Meanwhile, in the Western Empire, a cage was being rolled along on a cart which made a horrific rumbling sound. The cage was draped in a jet-black fabric so it was impossible to tell what was inside. The trolley was being pulled by several brawny men, who all seemed stiff and nervous. The Western Imperial Army was surrounding them all, and in the center was a massive magic circle.
“Ah, they’ve made it,” the chief delegate muttered, then laughed. With this, the kingdom was as good as theirs. “Wonderful. Put the cage in the magic circle and unlock it.”
They would be using the magic circle to send the contents of the cage to the kingdom before the army made its move.
“Er, it’s not too late, sir... It’ll be extremely dangerous to let it out.” One of the men surrounding the cage said. It had taken the lives of thirteen men just to capture it alive.
“Hmph. All the better. That’s why we’re sending it to the kingdom. It’ll take care of those pests before we even get there. With any luck, it’ll take down all the hunters stationed in the forest and the nearby villagers, making our jobs a lot easier when we get there.” In fact, it should take out the poor unlucky king who just happened to be on the field trip there as well.
The envoy was rather knowledgeable about monsters. Unlike in the kingdom, those who specialized in monster studies in the Western Empire were treated quite well. In the kingdom, monster hunting was left up to the lords on the borders of the barrier, but in the Western Empire, hardly anyone who had such knowledge was sent to hunt them. Those who dedicated their intellect to monster studies were seen as especially valuable, and would spend their time in an office in the capital of the Empire simply giving orders. Interacting directly with monsters was left solely to those called “safekeepers.” Though the practice was outlawed in the kingdom, there was no small number of slaves among those safekeepers in the Western Empire.
The delegate gave a nasty grin. “Were you aware? There’s a certain little monster that likes to run around near the barrier in Skyte where our magic circle is set up.”
“A certain little... No, you don’t mean rainbow raccoons, do you?!” The shock spread through all the men who had brought the cage.
For a little while, there had been a thought exercise that had become popular among the safekeepers: What would be the worst possible combination of monsters you could encounter if the monsters of the northern and southern continents were in the same place—something that could never possibly happen. Of the combinations they came up with, the worst possible one they’d all agreed on was the monster they were sending in that cage from the southern continent, and rainbow raccoons, which only appeared on the northern continent. They’d barely managed to capture this beast because it was all alone, but if there were rainbow raccoons in the kingdom...
This envoy was about to re-create the exact nightmare scenario the safekeepers had only ever considered in hypotheticals.
“Well, I hear the safekeepers...or, sorry, I believe they’re called hunters in the kingdom? I’ve heard they’re quite skilled. Surely they can wear it out to some degree. We can just wait until it’s exhausted and capture it again,” the envoy said, ignoring the men’s fears.
“But...but we’re talking about rainbow raccoons! There’s no way! There’s nothing we can do if they’re in the same place!” The envoy’s idea was pure sophistry. What would a man who only knew of that monster, who’d never even come face-to-face with one, possibly know? There was no way that a human could possibly face one of those monsters and a rainbow raccoon at the same time. Not only would it be enough to bring the whole kingdom to ruin, but it would also be putting the Western Imperial Army in trouble when they came out of the magic circle afterward.
“Oh, quit with your whining and move the damn cart already,” the delegate ordered, before the men’s fear could spread to his squadron. He had been waiting for the perfect chance to bury that awful, irritating king for so very long. Out of all the kings he’d known as the chief delegate, none had ever made a fool of him like King Charles Constantine Royal. Just remembering it was enough to make him seethe.
“Sir, the cage is in place.” The cage had been left on the cart in the center of the magic ring. The men carrying it had all stepped away save for one, who remained behind to unlock the cage. “It really is dangerous, though. Please make sure it gets teleported immediately after the cage is unlocked. You can’t be even a second too late.”
By now, there were worried looks among the men opposing the plan and the soldiers who were standing by surrounding the area.
“I heard you the first thousand times! I’m well aware! You hear that, mages? Make sure you teleport it right as the cage is unlocked if you don’t want to become charcoal.”
At the envoy’s orders, the mages surrounding the magic circle lowered their hoods to cover their faces, which had gone pale with nerves. After all, it had taken many precious magic stones to make the cage they’d used to capture the beast. If the plan failed, it would cut them off from getting more magic stones, which meant the mages’ lives would soon be a living hell.
Vvvvmmm... The magic circle lit up.
“I’m unlocking the cage!” the poor soul left in the middle of the magic ring shouted. His voice cracked with his nerves.
“That’s too soon, you idiot!”
“Graaaaah!” The moment the cage was unlocked, flames rose up all around them.
“Teleport it already!” the envoy shouted.
“Graaaaah!” The man who’d opened the cage was unable to run and was engulfed in flames.
“Eeek!” The mages surrounding the magic circle all drew back in fear of the fierce flames.
“Yeeeagh!”
“Eeeeek!”
“Aaaagh!”
Suddenly, they heard screams coming from the Western Imperial Army, who were on standby even farther away than the mages. They’d suddenly been engulfed in flames and were screaming madly in the unbearable heat.
“You imbeciles! How many times did I tell you not to look directly at it?!” The delegate clicked his tongue at the soldiers, who were rolling around trying to extinguish the flames. These utter buffoons, getting themselves hurt before we even get to the kingdom...
Vmmmm...
In the chaos, the magic circle finally activated, and the cage and its contents disappeared without a trace. The teleportation was complete. Oddly enough, once the beast was teleported, all the flames burning the soldiers suddenly went out. It was as though they’d never been there in the first place.
“Check how many injured we have and report it. We’ll use this magic circle to head to the kingdom in two hours.” The delegate, who was thoroughly irritated by the whole affair, ordered his squadron and gave icy glares to all the soldiers who were lying about on the floor. Despite the fact that they’d been engulfed in flames, there weren’t any traces of burns on their clothes. Yet all skin that was visible was red and inflamed, and blisters were starting to form. The combat medics gulped at the sight of the horrible wounds from flames that seemed to only target what was human.
The chief delegate plopped down in the chair that had been readied for him and sneered. “I suppose it’s not so bad. Given how much chaos it’ll cause for us in the kingdom, a few losses are perfectly acceptable.”