“As for me…” she began. “I think the completion of these magical devices came as the result of Erika’s tireless efforts to make them happen. She’s the one who built the foundation and brought them almost to the edge of completion. It might’ve been Hijiri’s advice that got them over the finish line, but they’d never have been completed with no foundation to work from. That’s what I think, at least.”
“She had faith, huh? She kept toiling away on her inventions.”
All alone. All so that one day, she could take revenge upon Vicius. So that she could be ready whenever an avenger appeared.
“Maybe meeting you on your journey to get revenge on Vicius gave her hope. After you left, she kept on working hard at her research and crafting. Heh heh… She was working so hard… I was glad Lis and I stayed behind to help her out around the house.” Eve smiled, remembering something. “There was this phrase she’d always say while she worked, wiping the sweat from her forehead. Sounded like a mantra more than anything else…”
I’m going to smile someday—no matter what.
Erika had forbidden herself from smiling until the Goddess was defeated.
“I think she just wanted to help you somehow, even if she is still bound to that place,” said Eve.
“I’m sure glad the Forbidden Witch turned out to be her.”
“Hmph. I expect Erika is also grateful for our assistance.”
…We need to win this to give Erika back her smile.
“So the awareness-blocking device that Erika made lasted all the way from her place to the border of the Land of the Golden-eyed Monsters?” I asked.
Eve shook her head. “Just like your war chariot, it made it out of the thick of it but didn’t last the whole way.”
It also sounds like the blocking was only limited to golden-eyes. And with limited time and materials, Erika was only able to make one. Unfortunately, these things won’t be able to factor into our showdown with Vicius.
“But you made it through the rest of the way alone?”
“You’re right to be doubtful,” Eve replied.
Didn’t she say once that the monsters might see her as one of their own? Maybe that’s why they don’t attack her…?
“I went east through the Land of the Golden-eyed Monsters. Well, I was tacking south a little, so I suppose you could call it southeast…” Eve went on to explain that she barely came across any monsters in her path. “I can think of a few different reasons that might explain why. The first being the mistake I made that time I drew a large number of golden-eyed monsters to my position.”
“Back when Piggymaru and I rode around on Slei as a decoy, right?”
“Hmph. In that battle, you defeated loads of humanoid types and strong golden-eyed monsters near Erika’s domain. I believe you might have drawn out the ones by the border.”
I thinned their numbers, huh.
“After we left Ulza the first time, we went in from the south,” I said.
Back then, I was killing the golden-eyes for EXP. Then there’s the fight Eve just mentioned, which thinned their numbers even further. Kirihara must have also taken quite a few of them from the northern reaches as he traveled south to where we met him. Seras and I also fought them at that fortress in northern Ulza. The Goddess used a demonic lure that looked like some weird mouth to bring them there. There’s a high possibility that that thing brought all the golden-eyes in the southeast to our location.
“But there were golden-eyes once you got out of the depths, right?”
“Well… Hijiri said the heroes once went to the eastern parts of that land to hunt for experience points,” Eve replied.
I see. So that’s what happened to those monsters on the outskirts.
“Also—did you hear that Hijiri was poisoned by Vicius, and made her way to Erika’s domain from the capital of Alion?”
“…Did she?”
Those two sisters are S- and A-class heroes. It sounds like Hijiri was still fighting the effects of the poison all the way up until they hit the depths. So back then…
“The two of them killed golden-eyed monsters as they went.”
Those monsters probably thought they’d found a new home in the east—only to find themselves being slain, instead. That must have made other monsters think the east was too dangerous and that they should keep clear of the area…
It’s ironic. The southeast is a dangerous place, swarming with golden-eyed monsters…but now it’s gotten so dangerous that even they are avoiding it.
“That allowed me to head toward Alion while hardly encountering any of them. It might also have helped that I was on my own.”
I guess she had Lis with her the first time she ventured into that place… And Lis makes an easy target, given how she looks. Maybe what Eve said about her being considered a monster wasn’t a joke after all.
“I also surveyed my path ahead of time, using Lis’s familiar to take a look,” Eve explained.
“So, you used them as scouts to find a safe route, eh?”
Then Lis’s familiar came here, once Eve was safely out of the forest.
“It seems like Lis has been busy ever since Erika collapsed while supporting you.”
At least now I understand how Eve made it out of the Land of the Golden-eyed Monsters alone.
“Still, y’know Eve…”
“Hmph?”
“You could have asked Lis’s familiar to let us know you were coming ahead of time. But, well…” I looked down at the backpack that Eve had placed on the ground before me. “…I can guess why you didn’t.”
“Heh heh, always consider the worst-case scenario. You’re the one of the people who taught me the importance of that.”
This anti-Vicius magical device might play a big role in defeating her. And who knows where her eyes and ears might be.
“I decided to keep this quiet. Even the fact I was on my way here was a secret…until we could actually meet, of course. We decided to keep this between the three of us—me, Erika, and Lis. Erika said that if you found out I was coming, you might try to come and meet me halfway, and I didn’t want to risk that. And we won’t be able to tell whether this magical device is actually going to have the intended effect on Vicius until we try it out.”