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At Mount Guren, Where the Beloved Child Plays - Episode 8
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Cain’s voice was sharp, and it made me freeze in my tracks.
Cain: « gladius procella » !
I saw Cain’s sword light up in a blinding flash of light out the corner of my eye. The sound of burning hot rocks crumbling resounded in my ears.
Suddenly, the ground underneath me gave way. The world spun.
Akira: I’m falling—!
Cain: AKIRA!
Instantly, Cain reached over from behind and grabbed onto me. I dangled in mid-air, held aloft by my shoulders.
I felt myself float briefly, before I landed on solid ground with a thud.
Cain: Phew… Hey, Akira, you hurt?
Akira: I-I’m okay. Thanks for having my back…!
[ Squeak! ]
We had fallen into the hole, and then Saccie had leapt into it after us. The squirrel-like creature from earlier scampered up to us.
Akira: The little critter’s totally fine! Saccie’s okay too…!
Cain: Then that’s good news! I didn’t have a good footing, so I couldn’t put as much strength into my magic as I’d hoped.
I guess I was too hasty about it?
Akira: Not at all! Cain, you were so cool crushing that rock.
Cain: Ahaha, thanks. Well, for now, we’d best hurry back to Chloe and the others!
Chloe: Kenja sama, Cain! Welcome back! Oh, that little guy’s…
Murr: It’s the lil’ squirrel-thingy I met right at the start!
Rustica: Is that one the last of the animals? Well done, now come gather around, all of you.
[ Rumble… ]
Meanwhile, Mount Guren started growling and puffing, its rumbling a menacing echo…
The noise was enough to shake a person to their core. Chloe anxiously hugged himself.
Chloe: That noise… I can feel it right down to my bones. I wonder if Mithra and the others are holding up okay.
Murr: It’s all smoky up there, but they’re visible — in the distant skies.
Once we’ve strengthened this barrier, let’s catch up to them!
[ Open Skies ]
Snow: « noscommunia »
Snow: …… Hm.
Oz: What’s wrong.
Snow: I feel a pushback from the spirits. The younger wizards might have a hard time using magic.
Even Mithra knows better than to directly inflict destruction upon the land. His rampaging is only meant for dispatching that violent one.
That should have been conveyed loud and clear to the spirits from around these parts, yet…
Cain: Oz, Snow sama!
Oz: You’re back.
Akira: Sorry to keep you waiting! Where’s Mithra and Owen?
Oz: The fight continues unabated. Snow advised they act quickly, but we cannot know if Mithra will heed his words.
Suddenly, the world shook around me.
A deafening explosion of hot winds reached all the way up to us high up in the sky. The force of it threw me off balance and swallowed our surroundings.
Chloe: Urgh—!?
The violent blast threw Chloe off balance, but Rustica was there to catch him.
And from my peripheral vision, I spotted a head of red hair getting slammed into the black wall of rock that spanned underneath us.
Mithra: (grunt) …!
The rocks that had broken Mithra’s fall immediately crumbled into dust.
The scattering debris fell loudly, like a black hailstorm pelting the land below.
Akira: Mithra!
It felt like my heart had stopped dead. My breath caught in my chest with no escape, and I couldn’t help but cry out Mithra’s name.
Chloe, Cain, and even Rustica too could only stare in disbelief.
Akira: (The Mithra is being overpowered…?!)
But Oz and Snow and Murr — their expressions didn’t change at all.
The dust cleared, like fading mist.
Mithra: Ahaha…
Mithra was laughing, the same way he had earlier.
As if he were a boy in the innocent prime of his youth, in spite of the crimson blood that flowed from his forehead.
Owen: « quare moritor »
At that moment, I heard Owen’s spell-word. All the rocks that were scattered about were pulled up and levitated into the air.
Those rocks turned towards the giant form that was now covered in cinders as it lurked in the ashen grey skies.
It was hard not to look up at it as we began to fly down towards the combatants on our brooms.
Chloe: The djalgr, it's right there…
[ Flurry sfx ]
The sharp rocks hurtled towards the djalgr, encasing it in a rock wall. One rock struck it squarely and pierced its head.
