Warring Monproximus

(3 month and 21 day after Klada Disaster)

[Kyrielle's POV]

The morning came not too long after went back to sleep. I feel extremely drowsy and can't even open my eyes properly when I woke up...

"Yawn...."

"You looked tired, Kyrie."

"Well... I just didn't get a good sleep yesterday...."

Truth to be told, I'm exhausted. Last night, getting to use a Mana Shield for the first time was exciting but it made my sleep worsen because I was too excited....

"I see. Anyway, breakfast."

"Thanks..."

It was just normal sandwich with a cooked dried meat from a boar monster that we hunted a few days ago.

'Nibble...'

"Does it taste good?"

"Yeah, it's not bad. It tastes a bit salty and meaty inside, while the bread's sweetness balances it out."

"I see. I added some pepper salt into the meat as I grilled it, so it should taste good."

"Mmm." 'Munches...'

"And here's mine...." 'Munch...'

"Come to think of it, why do you need to eat anything at all, Lynn? Aren't you like... immortal? You only hoard all the good food anyway!"

"Hey, it's good therapy to eat alright?! Even an immortal person like me needs some good food you know? Besides, I have packed enough tasty rations to last us the entire journey anyway, eating some wouldn't be a problem!"

"Well, not that I don't see your point. Even if I'm immortal so long as I'm alive I'll eat. It's one of the simplest but the greatest pleasure of being human afterall."

"Glad to hear that you actually agree with me on something for once."

"Don't we actually agree on a lot of things?... Anyway, I have been meaning to tell you that I gained my Mana Shield from the dragon last night. See?"

I applied Mana onto the surface of my body and sure enough a layer of Mana appeared on my skin and on my clothes, acting like a shield.

"Hmm... you can use one now I see. How's it's strength?"

"Still weaker than yours, obviously."

"Well, fret not though, because my Mana Shield is actually not that strong."

"You have got to be kidding right? If your Mana Shield is not that strong then how come not that many people have managed to injure you?"

"You see, under the law of Conservation of Energy, if my Mana Shield spends more Mana in being tougher, then that means it enhances my physical power less. I actually can't change this about my Mana shield, and as such I'm physically rather incapable, hahaha."

"Is that true?"

"I'm not lying. If you have a Mana Shield, you could most likely overpower me physically despite being smaller than me."

"Right... Then how come you are strong enough to physically throw people around? Like that time you slammed the 'not me' me onto the ground?"

"I used gravity magic on myself to boost my power. I can't directly apply gravity magic onto my opponents, but I can apply it onto my body to make myself stronger. Though I'm no good with martial arts, since I simply has no talent for it."

"I see.... So even someone like you is not good at everything huh."

"Who is good at everything? No one is omnipotent, even if they don't seem like it."

"Come to think of it, if magic is so strong, then aren't martial arts useless anyway?"

Lynn slowly raised her head and looked me in the eye.... Before she bursts out laughing.

"Huhahaha! Nice joke, Kyrielle!"

"I'm serious you know?..."

"Huhaha.... ahem, right... So you have never met a warrior that's crazy strong huh?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm asking."

"Martial Art Techniques are very VERY powerful. First off, most of these techniques are really fast to pull off. Secondly, they only require minimum amount of mana to pull off."

"Wait, martial art techniques uses Mana?"

"Yes. Techniques are like spells, they enhance an attack's inherent power, or speed, or a bit of both sometimes by using mana, although the mana is not expended. In a sense, you need some amount of mana to use martial art techniques, but you won't burn any mana from doing them."

"I see..."

"And the final reason as to why warriors are quite literally broken, many martial artists and warriors are extremely hard to hit with projectiles like arrows and magic."

"What do you mean?"

"They have a ton of ways to defend themselves using their weapons. Some extremely skilled individuals can even deflect a spell as powerful as Black Spear."

She must be talking about the two major defense of a warrior... Block and Deflect. I didn't know you can deflect a spell, that's new.

"And even then, the only spells that they can't deflect is large scale spells like Firestorm, but those take a long time to charge up and cast even for people like us who can cast them chantlessly. By the time you have fully charged up your spell, a sword would've ended up in your throat!"

"They sounds really dangerous."

