To be honest, I never expected this. He had no idea that the knight who proclaimed the emperor's message to that crowd was the head of the village.
I wondered why it seemed impossible to escape.
Thinking about it now, it was not a difficult Chapter, but a Chapter where I had to wait for an ally to rescue me.
¡Slash!
After taking off his helmet, the village chief brandished his sword to cut the rope, and as he did so, I heard screams of rage from below.
«Mr. Saintred! Why do you betray us?»
I glanced at the village chief. «Sir?»
«When I woke up, I was already the knight of a noble house. I'll tell you the details later». Then he looked away from me and returned to the city square.
Glow!
The magic circle surrounding the square grew brighter and brighter as time passed, and the Chaos among the thousands of people there grew in equal measure.
«¡Alas!»
«Get out of my way!»
«¡No empowies! Ack!»
Hell broke loose when thousands of people tried to escape the city's confined square at the same time.
The village chief spoke as he watched the scene unfold. «Isn't it quite entertaining to watch them fight to survive?».
If you're looking for a textbook on psychopaths, what he just said would be there.
However, what he said next confused me a little.
«It's not even a spell to kill them».
Slowly, I asked: «Isn't that attack magic?».
«From what I heard from Sir Versilus, if a massacre occurred here, the aftermath would be difficult for us to handle. However, that didn't mean I would be able to take you both by myself and fight my way through the crowd to escape. So this is the spell that will solve that. It took me a lot of effort to prepare everything».
«So... what is this spell?»
The village chief gave me a natural smile. «You'll see it soon».
I sighed. This guy never told me anything clearly.
«By the way», he asked, "how is that body of yours?".
«Don't worry. I won't drag you if a fight breaks out».
«It's a relief to hear that... but we won't fight anything here».
«No…?»
«Oh, it looks like it's complete». The village chief said nothing more and looked away from me again.
A bright light flashed, covering the entire city with rays so bright that my eyes hurt despite having them closed.
As the light slowly faded and I regained vision, I realized the true nature of the spell.
«What are you doing? On going. Everyone is waiting for you».
The city square of struggling citizens was completely emptied.
***
It was Teleportation. Well, did you suppose it was more accurate to call it Mass Teleportation?
Hmm, but that wasn't enough to explain it. Even Mass Teleportation could only teleport twenty people at a time. It was impossible to teleport thousands of people at once.
However, something similar had happened before.
It had happened in the underground city of Noark. An unknown person suspected of being Auril Gavis took away more than ten thousand people and escaped from the palace siege. I had only heard of it and had never seen it for myself, but it had happened in front of me, wouldn't it be something like this?
«Enter».
And so, after following the village chief, we arrived at a residence on the outskirts of the city.
¡Boom!
Once inside the empty house, we went down a hidden staircase to the basement, and only then were we able to take off the robes that hid our faces.
«Didn't you say everyone was waiting for us?»
«It seems they haven't arrived yet», said the village chief. «They will arrive soon, so sit back and wait».
Turning to Erwen, I pulled her closer to a chair and asked: «Erwen, does anything hurt?».
«I'm fine.
After confirming that I was fine, I refocused my attention on speaking to the village chief. I was going to lose my temper with some of the questions that had arisen before.
«Why did you use Teleportation on our enemies? Wouldn't it be more effective to use it with us?».
To be honest, I was more curious to know how he had even been able to launch a Mass Teleport of that magnitude, but the village chief responded as if it weren't that big of a deal.
«Does it seem like you don't know yet? Magic doesn't work with the witch. Taking you alone would have been possible, but this was the only way for the two of you to escape together».
Hmm, so it was like that. She hadn't known that magic didn't work with her.
He went on to say: «Is there any information you need to convey only to me before the other two arrive?».
«In particular».
«Then wait a moment. We can continue this conversation after they arrive».
Since I didn't like to repeat myself, I agreed with the village chief and waited for the others.
«My apologies. I had a feeling someone was following me, so I circled the area several times before coming here».