The djalgr’s mighty shriek rattled to the farthest reaches of the sky. Its long arms flailed in pain.
In a cacophony of noise, the djalgr began to tear through the rocks all around it.
It bellowed furiously, once, twice, and then thrice. Its giant claws cleaved through the rock wall, and it peered through the cracks it had made.
Rustica: It’s looking for Mithra and Owen…
Murr: Its hackles are up, and it's practically glowing red! It must be super riled up by this.
Akira: It’s already taken so much of a beating from Mithra and Owen, but it’s still able to move like this. What on earth…
Mithra: I know, right? That’s what I was thinking.
Tiletta’s magic and the extra power from the Calamity really has made quite the difference. In its current state, this brute’s endurance is truly something else.
Owen: That aside, Kenja sama and the others — you’re all really late.
I thought you guys fell into the magma and died.
Snow: Owen, did you pass the message to Mithra?
Oz: The hourglass is halfway depleted.
Cain: Never mind that, are you guys alright? No one would’ve thought this would be an uphill batt—
Owen: For us? Be serious.
Heyyy, Mithra. It’s all your fault that Kenja sama and the others are making weird faces right now. It’s because you’ve been playing around too long.
Mithra: ………
Mithra picked himself back up, dusting off bits of rock from his hair and clothes.
He wiped blood off his face with a swipe of his thumb. Hissing fumes rose around him from the mending of his wounds.
His wiry frame rose up to his full height. Then, he braced one foot against the tailbrush of his broomstick and nimbly began to ascend.
Easily, he flew up to me, where I was seated behind Cain on his broom.
Mithra: Heh… he’s right. You do look weird.
His large hand reached out and grabbed me by my face. His long fingers pulled the corners of my trembling lips upwards.
Akira: (muffled) Wh— What…?
I saw myself reflected in Mithra’s eyes. My eyes were clouded with worry, but my mouth was forced into a smile. What an incredibly mismatched sight.
Mithra smelled of mineral dust, heat, and the faint but noticeable scent of blood.
At the sight of me, at how ridiculously out of place my expression was, Mithra laughed.
Mithra: You don’t need to worry. Stay here and watch.
I’ll make quick work of it.
Chloe & Cain: So cool……
In an instant, Mithra had removed his hand from my face and turned his attention to Chloe.
Mithra: Huh? What happened to your earring?
Chloe: My earring?
Mithra: One of them’s gone. Did you remove it?
Chloe: …… Huh? Wait!?
It’s really gone… No way, when did it happen!?
Rustica: Chloe, calm down. Look at me.
Oh, it’s true. The blue one’s gone missing.
Murr: Oh, maybe the wind from earlier blew it away?
Chloe: No… I’m sorry, Mithra! You picked out that stone specially for me, and I just went and…
Owen: What is there to apologise to him about? The wind was his fault.
Mithra: Well, it’s just a stone, and I’ve got plenty of them. If you want one, I’ll give you a new one.
[ Growl… ]
A large shadow loomed over us. The djalgr’s face peered at us from behind the tall rock formations that surrounded us.
Akira: …!
The djalgr may have lost one of its horns, but the presence and power it commanded had not been affected in the least.
But Mithra coolly said:
Mithra: Okay. I’ve got a battle to fight.
Chloe: Oh…
Mithra’s body lightly brushed against Chloe’s outstretched hand as he turned to face the djalgr anew.
Together with Owen, they flew once again towards the volcano’s peak, as if inviting the djalgr to reenter the fray.
Chloe: What should I do…
Akira: Chloe, are you doing okay…?
Cain: Listen, that gust of wind was so strong it nearly blew us all away. If your earring fell out during that, it’s really not your fault.
Murr: So, let us say that it was blown away by the force of the wind. We can estimate its movement by measuring the angle of the wind and the positioning of the rocks.
And that places the earring’s location at roughly where Mithra and Owen are headed right now, I think.The earring ought to be close to the volcanic crater, where there’s eruptions everywhere!
Chloe: That’s a really dangerous place…
………
Chloe’s round eyes wavered, shaken by doubt and discord.
Rustica placed his hand over Chloe’s, where it was tightly gripped before his chest.
Rustica: Chloe, tell me what you feel right now.