"Yes! Though spells are powerful, it's difficult to hit someone that is fast and skilled at moving around. One of my close friend is a Spear Saint, and even I the Magic God have trouble hitting him with spells sometimes."

"I see... The warriors of this world is just monstrous."

"I actually agree with you haha. Imagine physically fighting B ranked monsters and win... Though a lot of warriors are weak, the strongest ones can't be triffled with."

"I'll keep that in mind the next time I encounter someone like that."

We continued on our walk on the cobblestone highway. Not long after a short reached somewhere which a giant tree fell off onto and so Lynn used gravity magic to lift it up and way from the road.

"Look Kyrie, there's our destination, the Exeter city."

As she lifted up the tree with gravity magic, I could see a far, but big walled city right down the road. A large and complex wall surrounds the entire city on top of a relatively flat land.

It seems that the area behind the city is a forest area, as the city lies right on the border of the forests and the desert. This means we are about the exit the desert now, into a forest biome that looked kind of similar to the forests found in places like America back on Earth.

"Lead on, Kyrielle."

"Okay. Let's go Lizzie."

"Oggrr!"

We continued walking towards the city on top of this desert plains, with me in front and Lynn behind.

....Deja Vu! I had this dream before! The scene is exactly as I have saw in that dream!

....wait a minute, the last time I had a dream like that, Aamon attacked us. Does this mean that something bad is gonna happen here as well?...

"Whats wrong? Why did you suddenly stopped?"

"...It's nothing, let's continue on to the city."

For now I just have no choice but to go along, but I'll just try my best to be extra cautious....

"I'm sure you already know this but the city we are approaching... It's currently in the middle of a civil war. Once we arrive, we may have to wait for the war to calm down before we can actually continue further east."

"I understand... War is unpredictable, and it just so happens that all of our routes have complications. We'll just have to wait the war out I suppose."

"Yes, if it gets too dangerous then we might even need to retreat away from the city. So, my point is that we must stay vigilant for whatever comes next, understood? In a war, there's no telling what might happen...."

"Understood...."

All sorts of things can happen during a war. Robberies, assault and even murder can happen. And especially for girls like me... there are fate worse than death. As such, I must be ready to defend myself at all times.

"Its selfish but I'll have to count on you for my safety, Lynn."

"Kyrielle...."

'Tap!...' 'Rustling...'

I was surprised when Lynn put her hand on my head and patted me.

"Of course I'll protect you, it's only natural! Besides, you should be more than capable enough to defend yourself now aren't you?"

"Mnn... You have a point."

"I trust that someone like you is actually strong enough to handle even elite soldiers. You just have to watch out of the fast and agile types and the ones who stabs your back."

"I think you are overestimating my abilities though."

"Now now, while I'm trying to make you feel better but I'm not actually lying. Mages are already rare enough in this world, let alone ones who is Master ranked or above, like you."

"Am I that high ranked?"

"I think so. A Master ranked Mage have the potential to destroy an unprotected city by themselves. You easily classifies into that rank, seeing as the two of your strongest spell, the Incineration and the Forbidden Sun is like that. This is also besides the fact that your biggest strength is actually your wits."

"I see... Thank you for the compliments, but I'm not someone as incredible as you think. Besides, you are speaking as if we are going to fight in the war itself, which I want no part in."

"I would prefer not to take part in any more wars as well.... They can fight their own war of fake ideals and noble causes, while I fight my own."

Speaking of ideals....

"I see... But if the time comes when you have to... will you actually fight in it?"

"Yes.... Maybe."

I wanted to learn more about these so called 'ideals' and 'reason to fight'... It seems to me that there isn't one and only universal idea to fight for though, seeing as how not even Lynn has it figured out.

"I see... Well we'll just try to stay out of the war anyway. Let's go to the city now then."

"Right."

____________

[Third Person POV]

[The City]

"(Captain... This is officer Dao reporting in. I see two individuals with a mount approaching us from the west.)"

Using a magic device attached to their ears, a sentient doll which is called an automata, reported to their commander while standing on top of the city wall's watch tower.

The magic item sends whatever they say back to the Head Quarter like a radio of sorts, using advanced Telepathy magic to do so.

"(Is that so? Who are they?)" A voice replied back to the automata from the magic item.

The automata gathered Mana into its eyes and enhanced it's vision.

"(Huh?...)"

"(What's wrong, officer?)"