Some time later, one of the members of our group of rift adventurers, Gahuin Versilus, finally arrived. He looked at Erwen and me for a bit before saying carefully: «But most importantly, would you by any chance be Your Honor, the Lord Baron?».
«What a strange question».
«Haha, so you are the real baron. I'm relieved to hear it».
That bothered me a little. «The real baron?»
«Ah, until not long ago, you were acting like a completely different person. You didn't even know we were inside a crack...»
Someone interrupted with a laugh. «It seems like everyone is here».
The last member of the rift had arrived: the archbishop of the Church of Reatlas, Eden Hesteia.
«Excuses for being late», said the archbishop. «It wasn't difficult to infiltrate the place, but because of how heavy the equipment was, packing everything up was more of a challenge than I expected». He then removed the subspace pouch from his back and turned it upside down with a jolt. The objects fell to the ground like a waterfall and I realized they were pieces of my equipment.
Oh. I was honestly worried about how I was going to get all my equipment back, but I never thought these guys would be in it by now.
«I've checked it countless times, so nothing should be missing... but check it out one more time just in case, Lord Baron».
I quickly ran and put on all the necessary equipment, then saved all the remaining items for later. Fortunately, it was all here.
Although he was a barbarian who followed the ancient gods, he couldn't help but say this at least this time. «May the blessing of the twilight star be with us...»
«Haha, it makes me smile to see you so happy, Lord Baron.»
«So, since everyone is here, let's get to the main topic.»
The village chief quickly restrained the atmosphere and began to speak. «What happened to you? Tell me everything from start to finish».
The things that happened to Erwen and me in chapter one and chapter two.
I summarized until the moment I opened my eyes and realized I was on the gallows, and after me, the other three also told me everything they experienced.
The starting point of Chapter one was different for each one. First, for the old wizard Gahuin Versilus...
«When I woke up, I was in a magical education center. I had a few encounters, but the conclusion was that I defeated the monsters on the day of the practical exam, and received a medal from the imperial palace. On the afternoon of that day, I received a letter from my hometown saying that the Imperials had attacked the town, and that my sister had disappeared because of it. The one who sent the message... was someone who claimed to be a friend of mine, but I didn't know him».
In any case, reading that letter put an end to Gahuin's first Chapter.
«After that, I was in a vast desert with sand blowing in all directions. The three of us met there».
After moving on to the second Chapter, Gahuin met the village chief and the archbishop.
«To explain this part, I guess I must first explain our situation».
The story of the village chief and the archbishop was simple. The village chief was the knight of a noble house, the archbishop was a priest of a temple, and each experienced his own scenarios.
«Finally, we received a letter in the name of Sir Versilus. It was a letter in which he requested that we help him because his sister was in a desperate situation. The story seemed to suggest that the three of us were close friends».
When they read that letter, their first Chapter ended, and the fact that the three met marked the beginning of their second Chapter.
The main event of the second Chapter was facing a group of people who were tracking them.
«It was not too difficult to defeat them... but no matter how much we waited for the fate written in the letter delivered to Sir Vesilus, you two never appeared».
And so, after waiting in the deserted city, which should have been our meeting point, the Imperials finally came looking for them.
«They told Sir Versilus that his sister was a being who would end the world, and that we must help them if we wanted to stop her».
Naturally, they had no opportunity to refuse and, with that, Chapter IV began for them.
After that, the mission of the chapters became clear. All they had to do was follow the orders given to them by the empire.
Chapter five, chapter six, chapter seven... They participated in the war against the monsters and achieved achievements. However, they were not able to capture us and reunite with us until the end.
«Every time we thought we were close and that we could finally talk to you, something strange always happened that twisted the story in such a way that it was impossible for us to contact you».
With this, the chapters continued with the next ones, and time continued to pass as they updated their information.
The younger sister was being called a witch, and I had become a follower of the witch.
It happened when they got to Chapter Eleven.
«We woke up in this city. Countless soldiers surrounded us. We only knew what had happened after escaping their encirclement».
The witch and her followers had been captured. That is why the empire tried to kill all three of them, since they were no longer of any use.
