Late at night.
This is a story known only to them.
"Daphne, please. Believe me."
"Yes, yes. It's that weird dream story again, right? I'll listen to it slowly later, so let's finish what we're doing first. Okay? Got it, Cassandra?"
"That's not it, Daphne...! Haa..."
The witch poured last night's "prophecy" out to her close friend.
But as always, not a single person believed her—not even her friend.
No one listened to her seriously.
"No, Daphne. If we stay here... if we remain here, we can't...!"
It was already a curse.
A vicious curse of her own, bound to the name of fate.
"Ahh, the 'giant' is coming. He's coming together with the 'one-eyed man.'"
And so Apollo Familia.
"The enraged 'giant of the earth' will come and trample everything..."
With their own hands, they kicked away their last 'chance' to beg for forgiveness.
Yet even this, too, was 'fate.'
Nothing changed.
*
In the darkness.
This is their story.
"Good evening, Shadow of the Guild."
[And you are? How did you get here...!?]
"Well, let's talk about the method another time. For now, let's have a little chat. I happen to have a rather interesting proposal."
There, everything was decided.
All that remained was the result of waiting.
At last, the 'time' had come.
"Ladies and gentlemen, good day! The event you've all been waiting and waiting for has finally arrived, on this very dayyyyy!"
"""Uoooooooh!"""
With a tremendous roar, the starting bell of [War Game] rang out.
*
The time was noon, when the sun hung highest in the sky.
From this moment on, [War Game] would last for three days.
The event was a siege battle, a full-scale clash between both sides.
Hestia Familia had to defeat the enemy captain within those three days.
Conversely, Apollo Familia had to protect their captain for the duration.
These were the basic rules of this game.
"So it's started. The winner's obvious as hell. What a pain."
"What can you do? For grunts like us, if the higher-ups tell us to strip, we just strip."
"Hey, you two over there. Keep your guard up properly. If you miss Hestia's guys because you're slacking, Daphne's gonna chew you out big-time later, got it?"
"Why're you being so uptight? It's only just started. There are still three days left, so if they've got any brains at all, they won't rush in right away."
"Well, that's true, buh—huh? What's that?"
The very first person to announce the start of the war was one of the sentries posted atop the wall.
What they saw was a single figure.
"Hey there. Thanks for your hard work. Nice weather, isn't it?"
A young man with blue hair and a slender build.
In Orario... no, in this world, he was a one-of-a-kind existence.
He was a Magus.
"What's with that guy?"
"Could he be from Hestia Familia?"
"I've never heard of someone like that."
"Maybe he's that helper they hired from outside?"
"Oh, that makes sense. Then should we just shoot him?"
"Wait. We still don't know anything for sure. He hasn't shown any hostile intent. What if he's just some civilian who came to watch?"
"Are you stupid? The whole area around this battlefield is being guarded by Ganesha Familia. Like I said, there's no way some random civilian would accidentally get in here. You understand?"
"Oh, that's how it is? Then..."
"Yeah. He's the enemy."
With that exchange, the archers atop the wall all turned fierce.
Just as they were about to nock arrows and aim their tips at the Magus—
Tap
"What's this? He suddenly stopped walking."
"Tch, he's way out of range. What the hell is he planning?"
The Magus approaching the wall stopped in his tracks.
And then—
"[Black-and-white net. Twenty-two bridges. Sixty-six canopies. Footprints, thunder, pointed peaks, returning paths, night robes, cloud seas, blue formations. Fill the great circle and run across the heavens.]"
Spell 77, [Tenchikuu Ra].
With a low voice, a massive circular magic circle spread across the sky.
"What is that!?"
"Damn it, magic right from the start!? Everyone, dodge it! Hurry!"
Panicked shouts from Apollo Familia burst out beyond the wall.
But those were nothing more than needless worries.
[Ah, ah, mic test. One-two-three, two-two-three. Ahem, can everyone hear me clearly? Apollo Familia, can you hear me without any problems on your end?]
This magic was not for attack.
It was nothing more than a loudspeaker, meant to spread his voice far and wide to many listeners.
Apparently the adventurers of Apollo Familia had realized that too.
With awkward expressions, they all brought their hidden, retreating bodies back out into the open.
As if he were looking down on all of them at once, the Magus continued speaking.
[Dear citizens of Orario. And members of Apollo Familia. It's a pleasure to meet you all.]
"What is this?"
"I can hear a voice from above? Wow, that's amazing."
Surprisingly, the Magus's voice could also be heard in Orario.
Everyone looked up in confusion, and sure enough, the same magic circle had been spread across the sky above the city as well.
To anyone who didn't know better, it would seem like nothing more than a simple service.
The 'mirrors of clairvoyance' the gods had set up all over the city to let them watch [War Game] showed images, but not sound.
In that sense, this could indeed be called a simple service for the audience.