"(No, it's just that they are humans...)"

"(Humans? So far west? Are you sure they are not undeads?)"

"(No sir. They look to be human, one has long white hair and the other has a red twin tail. That twin tail girl looked really cute though!)"

"(I don't need to hear your admiration for the features of a little girl, get to the point.)"

"(Right, excuse me.... They don't appear to be hostile it seems, what should we do?)"

"(Let them approach the gate but don't open it. I'll personally greet them.)"

"(By your orders, commandant.)"

__________________

[Lynn's POV]

As we approached the city by foot and when we are about 50 meters away, I saw many guards being alerted and gathering on top of the city wall. It seems that we are causing a commotion, but it's a good sign that they aren't attacking us on sight.

"Lynn...?"

"They didn't attack us on sight at least... Leave the talking to me."

"Will do."

Soon, we had arrived at the front of the main gate....

"(Halt, travellers! Who are your two and why are you two approaching this city?)"

A demon which appeared to be a kobold is yelling out towards us.

"(I am Lynn, and my travel partner here is Kyrielle. We are trying to pass through the city and head towards the east.)"

"(I see... Do you have any weapons or anything dangerous on you?)"

"(We have some survival daggers, if you consider those as weapons.)"

"(No. Do you have a passport or something similar to that then?)"

"(Here.)" I showed him the Right of Passage card that I acquired from King Hal.

"(That is!... Soldiers, open the gate!)"

It seems that this kobold guard was surprised when I showed him the metal card. To think that King Hal gave me something so precious so easily....

He is a really generous King that's for sure, though I suspect that he did it to avoid getting on my bad side though.

The wooden gate slowly opened outwards when it was pushed out by the soldiers inside.

"(Here, let me help you all with that.)"

I used gravity magic and pulled on the gate, which quickly opened with my added power.

"(Hmm? The gate suddenly opened really easily...)"

"(No idea... But let's let them in first.)"

We entered the city immediately after one of the gate opened just wide enough to let Lizzie through.

"Ogrr!"

After we entered, the guards immediately closed the gate once again... They are very cautious of ambushes it seems.

"(Humans, please go to the inspection zone.)"

An automaton guided us to some sort of area where they perform a check up on you. Inspecting our equipment and making sure we don't carry anything dangerous, they soon finished their duties.

"(All good in this side as well... It's time for body checking.)"

"(Is that really... necessary?)" Kyrielle asked them, with a hint of worry in her voice.

"(Yes it is.)"

"(I see... then...)"

The automata demon approached Kyrielle really weirdly with their arms out strected and were about to touch her head.... What the hell does she think she is doing?

Kyrielle closed her eyes in response, and while I was about to interfere, the guard who talked to us on earlier yelled at them.

"(Cut it out officer Dao! I know you just wants to touch a human girl!)"

"(Ah, I was found out... Sorry commander.)"

"(She is not your toy, Dao. Even if they are a human, touching them like that is considered as sexual assault.)"

"(...Sorry commander, it won't happen again.)"

"(Hm.)"

The commander who is the kobold that talked to us earlier seems like a serious person, and he approached us after yelling at his misbehaving underling.

It seems that the slim automata is a female huh? Come to think of it, a lot of automatons actually have a rather feminine design.

"(I beg your pardon for the misbehavior of my subordinate there, young miss. Normally she is a good and well behaved officer, but today she became an idiot.)"

"(It's fine....)"

"(Thank you. So Lynn-sama, what brings you two here to this city? Normal humans won't have a Royal Right of Passage, so you two must be here for a reason right? So tell me, what is your purpose here?)"

"(Like I said earlier, we were traveling to the east towards Creimland. This city here just happened to be on our way. You know how the Bost Volcano has erupted about half a month ago right? Our road to Creimland is blocked by it, and so we had to go the long way here which led us right to this city.)"

"(I see... How did you all ended up so far west anyway?)"

"(Well, we were caught in a teleport accident and was teleported here as a result. I hope that we aren't intruding upon something important.)"

"(No no, you are not. But currently, there's a problem.....)"

"(A problem?)"

"(The eastern frontier is currently fighting a deadly war..... Your route to the east is blocked by the opposing army, and I had no doubt that anyone going from our side to theirs would be attacked by the soldiers with spells and arrows.)"