As Mithra said, there may be other stones out there to replace it, but… Chloe, I wonder what that one gemstone means to you.
It’s okay. No matter how you might feel, what you feel is what you feel, Chloe.
Chloe: Rustica…
I… I think…
If I can find it, I want to get that earring back, because it’s a gemstone that Mithra gave me.
It’s a gemstone that Mithra picked out for me specially, to go with today’s outfit. Murr helped with it too, and that means there’s no other stone out there that’s exactly like this one!
Moreover, Mithra said he’d make quick work of that monster. If we go looking for it after the fight is done, we won’t get in the way.
But, if we wait for afterwards, the earring might be swallowed by magma and melted into nothing…
Murr: Then, let’s go search for it now! We just need to look in the area I identified!
This majestic land has really seen better days, so it’s going to be hard to locate anything with magic, buuut…
Murr’s emerald eyes gleamed as he spoke brightly.
Still riding his broom, he did a backflip in mid-air, and then he looked up at the smoky skies:
Murr: I’ve got an idea!
[ Mount Guren - Summit ]
Murr: Based on my calculations, it should be around here?
Rustica: Now that we’re so close to the crater, the temperature has increased by leaps and bounds.
Owen: Hold on! What on earth are you all doing!
Chloe: O-Owen……
Djalgr: ᴀᴀ, GAAᴀᴀAa…!
Mithra: « arsim » !
Chloe: (The djalgr’s held tight by Mithra’s fiery chains…!)
Mithra: Why are you here? You’re in the way, you know.
Chloe: Ah, umm…
Rustica: We’re here to look for a missing item. It’s something precious to Chloe.
Chloe: … Yeah, I’m here to find my earring! I wanted to search the area by that growing pool of lava.
Mithra: And why would you want to do that? I already told you, that thing’s not worth coming all the way out here to find.
Owen: Did all three of you want to get burned alive by magma?
Murr: It’ll be fine! I’ll draw the ire of the spirits.
Mithra & Owen: What…?
Murr: Chloe, Rustica! Go find the earring!
I’ve got it all covered over here, so hurry up and go~!
next episode →
Cain’s voice was sharp, and it made me freeze in my tracks.
Cain: « gladius procella » !
I saw Cain’s sword light up in a blinding flash of light out the corner of my eye. The sound of burning hot rocks crumbling resounded in my ears.
Suddenly, the ground underneath me gave way. The world spun.
Akira: I’m falling—!
Cain: AKIRA!
Instantly, Cain reached over from behind and grabbed onto me. I dangled in mid-air, held aloft by my shoulders.
I felt myself float briefly, before I landed on solid ground with a thud.
Cain: Phew… Hey, Akira, you hurt?
Akira: I-I’m okay. Thanks for having my back…!
[ Squeak! ]
We had fallen into the hole, and then Saccie had leapt into it after us. The squirrel-like creature from earlier scampered up to us.
Akira: The little critter’s totally fine! Saccie’s okay too…!
Cain: Then that’s good news! I didn’t have a good footing, so I couldn’t put as much strength into my magic as I’d hoped.
I guess I was too hasty about it?
Akira: Not at all! Cain, you were so cool crushing that rock.
Cain: Ahaha, thanks. Well, for now, we’d best hurry back to Chloe and the others!
Chloe: Kenja sama, Cain! Welcome back! Oh, that little guy’s…
Murr: It’s the lil’ squirrel-thingy I met right at the start!
Rustica: Is that one the last of the animals? Well done, now come gather around, all of you.
[ Rumble… ]
Meanwhile, Mount Guren started growling and puffing, its rumbling a menacing echo…
The noise was enough to shake a person to their core. Chloe anxiously hugged himself.
Chloe: That noise… I can feel it right down to my bones. I wonder if Mithra and the others are holding up okay.
Murr: It’s all smoky up there, but they’re visible — in the distant skies.
Once we’ve strengthened this barrier, let’s catch up to them!
[ Open Skies ]
Snow: « noscommunia »
Snow: …… Hm.
Oz: What’s wrong.
Snow: I feel a pushback from the spirits. The younger wizards might have a hard time using magic.
