Fortunately, Lyutillis’s timely arrival helped dispel the somber mood that had been building up in the room. Lyutillis then joined everyone at the dining table and Tragdi watched in disgust as she moaned in pleasure upon experiencing Meiru’s “punishments.”
“Your Majesty, I’m sorry for interrupting your meal, but this is urgent!” one of the scholars shouted, running into the room a half an hour or so after Lyutillis had arrived.
Miledi and the others exchanged glances, then rose to their feet.
Everyone made their way over to a room in the corner of the palace.
“The ability to turn your will into magic?” Miledi asked in a confused voice. Oscar and the others looked just as lost.
Tragdi, who’d also heard the full report from the scholar, nodded and said, “Do you remember that rainbow barrier that protected the pillar in the cathedral? Didn’t Lyutillis-dono say that she sensed a will from that barrier? And once you finally succeeded in destroying it, weren’t you all more exhausted than you should have been?”
After cross-referencing the information Miledi had given the dragonmen with all the archives in their library, the scholars had gleaned something from a fairy tale of all things. The fairy tale was a cliched one about a hero defeating the Demon Lord, but it was ancient enough to be from the age of the gods. The hero in that tale turned his unrelenting desire to protect one specific woman into power, then used that power to fight the Demon Lord.
“The description of the barrier the hero creates in that fairy tale is strikingly similar to the one you destroyed. And the story states that it was the hero’s unbending will that gave birth to that barrier.”
“But, Your Majesty, isn’t that just some made-up form of magic to make the story seem more exciting?” Laus, who’d come to join everyone else upon hearing that there was an urgent report, asked.
Stories often showed their protagonists gaining fantastical powers to fight against evil.
Tragdi nodded in agreement and answered, “It’s true that this particular story is a simple fairy tale, hence why we paid it no heed at first either.”
The fairy tale didn’t even mention Ehit anywhere, though it did mention a goddess and a sacred tree.
“A goddess? Not Ehit?” Oscar muttered, almost to himself.
However, Tragdi heard him and replied, “Correct, Ehit’s name is nowhere to be found. Granted, while we all refer to Ehit as a he, his gender has never been made clear, so perhaps the goddess is Ehit.”
Regardless, that wasn’t what Tragdi had found interesting about this particular tale.
“More importantly, read the hero’s words as he casts the barrier. ‘Nothing shall despoil this sanctuary.’”
“Those are the same words you felt from the barrier, right, Lyu?”
“Yes, it was a thought so strong it sent shivers down my spine.”
Lyutillis shivered again simply from recalling it, and Tragdi cast his gaze over the others.
“The exhaustion you felt after destroying that barrier was more than just the tiredness one feels after using up most of their mana, wasn’t it?”
“Well...” Miledi trailed off, carefully choosing her words. She then looked at Oscar and the others and continued, “At that moment, I had this thought. It wasn’t just my mana or Lyu’s evolution magic that was powering me. The knowledge that everyone was with me, that I wasn’t alone, that we were all here fighting for the same future, gave me strength. I felt like we were more united than ever before.”
Miledi blushed a little after saying that.
“I know exactly what you mean. I think this is what people mean when they say their hearts are one,” Meiru said.
“Yes, I felt it too,” Lyutillis said. “This overwhelming belief that us seven could accomplish anything if we put our minds to it.”
“Me too. Even though we didn’t understand that barrier, I knew for sure that we could break it,” Naiz added.
“Yes, exactly. Our respective desires for liberation overlapped in that moment,” Laus stated.
“Hang on, are you suggesting we used magic from a fairy tale?” Vandre asked in disbelief.
Oscar adjusted his glasses, let out a long sigh, and answered, “All of this is true, but to answer your question, Your Majesty, being drained of our mana wouldn’t be enough to explain the exhaustion we felt, no. When the barrier was finally destroyed, I felt like my willpower had been sapped away. You all felt it too, right?”
Miledi and the others lapsed into thought, chewing over Oscar’s words.
Salus and the others listened quietly, not wanting to disturb them.
“There’s no point in worrying about it.”
“Yeah, what matters is that we have a new lead, so all that’s left is to see where it leads us.”
“Your Majesty. What happens to the hero in the story after that?” Baharl asked.
Tragdi shook his head and replied, “I don’t know. This particular book ends with the hero going on a journey to chase after the Demon Lord.”
The prevailing interpretation was that after creating a haven for his girlfriend that the Demon Lord couldn’t break, the hero decides to finish the Demon Lord off once and for all.
“Should we return to the Pale Forest?” Lyutillis suggested. The forest had its own sacred tree and was considered a ‘sanctuary’ for the beastmen. Lyutillis was confident she knew all there was to know about the forest, but she also couldn’t think of anywhere else to investigate.
Before Miledi and the others could say anything though, Tragdi shook his head and said, “No, you should make your way to the southwestern edge of the continent, to the Azure Lands.”
Oscar and the others exchanged confused looks, but then Miledi looked up in realization and stated, “You want us to visit the vampire nation.”
“Correct. They are the only race with a history more ancient than ours.”