nice town. Once I leave everything behind, I want to live there.”

“Really?”

The woman smiled and opened her mouth.

“To hear such words from a modern hero, as the village chief of the land where the first warrior sleeps, I couldn’t be happier.”

……

I got caught as expected.