[V11C23] Words, not Songs
Translated by Jodas 11: Envoy of the AbyssJust as the ground quaked, the mana density at the Third Spire: Water Bubble spiked rapidly.
The Thorn Witch’s vines, having detected the anomaly, stretched out towards the Third Spire.
“Block the path and coalesce as a pillar of stone. Lift the foolish ones to the sky as an offering.”
When a man’s voice chanted the ancient magics, a pillar of rock shot out from the ground and punched through the rose vines.
Like a wounded snake, the rose vines writhed and thrashed about all over the place. When he saw how powerful the vines still were, the caster who summoned the pillar — Kai — frowned.
“Damn you Roseberg… How dare you defile the Great Witch’s powers…”
Growling, Kai put some distance between himself and the vines. His stone pillar may have stopped the vines’ advance for a moment, but it was a matter of time before they broke through.
(If I borrow the Witch’s power, I could deploy a Rose Fortress of my own… but there’s no real merit to doing that.)
The rose flower adorning Kai’s hat — the Ancient Magical Artifact ‘Rebecca, the Chromatic Garden’ — was said to be able to replicate the magic of Rebecca Roseberg, the First Thorn Witch, at the expense of colors. Naturally, that included her signature Rose Fortress.
However, he didn’t really want to use the Rose Fortress here; not when it meant sapping away at the mana he had so painstakingly accumulated here. More importantly, large-scale magecraft such as the Rose Fortress consumed a great deal of the color he’d stocked up so far. That wouldn’t do for Kai’s beloved Witch.
(Pretty soon it’ll be about time for the human mages to go on the offensive…)
Now that the Crystal Rivet embedded in the Cradle had been removed, mana density within the campus was dropping rapidly. Add in the effects of the Thorn Witch’s Rose Fortress, and the mana density should drop to comfortable levels for humans in short order.
That much, at least, was within expectations.
He had miscalculated when it turned out that someone replaced the Ancient Magical Artifacts with replicas, but in the end it didn’t bother Kai all that much that the humans got their hands on those Artifacts.
Both human and Monster alike should die — that was the Chancellor’s earnest wish.
(Go on humans, take that artifact ‘Ignatius, the Severer’ and kill Monsters. Kill, kill as many as you can. And Monsters, feel the anger of your kin being robbed from you. Take your claws and fangs and kill humans. Kill, kill as many as you can.)
Kai hid himself in the shadow of a nearby tree and watched the battle unfold between humans and Monsters with dark fascination.
Just looking at him, one would see a twenty-something blond young man. He wore reasonably well-fitting clothes and had a hat with a rose ornament on. Considering the bandages wrapped all over his body, a human might mistake him for a wounded civilian. So even if they spotted him, they probably wouldn’t attack him on sight. That said, it would be a pain if they started asking who he was and why he was here.
If the Monsters were to spot him, it would be even more of a pain. Those guys didn’t consider Kai one of them, so they would attack him without a second thought.
When he thought about it, Kai suddenly noticed that blood was dripping from his left arm.
That had to be a wound from the last time a Monster decided to take a swing at him for no reason in particular. He was sure he had bandaged it properly, but it must have opened up while he was running around.
“Ah, damn. It’s staining my clothes again.”
Despite what he said, he wasn’t particularly fixated on his clothing like one might assume.
Out of the Monsters, it was a Greater Monster — the Vampire, Jill — who cared most about his appearance. That Monster was deeply in love with human culture.
While Kai could enjoy witnessing a spot of human suffering, he had no real love for human culture. He only wished to appear presentable enough to be worthy of standing beside one precious woman — the beautiful Witch.
As he fretted over a stain on his clothes, Kai noticed a man running past him. A young man with an X-shaped scar on his face. That face, filled with malice, caused Kai’s lips to curl into a smile.
“Oh Witch, oh Great Witch… Behold, your malice has arrived.”
The embodiment of ideal malice reached for his weapon.
It was just about time to finish this.
Since Tia was flying about with her Magical Flying Device, she noticed the ground shaking slightly later than those down below.
After all, between dodging attacks from the flock of Eyeball Birds and singing to counteract her sister’s songs, she didn’t have the time to watch closely what was going on down below.