Even Mithra knows better than to directly inflict destruction upon the land. His rampaging is only meant for dispatching that violent one.
That should have been conveyed loud and clear to the spirits from around these parts, yet…
Cain: Oz, Snow sama!
Oz: You’re back.
Akira: Sorry to keep you waiting! Where’s Mithra and Owen?
Oz: The fight continues unabated. Snow advised they act quickly, but we cannot know if Mithra will heed his words.
Suddenly, the world shook around me.
A deafening explosion of hot winds reached all the way up to us high up in the sky. The force of it threw me off balance and swallowed our surroundings.
Chloe: Urgh—!?
The violent blast threw Chloe off balance, but Rustica was there to catch him.
And from my peripheral vision, I spotted a head of red hair getting slammed into the black wall of rock that spanned underneath us.
Mithra: (grunt) …!
The rocks that had broken Mithra’s fall immediately crumbled into dust.
The scattering debris fell loudly, like a black hailstorm pelting the land below.
Akira: Mithra!
It felt like my heart had stopped dead. My breath caught in my chest with no escape, and I couldn’t help but cry out Mithra’s name.
Chloe, Cain, and even Rustica too could only stare in disbelief.
Akira: (The Mithra is being overpowered…?!)
But Oz and Snow and Murr — their expressions didn’t change at all.
The dust cleared, like fading mist.
Mithra: Ahaha…
Mithra was laughing, the same way he had earlier.
As if he were a boy in the innocent prime of his youth, in spite of the crimson blood that flowed from his forehead.
Owen: « quare moritor »
At that moment, I heard Owen’s spell-word. All the rocks that were scattered about were pulled up and levitated into the air.
Those rocks turned towards the giant form that was now covered in cinders as it lurked in the ashen grey skies.
It was hard not to look up at it as we began to fly down towards the combatants on our brooms.
Chloe: The djalgr, it's right there…
[ Flurry sfx ]
The sharp rocks hurtled towards the djalgr, encasing it in a rock wall. One rock struck it squarely and pierced its head.
The djalgr’s mighty shriek rattled to the farthest reaches of the sky. Its long arms flailed in pain.
In a cacophony of noise, the djalgr began to tear through the rocks all around it.
It bellowed furiously, once, twice, and then thrice. Its giant claws cleaved through the rock wall, and it peered through the cracks it had made.
Rustica: It’s looking for Mithra and Owen…
Murr: Its hackles are up, and it's practically glowing red! It must be super riled up by this.
Akira: It’s already taken so much of a beating from Mithra and Owen, but it’s still able to move like this. What on earth…
Mithra: I know, right? That’s what I was thinking.
Tiletta’s magic and the extra power from the Calamity really has made quite the difference. In its current state, this brute’s endurance is truly something else.
Owen: That aside, Kenja sama and the others — you’re all really late.
I thought you guys fell into the magma and died.
Snow: Owen, did you pass the message to Mithra?
Oz: The hourglass is halfway depleted.
Cain: Never mind that, are you guys alright? No one would’ve thought this would be an uphill batt—
Owen: For us? Be serious.
Heyyy, Mithra. It’s all your fault that Kenja sama and the others are making weird faces right now. It’s because you’ve been playing around too long.
Mithra: ………
Mithra picked himself back up, dusting off bits of rock from his hair and clothes.
He wiped blood off his face with a swipe of his thumb. Hissing fumes rose around him from the mending of his wounds.
His wiry frame rose up to his full height. Then, he braced one foot against the tailbrush of his broomstick and nimbly began to ascend.
Easily, he flew up to me, where I was seated behind Cain on his broom.
Mithra: Heh… he’s right. You do look weird.
His large hand reached out and grabbed me by my face. His long fingers pulled the corners of my trembling lips upwards.
Akira: (muffled) Wh— What…?
I saw myself reflected in Mithra’s eyes. My eyes were clouded with worry, but my mouth was forced into a smile. What an incredibly mismatched sight.
Mithra smelled of mineral dust, heat, and the faint but noticeable scent of blood.
At the sight of me, at how ridiculously out of place my expression was, Mithra laughed.
Mithra: You don’t need to worry. Stay here and watch.
