NBAA Vol. 8 Chapter 2 Part 6
However, as the war dragged on, the target of the three races shifted from the Baltros Empire to the Four Leaves Kingdom alone, resulting in many casualties.
“Aira, please save us! Mother has already been captured by the enemy, and the Hazuki family is on the verge of extinction…!”
“Mother!?”
When the Empire somehow managed to disperse the enemy army from its territory, a member of the Hazuki family from the Four-Leaf Kingdom visited.
Alicia, the head of the Hazuki family and Aira’s mother, was captured by the enemy army, leaving the Hazuki family without a leader, and Aira’s younger sister was not strong enough to support the Hazuki family, so they begged Aira, the eldest daughter of the Hazuki family, to return.
“Please save us…!! Here is a letter from the King!!”
“Ugh… We can’t refuse this.”
The names of the two most active people in the empire were rumored to be spreading throughout the kingdom, and the king of the elves asked them to help repel the Beast tribe and the Dwarf tribe that had invaded their territory.
When the king of a country asked for help, it was impossible to refuse, so the emperor of the empire at the time agreed and ordered Aira to be sent.
『Now… I’m going to see this through to the end!! Ah, please help, Lady Airis.』
『Ehh… Well, that’s fine.』
Whenever a problem arose, she always consulted Airis. A little while ago, her soul wavelength began to match Airis’, and she was able to communicate with Airis even under normal circumstances.
However, when she talked to Airis under normal circumstances, it looked like she was talking to herself to other people, so to cover it up, Aira came up with a suitable excuse and declared.
“Listen, I have the power to communicate with the Mother Goddess Airis! All of my achievements so far are thanks to Goddess Airis!”
“Wh, What are you saying?!”
“Wait… What are you talking about?!”
“Listen, I still heard Goddess Airis’ voice! She’s telling me to worship her!”
『No, I didn’t! Or rather, you’re in a weird mood again after staying up all night, aren’t you?』
In order to deal with the army that has been invading the kingdom every day, Aira has been commanding the army and holding meetings without sleep for several days, and finally revealing the existence of Airis. Naturally, no one believed her story at first.
However, no matter how difficult the problem, she always gave the appropriate instructions, and the royal army, which had been defeated by the armies of the two races until now, defeated the enemy army instead.
“Oh, it’s the message from Goddess Airis. There is an enemy army lurking ahead. I will tell you their number and location, so let’s launch a surprise attack.”
“This is bad! According to Goddess Airis, the enemy is trying to steal our supplies! Please send reinforcements to the food storage immediately!”
“Ahahaha! We can just leave everything to Goddess Airis!”
『No, this is seriously bad!』
Because of the situation, Aira was unable to rest, and even in her dazed, sleepy state, she still relayed the instructions that Airis had given to the soldiers, so by this time, the others had begun to think that she was really possessed by some kind of divine spirit.
“Hey, hey… Aira is really amazing. Even in that state, everything she says is correct.”
“I mean, isn’t it strange that all of her predictions are correct? At this point, she must be in contact with the enemy army…”
“Don’t say such ridiculous things! In general, the enemy is taking more damage! I’m starting to think that there must be a god behind that person…”
『That’s ridiculous… but, well…』
Gradually, the soldiers began to believe Aira’s precise instructions, as if she had seen the future, and began to think that she really was under the protection of the Mother Goddess.
And to make the soldiers believe her words, toward the end of the war, she rode alone across the battlefields where arrows rained down.
『Ahhh! I’m going to die! I’m going to die!』
『I told you to rest your body properly! Why did you come to your senses at the last minute? Ah, take three steps back to the left!』
“What’s with that one? Why can’t the arrows hit her?!”
“I-I can’t even hit her with my sniper skill!”
“I-Is that the demon of the battlefield?!”
Aira followed Airis’s instructions and continued to dodge the rain of arrows. Furthermore, she continued to dodge the attacks by making full use of the “Absolute Evasion” skill, which was a superior version of “Evasion”. She even negated the “Sniper” skill, which increased the accuracy of the attack.
