East of the royal capital was a shrine known as the Sacred Garden. Clearly visible from the Saintess’s Spire within the palace, the shrine stood on a small hill amid densely packed trees. Although seemingly ordinary, the area was heavily guarded and only accessible to the royal family.
“They say the founder of our nation received divine revelation atop that hill. Humans are so fond of their quirky little legends and folklore, aren’t they?”
Standing on a vantage point overlooking the distant shrine was a figure clad in a gray robe, hood pulled low over their face.
“Turning the past into myths, passing down these stories from generation to generation...” the figure muttered. “What a fascinating human habit. With lives as short as theirs, I suppose it makes sense...”
The hooded figure—the Conductor—slowly lifted their head to look up at the sky.
Even the Great Human-Demon War, in which the two species had fought and bled and died on the battlefield, was to this day the subject of many such myths and legends. However, very few records remained of the valiant heroes who had played the most vital roles among humans at the time. For better or worse, legends never told the full story, and were always embellished.
The legend of the Sacred Garden and the nation’s founding was likely one such tale.
“I’ve always thought that one had been exaggerated upon a bit too much,” the Conductor said with a sigh. “At this rate, the country will fall...”
A gust of wind coming from the north rustled the underbrush and blew back the gray hood. The Conductor—who wore the face of an androgynous young man that had once been called Afred—brought a hand to their exposed forehead.
“And...unfortunately, I can only think of one person who could stop this crisis.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Move it,” Seagall barked.
“You don’t have to keep rushing me,” Zenos replied nonchalantly.
After being arrested at the Royal Guard outpost, Zenos had been transported in a windowless carriage straight to the Guard’s main headquarters, located in the administrative ward of the nobles’ special district. He’d been taken inside from a back entrance, brought down to a basement of some sort, and led to the innermost room.
“Um, where are we?” he asked as the door was unlocked and they went inside.
The place appeared to be a hall with an enormous complex magic circle at its center.
“This doesn’t look like a jail cell,” Zenos mused.
“Stand over there,” Seagall commanded, pointing with his chin at the magic circle and roughly shoving Zenos toward it.
“What’s this magic circle for?” Zenos asked as he stepped onto the intricate pattern. He’d been certain he’d be thrown into a holding cell.
Not knowing much about magic circles, he used a protective spell on himself just in case this one was some kind of torture device for prisoners. Though his magic was dampened by the special handcuffs, it would still have some effect, he hoped.
But Seagall’s answer surprised him. “This is a teleportation circle.”
“What...?”
Zenos seemed to recall Carmilla mentioning something about those during her tale back at camp. Teleportation magic circles were one of the technologies developed during the Great Human-Demon War, capable of transporting those within them to different locations. He didn’t know any specifics about how they worked, but...
Wait, wait, this can’t be good!
Overcome with a bad feeling, Zenos tried to get away from the magic circle, but a vortex of wind spiraled toward its center, and an enormous gravitational pull tugged at his feet, almost as though he were being drawn into a sinkhole. A barrier sprang up around the edges of the circle, blocking his escape completely.
Zenos glanced over at Seagall, who stood outside the circle with his arms crossed, looking clearly pleased.
“Where is this sending me?”
“For abducting and imprisoning the saintess, you’ve received the maximum punishment applicable by law. You’re going down the well.”
“Down the well?”
A strange sensation washed over his body, as if space itself were twisting around him. Just as Zenos was teleported away, he heard Seagall’s smug voice.
“We’ll never meet again, but I’m sure you’ll wish you’d been sentenced to death instead.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Zenos found himself in a rainbow-colored space, falling straight down as moments in time flashed through his mind one after another.
He saw the people he’d met during his time at the orphanage—his mentor, his best friend Velitra, his sister figure Liz. Then his former adventuring companions—the Golden Phoenix and their leader Aston. Then Lily, Carmilla, and the demi-humans of the slums with whom he shared a life at the clinic. Becker, Umin, and Cress from the Royal Institute of Healing. Those he’d met when infiltrating the Black Guild: Pista the information broker and her father the Beast King. Charlotte, Ilya, Ryan, and Eleanor—the noble teens he’d taught at Ledelucia Academy. Those he’d traveled with during the hunt in Zagras: Roa, Aska the Sword Saint, and Jose the elite healer. Melissa and Grace, the commander and healer he’d met at the western border.
The faces of everyone he’d met on his journey thus far came to mind, then quickly faded away, one after another.
“Whoa!”
Finally, the teleportation ended abruptly. The feeling of floating vanished, and gravity tugged at his whole body, making him brace himself with his right foot to avoid pitching forward.
“Wow. So that’s what teleportation feels like. Impressive.”
It had to take an enormous amount of mana to transport matter through space like that. Even maintaining the system must’ve been a monumental task.
“So...where am I again...?”
The area around him was dark, and it was hard to see anything. Beneath his feet was another magic circle, seemingly identical to the one that had sent him here. And based on the way his voice echoed, he assumed this had to be a pretty wide space.
Seagall had said Zenos was being sent “down the well.”
Whatever that meant, the knight likely didn’t have the authority to do it on his own, so it had to have been ordered by the prince whom Seagall had mentioned. The sentence had been carried out shockingly quickly, and Zenos hadn’t had the chance to alert his friends back at the clinic. The first order of business was to figure out where he was, and then decide what to do from there.
“Hm?”
The sound of dripping water echoed in the distance, along with what sounded like the approaching footsteps of a number of people. As the uneven vibrations drew closer, the glow of torches lit up the darkness ahead. About ten men were visible in the dim light—all of them unshaven, horrendously filthy, and covered in wounds. Some of them were limping.
Still, Zenos figured perhaps they were open to conversation. He raised his hand and called out to them in a friendly tone, “Hey, do you guys have a minute? I got sent here without an explanation, so I was hoping you could tell me where I am.”
None of the men smiled.
“We got a new one.”
“Yeah. I knew I heard the circle doing its thing.”
“Finally, some fresh meat.”
“Hey, hands off! That one’s mine!”
“Oh, shut up. I called dibs!”
“Huh?” Zenos muttered. The men had not only ignored his question, but were having a rather concerning argument.
“Get his ass!”
With that, they all charged at once.
“Seriously...?” Zenos let out an exasperated sigh. “Hey, I don’t want a fight. Can we just talk about...”
He trailed off, figuring it was a waste of time—the men were clearly not listening. In fact, his attempts at diplomacy only seemed to make them even more eager for blood.
“Take thiiiiiis!” the man leading the charge yelled as he raised his right hand.
Zenos shot him a confused look before sighing again.
Enhancement magic it is, then.
A blue light quickly enveloped his body, and within a measly 0.3 seconds, he snapped off the handcuffs binding his wrists together. And then—
“Guuuuuh!”
“Gwaaaah!”
“Gyaaaah!”
With his enhanced arms, Zenos scattered the charging men in just about as much time as it’d taken him to break his handcuffs.