Chapter 2: Magic Sanctum Invasion Strategy
I never did find out what the Demon Lord’s identity was in the manga. It might’ve been covered in the final volume… Grr! It frustrates me by the day! How could I have died with such horrible timing? Couldn’t the truck have waited until I read my manga?!
I’m cursing my past self for being such a klutz and the unknown truck driver for not watching where he was going while I draw a magic circle with a radius of about thirty feet in my manor’s dungeon.
“Nomoniet nomoniet ein ik… Transference Gate. Answer my request with this blood offering. My wisdom is absolute law.”
Silver light surges from the completed magic circle and fades. I step out of the circle and slice the back of my hand, letting the red drops drip into a small vial. Once it fills, I stop the bleeding and put a cork in the vial.
All done.
“Canna, I have something important to discuss with you,” I say to the maid fearfully watching my magic ritual from the sidelines.
I hold the vial of my blood out to her.
“I am about to break the Demon Lord’s law. I likely won’t return alive. Even if I do come back in one piece, I’ll be marked a traitor. Should I not return, and Analia’s army comes to attack the manor, I want you to bring everyone into this teleportation circle and escape outside. The spell will activate when you spill my blood in the center of the magic circle. I made it so anyone inside will be teleported to Gaea’s frontier land. You’re welcome to take all the gems, money, and valuables inside the manor with you. Use what you can to survive on your own in Gaea.”
I press the vial of blood into Canna’s hands. She looks up at me with astonished eyes.
“L-Lady Elle! What are you planning to do?! Why wouldn’t you return alive…?! I don’t want that! I don’t want us to be separated for good!”
“My decision…has been made. I do feel bad…for selfishly dragging you all to my manor and not being able to look after you until the end. Ultimately, maybe I am just stupid Elle, the trivial shrimp, the first of the Four Grand Magi to be defeated, and a disgrace… Sorry, Canna,” I apologize and climb the stairs out of the dungeon.
I hear Canna pleading with me to stop, but I can’t, not now. I could have scraped out a meager living in the shadows while keeping a wary eye out for Saint Aela. That was a choice.
I wanted to experience what it feels like to fall in love, too. I wish I could’ve eaten my fill of all sorts of delicious foods.
I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to live in my favorite manga, so I wish I could’ve seen Saint Aela just once. What fun it would be to see the main characters come together and watch the epic scenes unfold in real time.
But I have to make sure of it with my own eyes. Even if this choice leads to me being hunted down as a traitor who defied the Demon Lord and my eventual death—I want to confirm the Demon Lord’s existence for myself. I want to learn about what it is I have loved and believed in.
The power of magic is the crystallization of wisdom and technology. Sorcerers are the seekers of knowledge. Once something piques our curiosity and fans the flames of an inquiring mind, we can’t stop until we learn everything about it.
After all, the Demon Lord raised us to be this way.