Through those songs, Tia tried her best to persuade her sister. It was not as simple a matter as conveying her message through the song’s lyrics. They were conveying and discerning nuanced emotions through the song itself, a method of communication only Harpies could use.
Typically, they would use these songs to share their emotions with the others. Even at great distances, they could understand each other with their voices alone.
Naturally, however, this method could only convey such nuances. If they wished to share detailed information, it would be much faster just to use words instead. But when you didn’t want other species to pick up on what you were saying, this method was preferable.
—Lala, sis, you don’t have to fight.
—Leave this place, Folulutia. And don’t come back.
She could convey her emotions through her songs, but she couldn’t convey why she felt that way. Tia found this very frustrating.
(…I need words.)
Before, Tia didn’t mind so long as she could share her feelings with her kin. To let them know when she was having fun, so they could feel it as well.
And if there was a threat, she could communicate ‘Run!’ or ‘Let’s kill it!’ just as easily. That was all a Harpy needed to say.
But now, shouting at each other with these indistinct emotions wasn’t enough to get across the message she wanted to communicate.
(Sis, the humans are more of a threat than you think. If humans came to attack us in a flock, we wouldn’t have any chance of winning. The humans are are only a tiny fraction of all the humans that are out there. I know, because Mr. Hütter showed me a map once. This side of the Wall is only a tiny sliver way in the corner of the Empire. The Empire is way bigger than that, and there are a whole bunch of other countries outside of it, too!)
—Lala, I don’t want you to die. Run away!’
—No. It is you who should run, Folulutia.
Tia wanted to cry.
Until now, just singing had been enough. Just sharing how she felt through song had been enough.
(The moment the Monsters all got together and attacked the Wedge Tower — the moment they gave the humans a reason to band together — the Monsters already lost. Even if the Monsters win today, a whole bunch more humans are gonna come to kill us! But there might still be a way to avoid extinction now. If we go back to the Crystal Territory, we might still be okay. So please, Sis, go back!)
Nearby, Haydn and a few other mages who could use flight magic took to the skies. There were yet more familiar faces on the ground such as Director Hegelich.
She couldn’t use words to say what she wanted in front of them.
Then, suddenly, Charonlala’s song stopped.
Harpies were capable of making three voices at once. They had no issues singing and talking at the same time. And yet regardless, Charonlala paused her song to declare:
“You speak of the threat humans pose, but…”
Charonlala’s amber eyes shifted to the North.
Only then did Tia notice the anomaly that had occurred within the Wedge Tower.
“Can you still sing the same tune while looking at that?”
All across the Wedge Tower, the crystals that had coated it cracked and fell off the walls. By now over half of it had returned to its normal appearance. Thanks to Rose’s vines, the mana density was becoming ever thinner.
…And despite all that, something was emerging from the Third Spire: Water Bubble. Like a stew of intense malice and mana all mixed together.
And with it, she felt a gaze linger on her from down on the ground. Someone was looking up at Tia with intense emotions.
“……Rrrrr…”
Tia’s throat instinctively warbled with a mix of rage and hostility.
It was a black-haired girl staring up at her from below. The very same human who stole Tia’s freedom and demanded she sing for her with a carefree smile.
Her superior Harpy hearing could pick up the girl’s voice.
“I’m so glad, you came back for me. My sweet little birdie.”
The moment she saw her, she was convinced.
That was the one who made the soup of malice and mana.
First, there was her sister, Charonlala — Please Sis, run while you still can.
Second, that fateful girl, the Daughter of God, Fiene — I hate her. But I just have to bear it for now.
And third, the pale Monster standing beside her, the King of Monsters — Ah, how terrifying.
These conflicting emotions mixed and brewed within Tia’s head, paralyzing her with their intensity.
She had pulled too hard on the thread of her fate, and now saw the end of the rope. At this moment, Tia’s fate as well as the fate of both humanity and Monsters hung in the balance, and yet…… Her Harpy eyes spotted a black silhouette.
A blond man strolled through the skies. She knew this man, it was the Greater she ran into earlier, the Vampire. And dangling unceremoniously from his arm was…
“Pyoeeehhh… Mr. Hütter!?”
The one man who had nothing to do with all of these fates, the Dream Mage Caspar Hütter, now captured Tia’s full attention.