LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 169: Pleiades
Colorful flowers had been planted all around a fountain, this garden was on the grounds of Fishnatica although beautiful the rain was making it seem somewhat subdued. A single girl stood in the garden, her eyes were closed and her face was turned up at the sky so that the rain was landing on her face.
“Masamune……”
Kotori muttered and looked down at something she had clasped in her hand.
“…….”
It was a simple blue ring.
‘Please take this, we’ll be able to talk even when we are apart.’
Kotori was looking down at the ring remembering what she had been told.
“Masamune, why did you leave me? Why did you go without saying anything?”
‘It’s because she is manipulating him.’
Why did that person give me this ring?
“Masamune, I…..”
Kotori had a cold look in her eyes.
“Masamune, I will save you. My Masamune, only mine….”
Something changed in Kotori as the ring shone on her left hand. She swore something to herself as she stared up at the sky. Behind her a stranger appeared on the stairs that led into the school building. Noticing their magic power she turned around to see someone in a grey robe with the hood hiding his face.
“Who….”
They spoke without revealing their face.
“I saw you at the tournament.”
Kotori raised her hand in caution and deployed a magic circle at her feet just in case.
“Who are you?”
Kotori was frightened.
“I spoke with Kawachi earlier and received a pleasant reply.”
“Kawachi?”
“Senior blacksmiths are not that easy to find and are valuable. The emperor wants someone like you, please lend me your power.”
The stranger bowed.
“My power? What do you mean? Who are you?”
“Dams Kale….”
Thunder roared as lighting flashed in the sky. It lit up the garden enough for Kotori to glimpse the mans face and see that he was most likely a beastman.
“I am a messenger from the empire.”
※
After Nito left Patrick was walking down the hallway at Halekuwait with a dark look on his face. He was alone until Braums appeared at the end of the hallway.
“Oh, you don’t look so good. If you’re a guardian then you should act like one.”
Patrick had been looking at the floor but he looked up when he heard someone speak.
“Braums……”
“So this is where you were then.”
“Uhm? Yes, I’m a student.”
“I see…….”
“What’s the matter?”
Why was Braums here?
“I will be leaving. I have finished all of my errands and Fiora is waiting outside.”
“I see…..”
Patrick gave a weak reply.
“By the way I heard that you were a prince. Are you planning to return to Razhausen after graduation then?”
“Well, yeah… I am the prince.”
“I see……”
Braums then starts to talk like he had figured something out.
“For now I just want to talk with you and then you can decide.”
Patrick was confused.
“I don’t know what will happen in the future so I will be going on a journey to find the others who have a contract with a spirit Queen or King.”
“Is this about Nito?”
“Of course it is. Is that a problem?”
After a moment Braums sighed.
“Now that you have the power of the spirit queen you have a duty as a guardian. You are not allowed to give up, if you don’t like it then break your contract with the spirits. You’re free to do so of course. But I think that you know that this is not a coincidence. You are now part of something greater than yourself. You need to be prepared for it because if the result of this journey is that the guardians gather then you can no longer escape it.”
“……Yeah.”
Patrick just nodded.
“Goodbye then. Do not neglect your training.”
Braums left but Patrick was totally fed up with everything that was happening. Sarah and Yui appeared beside him.
“I really don’t like that guy. I wonder why Voluto chose him?”
Sarah sounded indignant.
“But he’s still and SSS rank adventurer. That can’t all be because of the spirit queens power can it?”
Yui immediately denies that opinion.
“No! I can assure you that it is entirely the power of the spirits! He relies entirely on their power!”
“What?”
“Call it a spirits intuition!”
“………”
It seems Yui didn’t like him either.
“But if he can get to SSS rank then so can you Patrick! If you could use my power properly you could probably even become an SSSS Rank!”
“I have no interest in becoming an adventurer. Besides, their ranks only go to SSS.”
Patrick sighed while Sarah and Yui were getting more and more excited the more that they talked. But in the end they were helping to alleviate the depression that was threatening to swallow him.
▽
Back before Nito had captured the dungeon and before the competitions for the teams had even begun, in the holy land of Greyberg.
A new king had taken the throne and in the forest near the wall two people were watching.
“Khalifa, isn’t this a bad idea?”
It was Leonardo and Khalifa.
“I have to confirm if it really is Guinevere.”
“Are you talking about the daughter of the king? We already collected Olivers cocoon. Shouldn’t we be going home now?”
“Before I meet Nito again I have to find out everything that I can.”
After taking Nito to Halekuwait he had taken Khalifa to Tanya village to recover Oliver’s cocoon. But afterward Khalifa suddenly announced that she was going to Greyberg and not wanting to fail the request that Nito had made of him Leonardo had no choice but to go with her.
“It’s fine, I’m going to infiltrate Greyberg. I’m used to this kind of thing.”
At one point in time Khalifa used to help Kagetra sneak into the royal castles and assassinate the rulers. But she figured Leonardo didn’t need to know the details of how she had gotten the experience that she had.