"(That is troublesome... What exact happened here anyway?)"

"(We are in the middle of a civil war, and the council of the 9 demon kings has decided to stay out of this conflict. As such, it is likely that this war will drag on for a longer time.)"

"(And our journey would be faced with two dead ends, one side is the volcano and the other side is this war, is that correct?)"

"(Correct. My advice for you is to wait for the war to end before continuing.... Or you can try your luck and go back the way you came, then head west again via the route from the volcano.)"

"(Hmm... Kyrie, what do you think?)"

"(...waiting here would be fine because... we have access to supplies. Crossing the mountains... would be trecherous with... all our luggages and... flying monsters.)"

"Oggr!"

The Bost mountain ranges have a large amount of flying monsters like giant eagles and dragons, at least B- ranked each. Though not particularly dangerous during the day when you can see them, at night their threat level can raise by an entire level, just short of A ranked threats.

Our journey so far was relatively safe because many monsters are intimidated by the Mana Aura of both Kyrie and Me, but some brave monsters still attack us despite that. Dragons and Giant Eagles specifically are much more aggressive than most monsters simply because of their ability to fly....

This meant that heading into the mountains while the volcano is still active would be suicide.

"(You have a point, Kyrie.... Can I ask for your name, kind commander?)"

"(My name is Bataar, it's nice to make your acquaintance, human. May I ask for your name again? I forget names rather quickly you see...)"

Hmm... Should I tell him my true identity?... For now I'll just lay low, it'd be troublesome for him to find me to help in the war after all once he learned of my ability.

"(I am... Um... Rin Koward.)"

"(Rin is it? That name sounds rather familiar... Ah well it doesn't matter. It's nice to meet you, Rin-san. What about you little lady?)"

"(I'm Kyrielle. Kyrielle Buffet. It's nice to meet you.)"

"(It's nice to meet you as well, Kyrielle. I'm actually rather impressed to find that a human of your age can speak in our language.)"

"(Mmm... Thank you.)"

"(Anyway, for now you two can settle down here for a while, until the war is over at least. This city here is our main supply city, so obviously we have supplies for travellers like you. Being at the farthest towards the west also means it is unlikely for the enemies to attack this city now, so it's relatively safe.)"

"(I see... Do merchants frequently drop by here as well?)"

"(Yes. That's why we even allowed entry for you two. If you tried to enter any city to the east, then I don't think they'll even let you in since you might be a spy.)"

"(I suppose so... Anyway, do you have a cheap inn or something like that which you can recommend to us?)"

"(Hmm... you can go to an Inn located to the south of the city. Just ask around and you'll find it. Tell the inn keeper that Baatar sent you, and they'll give you a discount.)"

"(I'll go check it out then.)"

"(Right.)"

"(Come on Kyrie, let's go. Oh by the way Bataar-dono, where is the stable-)"

_____________

After we left Lizzie at one of the stables, we went further into the city to look for the inn.

Exploring the city as we go to the south side, we are taking our time here. Many of the inhabitants here in this city is gone it seems, likely out for war. Guards, men and other strong races of demons are no where to be found, because if them being drafted to the army.

The cobblestone roads and streets are dirty, wooden houses tainted with sand and mud stains, the gutters even smells disgusting, and litters could be found everywhere. Most importantly, many of the demons here looked grim and depressed.

Finally, there's the one common sight of a war.... It's women being everywhere. Just like the human society, for demon races where male is physically stronger than female like orcs, kobolds or even undead, men are usually drafted to war in stead of their wives.

Luckily for Kyrielle and Me, we are both women so we wouldn't seem very out of place. But this.... This is making me feel strangely uncomfortable.

"Lynn, what's wrong?"

"...Nothing. It's just that this sight reminded me of the Great War..."

"I see..."

Just like during the great war, this city here appears to be under severe malmaintainance, like a slum.... I was raised somewhere like this once, in an orphanage.

After the great war, I thought I wouldn't witness this sight again... But it seems that wherever I go, I still witness misery and death.

Seeing people like this triggers a sense of... nostalgia... but it's not the good kind of nostalgia. It's more like "I don't want to remember that messed up thing" kind of nostalgia, if you know what I mean.

I really hope this war can end quickly without resulting in further degeneration of this city and its people....

(Chapter end)