Coincidentally, her movements looked like she was dancing, and the royal army was fascinated by her miraculous actions.
“W-Wow! I can’t believe she didn’t get hit by so many arrows!!”
“It’s a miracle!! We are witnessing a miracle!!”
“This is God’s protection!! The power of the Mother Goddess Airis!!”
『(Aira) I don’t care what it is, just help me noooow!!』
『(Airis) It’s okay, I’ll help you!!』
This ended up being the deciding factor, and the existence of the Mother Goddess Airis spread among the elves, and at the same time her name became known as an evil goddess among the dwarves and beasts.
◆◆◆
The day after enjoying Honemin’s ancient tales, Reito and the others left the old castle after making all the necessary preparations. Then, with Honemin’s guidance, they went to the building near the teleportation crystal.
There had already been several sandstorms, and the topography of the floors had changed significantly.
“So this really was a castle. When we came here, we could see the upper part of the castle…”
“It looks like the sand that covered the whole thing has just been blown away by the sandstorm. Still, only about half of it is exposed…”
“That’s only half of it!? It must have been a really large castle…”
There had been several sandstorms while they were in the old castle, and the sand that covered the castle had been blown away, and now the castle walls were exposed.
“Well, please follow me closely. I can guide you up to the fourth floor, so don’t worry.”
“Do you really know the way?”
“I have lived here for hundreds of years. There’s no way I can’t find the location of the building just because the terrain has changed due to the sandstorm.”
‘What kind of logic is that…’
“But it’s reassuring, that it is.”
“Ah, but don’t expect me to fight. In my case, I’m just pretending to be dead and trying to stay out of the fighting.”
“Right, right.”
~
With Honemin leading the way, Reito and the others moved through the desert toward the building where the teleportation crystal was located on the third floor. They didn’t forget to drink water regularly so as not to be overcome by the desert heat.
“Look, it’s over there. The sand has been blown away nicely and the building is exposed on the ground.”
“It’s true. I knew there was a building in the center of the floor…”
“You were right.”
After several tens of minutes of moving, they arrived at their destination safely, although it took them a while to get over the sand dunes.
Reito and his group saw the buildings that they had also witnessed on the first and second levels. It had been buried in the sand until then, but it seemed to have been exposed on the ground by the sandstorm. They then entered the building.
~
“Just like the resting spot, monsters can’t get in here, so don’t worry.”
“Phew, now we’re free of this heat.”
“Good for you, Shizune.”
“Thanks, Honemin. Oh, and by the way, I want a snack for my wolf, so can you give me a rib?”
“No, aren’t you being too brazen? I won’t give you my bone!”
Honemin covered her whole body after hearing Reito’s words. By the way, she was currently covered with a cloak so that she wouldn’t be found by other adventurers who were exploring.
Here, they parted ways.
“Well, we’re leaving now. Thank you so much, Honemin.”
“No, no, I was happy to be able to talk to someone after a long time.”
“You helped us out a lot.”
“I won’t forget you.”
“Thank you, that I do.”
“So there are good skeletons like you… I’ll have to change my mind.”
“I told you I’m not a skeleton!”
While commenting on Dain’s words, Honemin left the group gathered in front of the teleportation crystal.
Honemin seemed to know the way to the fourth floor, but she couldn’t accompany Reito and the others. She looked like a skeleton, so it would be bad if other adventurers found her. Besides, she’s useless in battle, so she decided she would be a hindrance and refused to accompany them.
“Can I come back here?”
“Please, I usually stay in that castle.”
“Okay. In that case… see you later.”
“Yes, we’ll definitely meet again.”
Finally, Reito shook Honemin’s hand.
Then, for some reason, he felt as if he and Honemin were old friends. It might be because their personalities were similar to Airis’, but they also had the common ground of having been reincarnated by Airis, so they got along better than they expected.
While reluctant to say goodbye to her, Reito took the hand of the others and moved to the next floor.
“Fourth floor!!”