“Besides, assassination is easier if it’s just one person going in.”
“Assassination!? You’re going to kill someone?”
“I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that but there are some cases where it may happen.”
If the current Guinevere was the same princess Guinevere of her past then a hypothesis of hers will be proven.
“Still, I don’t know. We are superhumans so it is possible that Kagetra is still alive somewhere.”
But Guinever was a normal human. Kagetra’s disappearance happened 150 years ago. Khalifa was still alive but she was sure that normal humans could not live for 150 years.
“So, it can’t be her.”
And if she was still alive something that Khalifa found unusual was why would the princess of 150 years ago now suddenly be the princess again in Greyberg. But Khalifa was convinced that ‘she’ was here.
“Leonardo you should deploy a magic circle, a teleportation one?”
“That’s fine but…..”
He didn’t want her to infiltrate.
“Shall I deploy a magic circle for you instead?”
“Yes, it takes time to prepare teleportation magic. That being the case it is basic infiltration practice to secure an escape route first. In this instance our escape route will be teleportation.”
Leonardo and Khalifa both have a blue ring on their fingers. This is called a ring of friendship and it allows those who are far away from each other to communicate via telepathy. They even come equipped with special teleportation magic so that they are able to teleport to each others location while the location they left is marked so that they can easily return. By connecting the two rings to each other you will be able to always know the others movements.
“I won’t go in too deep, do you mind waiting with the carriage? I’ll come running if there is any danger.”
Khalifa confirmed the plan with Leonardo once again then headed out of the forest but in that moment her vision suddenly turned white.
“Huh……”
She was now in a white world filled with fog. It was as if she was walking above the clouds when suddenly a person appeared before her. When she saw who it was tears began to run down her cheeks.
“Zephyr…. Why…”
Zephyr appeared there, Khalifa’s bestfriend and her lover.
“Zephyr, why are you here?”
Khalifa asked with tears in her eyes.
“Khalifa listen to me we don’t have much time.”
“I waited for you…..”
“I know but we can’t celebrate our reunion, my true existence is elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere?”
“Pleiades.”
“What…..”
Khalifa was surprised but she gradually came to understand the meaning of his words.
“Everything was true it wasn’t a fairytale. They know it when I give out any information so I can’t tell you much.”
Khalifa wiped her tears and listened.
“Don’t go to Greyberg yet, It’s dangerous. If you’re going then you need to take Masamune with you.”
“Masamune?”
“Nito. His real name is Masamune.”
Khalifa had a lot of questions that she wanted to ask. One of them being why she shouldn’t go to Greyberg but…
“Okay..”
Khalifa replied.
“If you can wait it’s better that I come back to life first. Also when you bring Oliver and I back to life choose a place in public.”
“In public? What do you mean? Then everyone will see.”
“It’s safer that way. They will know we’ve escaped. Choosing a public place will give us some time. So whatever you do, don’t do this in a place without people.”
“………”
Khalifa didn’t understand but she knew to some extent that Zephyr was trapped.
“Do you understand Khalifa? Gather information before you act and if you can don’t go to Greyberg until after Masamune revives me.”
Zephyr had come to stop Khalifa from invading Greyberg. But at the same time it proved her hypothesis correct.
“In other words the Guinevere that is in Greyberg…”
“I can’t tell you anymore.”
“……..”
“Wait in Beyoment and Masamune comes again let him know.”
“……..”
“Khalifa?”
Zephyr waited for her reply. However she didn’t reply, right now she was thinking about the others, Shawn, Kagetra, and Adolf. She knew what happened to Shawn but what about Kagetra? And Adolf said he would be back but never was.
“Khalifa I can’t give you the answers you want right now. I have already said to much and I have to go back.”
“Until when…..Until when do I have to wait?”
“Wait until Masamune returns. I believe in him so you should as well. We should leave what happens next to him.”
“I don’t know when he will be back?”
“I’m leaving now.”
“Wait!….”
Zephyr’s body started to disappear.
“Get away from Greyberg and wait in Beyoment.”
Then Zephyr disappeared completely.
“Zephyr? …..Zephyr!?”
But there was no reply and when she blinked she was back where she had been right outside the forest.
“Khalifa?”
Leonardo was hiding in the shadows watching her.
“…….”
Khalifa didn’t answer but after a while she turned around and headed back towards the carriage.
“Huh? Khalifa?”
“The plan has been cancelled, let’s go back to Beyoment.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
Leonardo didn’t understand.
“I don’t mind but…”
Inwardly Leonardo felt relieved. He was aware that if things went wrong since he was the one that brought Khalifa here he might accidentally cause a war between Dams Arden and Greyberg.
“Alright… Let’s go.”
“Okay..”
Leonardo climbed onto the carriage and began to take them away from there. Although Zephyr seemed to be afraid of leaking to much information he had told her where he was. ‘Pleiades’. She didn’t quite know where or how Zephyr was trapped but for the time being she knew that Masamune was aware.