Chapter 70: Ryo

Although he failed to recover the magic stone of the Devil Prince, it appeared that the magic stones could be recovered from the three followers because he defeated them by decapitation.

After confirming that, Ryo walked up to Abel.

“Thank you, Ryo. You saved us.”

Abel honestly bowed and thanked him.

“No, it’s okay. You can express your gratitude by treating me to just one dinner at the cafeteria, right?”

“Okay, okay. I’ll treat you to dinner every day for a week.”

Then Abel laughed and hit Ryo’s shoulder.

“It hurts, it hurts. Abel, you and your stupid strength. One week, don’t forget!”

By that time, the other members of the Crimson Sword and Advisor Arthur had also gathered to Abel’s side.

“Abel … I’m so glad …”

Rihya hugged Abel with a face on the verge of crying.

The moment she hugged him, she cried.

Next to him, Warren, with two hands carrying Rin who was still fainted, bowed to Ryo.

“I’m Arthur Verasis, Advisor to the Court Magic Group, the representative for the Court Magic Group investigation team. Thank you so much for your help.”

With that said, Arthur also bowed to Ryo.

“Oh no, don’t mention it. In the first place, I came because Natalie of the Court Magic Group told me. I’m glad I was on time. I never dreamed that it would be this way. “

Ryo turned his sight toward the members of the Court Magic Group investigation team, who had not yet fully recovered from the lack of magical power, and the corpses of the Kingdom Central University investigation team, which had been reduced to ashes by the Devils.

“I’m guessing that the people over there are from the Kingdom Central University investigation team …”

“Yeah … I couldn’t help them, then …”

“Although gathering the corpses would be impossible, should I collect some keepsakes?”

“Soon, the members of our Court Magic Group will wake up, so we’ll start gathering the keepsakes.”

Advisor Arthur replied, looking towards the Court Magic Group.

“Ryo, let’s collect the Devils’ magic stones.”

Abel proposed to retrieve the magic stones, accompanied by a crying Rihya.

“I want to pass some of the sales to the bereaved families.”

(Sheesh … Abel isn’t suited to be an adventurer. Claiming ‘Those of us who survived will use the portions of the dead!’ or something like that would be more like an adventurer.)

Even though Ryo was quite significantly his junior as an adventurer, he was evaluating Abel with quite a condescending attitude.

(Well, I could say that doing so was typical of Abel.)

It was an opinion of him looking down from above until the end.

However, he would likely get angry if he said it, so he kept it in his heart.

However, he realized that he heard a word that he couldn’t ignore.

“Just now, did you say Devil? Are these Devils?”

Ryo looked around the battlefield and saw odd-shaped beings on the floor.

“Yeah, it’s also the first time we’ve encountered Devils. In the first place, it has been hundreds of years since the last Devils appeared in the Central Nations … I don’t know why they would appear here.”

(An 『Akuma』 and a 『Devil』 were completely different things after all …. The entry that Michael (pseudonym) added into the 『Monster Encyclopedia』 was not for Devil but for 『Akuma』. I agree with Michael (pseudonym)’s claim that their ‘Strength: Entire spectrum from weak to strong (The strong ones can erase a city by itself before breakfast)’ … if my battle with Leonor did not occur in the Corridor, the City of Rune would have suffered considerable damage.)

Thinking to that point, Ryo suddenly remembered.

“By the way, when I used Probe-type magic on the 39th floor just now, there was something strange. It was at the stairs on the 39th floor, so we should check it out on our way back. It may have something to do with what happened this time.”

After Ryo defeated the Devil Prince, the barrier-like thing that covered the 40th floor had disappeared.

(Although it felt more like a defective Corridor than a barrier … The Corridor that appeared in the City of Rune was probably maintained using the solar eclipse. That Akuma Leonor, said that there was a constraint that she couldn’t do anything about either … that was a subspace … I would think of it as a bridge that connected Rune to somewhere else but … yeah, I still don’t have enough information. There’s a lot I don’t understand.)

Give up thinking about it when there’s a lot you don’t understand. That was also one solution.

Ryo thought to himself.

The Court Magic Group members, who regained consciousness from their fainting spell due to magical power depletion, recovered the keepsakes of the Kingdom Central University investigation team; while the Crimson Sword, Advisor Arthur, and Ryo recovered the magic stones of the Devils.

“The color of the magic stone … is black …”

Ryo’s words weren’t loud, but as the person with the most experience, Advisor Arthur responded.

“This is also the first time I am collecting a Devil’s magic stone, but … so it is black …”

“Arthur-san, to put it another way, it sounds like you have seen a Devil or fought one before?”

“Yes, Ryo, you’re right. I did fight one in the western countries when I was an adventurer … but we couldn’t defeat it.”

Advisor Arthur’s gaze was unfocused, as if he was recalling that day.

Usually, the color of the magic stone of a monster would correspond to the attribute of the monster.

Red for a Fire-Attribute monster, blue if it is a Water-Attribute monster.

And 『Black』 would mean … Darkness?

(But didn’t those three followers shoot Flaming Arrows?)

Thinking of the battle, the things Ryo didn’t know were accumulating.

“Ryo, in the Central Nations, it has been about 200 years since the last encounter with a Devil. No information on their magic stones remains even in the temples.”

The Priest Rihya supplemented her knowledge on the Devil’s magic stone.

“Devils were said to have suddenly appeared one day, so research into the possibility of them using Space-Time Magic has been discussed in the temple.”

“Space-Time Magic!”

Space-Time Magic was a staple for otherworld stories.

(No, but Michael (pseudonym) said that magic had six attributes of Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Light, and Darkness, and No-Attribute … I wonder why didn’t he mention Space-Time Magic …?)

“Does Space-Time Magic exist?”

Ryo posed the question to nobody in particular.

“What is categorized as Space-Time Magic are 『Infinite Storage』 and 『Transfer』. Both have been recorded in literature.”

Surprisingly, Abel was the one who answered.

“That’s great! I definitely want to be able to use it …”

When Ryo said that, Abel had a terribly bad expression.

“Ah … as far as I know, the only person in the Central Nations known to be able to use Space-Time Magic is Baron Hagen-Vender from the Empire.”

“Hoho ~. With Infinite Storage, you can bring home not only the magic stones but also the entire body of the monster to sell as materials, and with Transfer, you could easily move to the hunting ground or go home.”

Ryo imagined the scene and said happily.

However, Abel’s expression was worse than before.

“Yeah, that would be true for adventurers. But Baron Vender is a citizen of the Empire … the Empire wouldn’t let a person with that ability walk around freely …”

“Eh? What do you mean …”

“Baron Vender is 『always』 attached to the Imperial Army and hired for the movement of Imperial weapons and food. He’s treated as a kind of useful tool …”

As expected, that was pitiful even from Ryo’s perspective.

Certainly, from a military standpoint, Infinite Storage and Transfer would be a talent that they would desperately want.

However, it was way too pitiful to have no freedom at all.

“Infinite Storage and Transfer could only be used by Baron Vender. The former Baron Vender could use the two spells, but during that time his son Hagen, the current Baron Vender, could not use it. From the moment the predecessor died, it seems that the current Baron Vender became able to use Infinite Storage and Transfer, so it was rumored to be more like a curse than a spell.”

“I see … rather than just hereditary, only one person could use it at a given era … It certainly feels like a curse.”

Abel suddenly stopped after hearing what Ryo said.

(Only one person in a given era … that phrase came to mind somewhere recently … Ah, the Hero?)