But was that really the full extent of his purpose?
That could not be known.
Only one person in this world knew that.
The Magus who had planned and carried out all of this.
[My name is Hans Christian Andersen. I am a Magus.]
"A Magus? What's that?"
"Is that different from a wizard?"
[For the record, I am not an adventurer. I've never even received [Falna].]
"Huh? Then what are you? Don't tell me you really came here just to watch?"
[My affiliation is "for now" Hestia Familia, though.]
"What the hell does that mean!?"
"So he really is the enemy after all!"
[Well, let's set that trivial matter aside for now.]
""Don't set it aside!""
[I'd like to take this opportunity to make a proposal.]
"A proposal?"
At the Magus's words, Hyakinthos, the captain of Apollo Familia, reacted.
And somehow or other, his voice from inside the building could be heard by everyone as well.
[It may be like pouring cold water on a feast everyone's enjoying, but... this [War Game], can't we just stop here and not do it?]
"What... are you talking about?"
[Exactly what it sounds like, Phoibos Apollo, the radiant sun god.]
The Magus spoke in the calmest voice he could, appealing to his reason.
And the content was certainly—if not entertaining—then undeniably reasonable.
[Let's cancel all of this, this absurd game. Let's make up and return everything to how it was. That would be the right thing to do, and the just thing too, wouldn't it? It's common sense, isn't it?]
That was his purpose.
To appeal to the pity of the weak and escape the crisis.
Hyakinthos, thinking that, couldn't help but laugh.
"Kuh, khahahahaha!"
[What's so funny?]
"I wondered what you were going to say after making such a grand fuss. So that's all it was."
Then Hyakinthos stopped laughing and put on a cold expression.
His voice was so cold it practically dripped with disgust.
"Hey, you little runt calling yourself a Magus or whatever."
[Just call me a Magus.]
"Shut up. I'll call you whatever I want."
No, it wasn't just disgust.
His sneering words also carried mockery toward the Magus.
"And what was that? Cancel? Make up? Stop everything and pretend it never happened? Hah! I'm honestly impressed you can spout nonsense like that. Cut the clown act already."
[Nonsense... I'm speaking in all seriousness right now, you know?]
"That's what makes it ridiculous, idiot."
Truly an old, stale story.
The kind of empty, righteous talk everyone mouths, yet no one ever follows.
That was why it was such utterly worthless nonsense.
To think he had sat there and listened to that.
It had truly been a waste of time.
His now-bored expression said as much.
"I thought I'd hear you out since you seemed to have something to say, but you're just pulling some pathetic little stunt. I'm honestly starting to regret the time I wasted on a nobody like you. Know your place."
[If you understand the circumstances, anyone would say the fault in this matter lies with you.]
"So what? What of it?"
This was the labyrinth city of Orario.
The world of rough adventurers who spent their lives in the Dungeon.
It wasn't as though the evil known as Evils still ran rampant as it once had.
But even so, this was still a place where the law of the jungle applied most strongly.
In such a place, the Magus's argument was nothing more than a laughable idealism.
There was no weak voice in agreement to be found anywhere, no matter how hard one looked.
"There's no need to drag this out any further. With this [War Game], your Hestia Familia is finished. Bell Cranel will become a retainer of our lord Apollo, and as for you, the ridiculous little bastard, I'll personally take care of you myself. Consider it an honor, you fool."
[So that means... you're going all the way to the end?]
"Obviously. You only just realized that? You're even dumber than I thought."
By now, even the slightest trace of mockery had vanished from Hyakinthos's voice.
He no longer thought it was worth the effort.
As everyone listening to the exchange thought it was a truly dull conclusion—
[Keh, kekekeke...!]
"Hm? You're laughing?"
[Kuhhahaha...!]
The Magus cast off the trivial mask of "hypocrisy" he had worn for a moment today and revealed his true self.
What lay within that twisted smile was unmistakable contempt.
[Did you hear that, 'sage'?]
As everyone watching wondered what he meant, the Magus declared the "final ultimatum" he had promised in advance.
[I did exactly as you wanted and tried to stop you. I tried to talk things through like a civilized person and end this peacefully, one way or another. It was they who rejected all of that. I've clearly done everything I could, haven't I?]
"Hey, you. What the hell are you talking about...!"
[So from this point on, everything that happens is...]
Nothing more than legitimate self-defense, right?
That was the end of the Magus's speech.
But his work, the Magus's performance—
[Now then, it's time for judgment.]
—the [War Game] he envisioned was only just beginning.
Rumble...!
The ground began to shake.
*
"Ahh...! Ahh...!"
Cassandra fell to her knees in despair.
"It's coming. The 'giant'... the terrifying 'stone giant' is coming."
As always.
The witch cursed her own fate once more.
No matter how many times she saw it in advance, there was nothing in this world that ever changed.
========================
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