I’ll make quick work of it.
Chloe & Cain: So cool……
In an instant, Mithra had removed his hand from my face and turned his attention to Chloe.
Mithra: Huh? What happened to your earring?
Chloe: My earring?
Mithra: One of them’s gone. Did you remove it?
Chloe: …… Huh? Wait!?
It’s really gone… No way, when did it happen!?
Rustica: Chloe, calm down. Look at me.
Oh, it’s true. The blue one’s gone missing.
Murr: Oh, maybe the wind from earlier blew it away?
Chloe: No… I’m sorry, Mithra! You picked out that stone specially for me, and I just went and…
Owen: What is there to apologise to him about? The wind was his fault.
Mithra: Well, it’s just a stone, and I’ve got plenty of them. If you want one, I’ll give you a new one.
[ Growl… ]
A large shadow loomed over us. The djalgr’s face peered at us from behind the tall rock formations that surrounded us.
Akira: …!
The djalgr may have lost one of its horns, but the presence and power it commanded had not been affected in the least.
But Mithra coolly said:
Mithra: Okay. I’ve got a battle to fight.
Chloe: Oh…
Mithra’s body lightly brushed against Chloe’s outstretched hand as he turned to face the djalgr anew.
Together with Owen, they flew once again towards the volcano’s peak, as if inviting the djalgr to reenter the fray.
Chloe: What should I do…
Akira: Chloe, are you doing okay…?
Cain: Listen, that gust of wind was so strong it nearly blew us all away. If your earring fell out during that, it’s really not your fault.
Murr: So, let us say that it was blown away by the force of the wind. We can estimate its movement by measuring the angle of the wind and the positioning of the rocks.
And that places the earring’s location at roughly where Mithra and Owen are headed right now, I think.The earring ought to be close to the volcanic crater, where there’s eruptions everywhere!
Chloe: That’s a really dangerous place…
………
Chloe’s round eyes wavered, shaken by doubt and discord.
Rustica placed his hand over Chloe’s, where it was tightly gripped before his chest.
Rustica: Chloe, tell me what you feel right now.
As Mithra said, there may be other stones out there to replace it, but… Chloe, I wonder what that one gemstone means to you.
It’s okay. No matter how you might feel, what you feel is what you feel, Chloe.
Chloe: Rustica…
I… I think…
If I can find it, I want to get that earring back, because it’s a gemstone that Mithra gave me.
It’s a gemstone that Mithra picked out for me specially, to go with today’s outfit. Murr helped with it too, and that means there’s no other stone out there that’s exactly like this one!
Moreover, Mithra said he’d make quick work of that monster. If we go looking for it after the fight is done, we won’t get in the way.
But, if we wait for afterwards, the earring might be swallowed by magma and melted into nothing…
Murr: Then, let’s go search for it now! We just need to look in the area I identified!
This majestic land has really seen better days, so it’s going to be hard to locate anything with magic, buuut…
Murr’s emerald eyes gleamed as he spoke brightly.
Still riding his broom, he did a backflip in mid-air, and then he looked up at the smoky skies:
Murr: I’ve got an idea!
[ Mount Guren - Summit ]
Murr: Based on my calculations, it should be around here?
Rustica: Now that we’re so close to the crater, the temperature has increased by leaps and bounds.
Owen: Hold on! What on earth are you all doing!
Chloe: O-Owen……
Djalgr: ᴀᴀ, GAAᴀᴀAa…!
Mithra: « arsim » !
Chloe: (The djalgr’s held tight by Mithra’s fiery chains…!)
Mithra: Why are you here? You’re in the way, you know.
Chloe: Ah, umm…
Rustica: We’re here to look for a missing item. It’s something precious to Chloe.
Chloe: … Yeah, I’m here to find my earring! I wanted to search the area by that growing pool of lava.
Mithra: And why would you want to do that? I already told you, that thing’s not worth coming all the way out here to find.
Owen: Did all three of you want to get burned alive by magma?
Murr: It’ll be fine! I’ll draw the ire of the spirits.
Mithra & Owen: What…?
Murr: Chloe, Rustica! Go find the earring!
I’ve got it all covered over here, so hurry up and go~!
next episode →