«It was clear to us what the challenge would be this time».
The three of them infiltrated the prison to join us. Rescuing us didn't seem to be their original plan, and they just wanted to convey the situation to us.
«But like I said before, the people we met there weren't the two of you. We ended up telling you only that we planned to save you on the day of your execution and we left the prison.»
And the situation that followed was the one I experienced not long ago.
The long-awaited day of our execution had arrived, and we, who had only lived through two chapters, woke up again after eleven chapters had passed and were able to meet with these three.
That was the story of everything that had happened up to that moment.
«Fortunately, though, it seems like you weren't stuck here for over ten years», I muttered quietly.
«Baroooon!» gahuin Versilus blurted out angrily.
I excel. «Eh?»
«How dare you say that? Even if it wasn't ten years, we've been here for at least half a year!».
«That? Half year?»
Judging by the spiel that followed, it seemed like Chapter 11 had taken them over a month.
I couldn't help the chill that ran down my spine.
Even the distribution of time is disordered in this crack...
It wouldn't have been years in the present when we came out of this rift, would it?
Damn, I was hoping this wasn't another one of those cases. Falling out of time once was more than enough.
«Sir Versilus, calm down», the village chief reassured him, easing the tension in the room. «There are still more things to discuss».
«...i exaggerated. My apologies».
The village chief led the conversation forward. «Your Honor, this crack is unlike any ordinary crack. We each have our own special abilities. Before asking you about yours, we will explain ours to you first».
«Ah, I'll say my ability first».
Archbishop Hesteia was the first.
«Although the strength of my divine spells is the same, my reserves of divine power are almost infinite. I am blessed with an ever-flowing source of grace, no matter what kind of miracle I enact».
Simply put, infinite divine power. Well, there was also a drawback.
«However, I cannot address myself with any miracle».
A priest who could only use divine power for others.
«So what about the count?» I asked.
«Mine is much simpler than the other two. I have become about twice as strong in all aspects, and have not found any weakness yet.»
Hmm, a 200% increase in stats with no associated penalties. It was an improvement at the cheat level, of course, but it only served to worry me a little.
Won't something happen in the future if they are improving you so much right now?
I was already worried about the difficulty of the final boss. As long as this place was a crack, it would also have its own Guardian.
«Anyway, then what about you, Gahuin?»
«With every test I pass, I can use new magic. It's not something like I gain new knowledge and understanding... but something closer to a commoner who can use spells by tearing out spell scrolls.»
«New magic?»
«Magic so ancient that not even I can see the functionality and foundation of that which perished so long ago».
Now I could understand it.
I was wondering who could use a Mass Teleport that could teleport thousands of people like that. It was a skill he had obtained after entering the crack.
«Ah», added the village chief, "and there is also one more skill".
«Which is?»
«Every time we are transported to a new test, I can instinctively understand what we have to do».
«That is... How to say it...? It's a pretty good skill».
I gave him words of congratulations as I sighed inside.
He wasn't lying when he said it was a good skill. In fact, it was anything but a lie.
This unfriendly game gave something as useful as a navigation skill for free... What awaited us?
«So now it's our turn».
After that, I also explained the skills we gained, and thus concluded our long information sharing session.
«By the way... why has Miss Tersia remained silent the entire time?», the archbishop asked politely.
«That... is none of your business».
«...Hah, it seems I've gone too far. My apologies».
I wondered if I needed to silence the kind archbishop, but I didn't give it any more thought.
Come to think of it, it's a little strange...
During the previous boss's tour and also when he entered the crack, Erwen looked a little different than usual. He politely answered all the questions asked, but I suppose the number of words he spoke decreased considerably from the norm...
«There's still time before nightfall, so go rest».
Hmm, I usually wasn't that quiet.
***
[The role assigned to Gahuin Versilus is Wizard. Ancient magic is now available for use].
[The role assigned to Jerome Saintred is Knight. All statistics increased to 200%.]
[The role assigned to Eden Hesteia is Priest. Divine power is no longer consumed. Divine spells can no longer self-direct. All mental resistances are set to 0.]