Chapter 73 - Smelting

With its long history, the Empire was bound to contain all sorts of places, including the occasional site of mystery or inexplicable phenomena.

This “Ghost Forest” was famous for being the eeriest and most chilling of them all. Supposedly, its strong spiritual energy meant the ghosts of the dead frequently appeared here.

Of course, Noel was not particularly afraid of ghosts, so she failed to see what the fuss was about.

'Can't you kill ghosts?'

... Her reason for not fearing them was eminently practical.

All fear stemmed from the unknown, after all, and ghosts had long since ceased to be unknown entities. In that sense, her attitude was reasonably rational.

What she was doing here on Aiden's instructions, however, could hardly be called rational.

In fact, she couldn't begin to fathom the point of this work.

“... Have you done much manual labor?”

Watching Noel expertly dig up the earth and bury ore beneath it, Aiden couldn't help asking.

He had worked all manner of jobs to put food on the table even while making his living as a con man, but never in his life had he possessed the stamina or skill to work at her terrifying pace.

“I've been on a few civilian assistance assignments. I learned these things then.”

Someone whose rank was equivalent to a general's, out helping civilians. It made him reflect all over again on the sort of person she was.

“But what is all this?”

With her sleeves and trouser legs rolled up, Noel brushed the dirt off her hands and looked at the ore nearby.

They were all mysterious mana stones Aiden had asked Ganesha to procure. She hadn't been told what they did. Aiden had simply asked her to help bury them, and she'd come straight along to oblige.

“Insurance.”

“... Pardon?”

“Getting everything ready, one step at a time.”

There would be little point explaining further. Chances were, he wouldn't even use these things.

Still, judging by how things had gone so far, the main scenario was a capricious bastard that could veer off in any direction at any moment. Almost nothing had played out according to his knowledge.

In that sense, this was insurance. Something he was planting in advance, just in case things went terribly wrong.

“... I don't know what this is about, but if you say it's necessary, then I'm sure it is.”

Rather than press him for details, Noel simply gave him a gentle smile and spoke warmly.

“The scenery is lovely. You can see the Central Spire clearly from here, too...”

“...”

“Go ahead and do everything you want, Aiden. I'll help you.”

Wait.

She rather resembled a mother looking at her troublemaking son, and it felt a little strange.

But there was one thing she had said that caught his attention.

'... The Central Spire.'

Frowning, Aiden looked at the enormous tower clearly visible even from the outskirts of the capital.

It was something of a city landmark. Normally, he would never have paid it any attention.

And that would have remained the case, if Ganesha hadn't recently told him something ominous.

[“The imperial prince appears to be preparing something in there.”]

[“Apparently, he's keeping something so closely guarded that even my intelligence network hasn't caught wind of it... Be careful. It looks dangerous.”]

Recalling those words, Aiden heaved a deep inward sigh.

'So I'm not the only one making preparations.'

In a sense, he and the prince were competing to see who could grow stronger faster with each passing day.

That meant he couldn't afford to sit around, either. He hadn't brought Noel all the way out here merely to bury a few things.

“Dame Noel. Take this.”

She tilted her head at the object he held out.

“... What is it?”

“Something we'll need. It's custom-made.”

For now, that was the only explanation Aiden could give.

Given its appearance, her question was only natural. What he had handed her looked like an ordinary rectangular box, except that it was large enough for two people to lie on top of with room to spare.

It was so odd-looking that she couldn't even guess what it was for...

“... Custom-made?”

Her question was really what on earth this thing did to warrant having it specially made, but Aiden remained silent.

As Noel took it with a puzzled tilt of her head, he looked up at the sky, checking his watch at intervals.

“What exactly are you planning to do with this?”

“Gather materials.”

More precisely, he needed a power source to use alongside the Star Iron he had already obtained from Ganesha.

Ultimately, the equipment he needed most was a sword and a gun, and this place offered a chance to gather the perfect power source for them.

“Pardon?”

“Just wait a little.”

As he said that and stared at the surrounding area, the sight he had been waiting for finally began to unfold.

“... Huh?”

Just as Noel uttered that sound beside him, light suddenly began to gather at a dizzying height, so high that even from the observation deck they had to crane their heads to see it.

The phenomenon might have seemed to come out of nowhere, but Aiden would actually have been in trouble if it hadn't appeared.

He quietly looked at the bracelet around his wrist. Meyer slept within it. If he spent long enough in a place like this while wearing it, then what ought to happen was...

-System Message

▶ The item 'Soul Connector' resonates with the surrounding energy.

▶ The presence of the spirit dwelling within is detected.

▶ A passage opens!

... There it was.

Reading those lines, Aiden smiled faintly to himself.

“There we go. Let's get ready.”

“... How exactly should I do that?”

“First, put that down.”

The rectangular object Noel was holding was set down on the ground. Aiden gave it a few firm thumps to flatten it out.

“Good. Now let's lie down together.”

“... Pardon?”

“Come on.”

Aiden flopped onto the platform. He patted the spot beside him, urging Noel to lie down as well.

“...”

Though her entire face said she had no idea what was going on, Noel readily followed his instructions and lay down.

“... This is the strangest way I've ever taken in the forest air.”

Despite her grumbling, she slowly settled into place, then let out a heavy sigh.

“So, are we going to lie here and look at the night sky together?”

“No. We're going in.”

“... Into what?”

“That.”

Aiden pointed at the sky.

The light was gathering ever more intensely. By now, it was downright blinding.

“That's an entrance to the Reverse Realm.”

The Ghost Forest hadn't earned its name for nothing.

There was no smoke without fire, and every rumor had a source.

As far as Aiden knew, phenomena befitting that name really did occur here. Exits from the Reverse Realm occasionally opened in this vicinity—the realm the Lord Protector had previously torn an entrance out of and burst through.

“...”

Looking bewildered, Noel glanced back and forth between me and the light gathering in the sky.

Then she considered what those words meant, and her face gradually began to turn pale.

“What did you say?”

“It's an entrance to the Reverse Realm.”

“... Why is something like that appearing here?!”

Hers was a perfectly normal reaction, really.

People might call it the Reverse Realm or whatever else, but it was a nightmarish place that could just as easily be called “hell.”

Various records of the Reverse Realm survived, but if you gathered them all and summed them up, they boiled down to a single sentence:

Never even dream of going inside.

'... I really would rather not go this far.'

Of course, there were always things you had to do whether you wanted to or not.

Needing to scrape together every possible advantage meant that he had to consider plunging headfirst into the Reverse Realm, too.

“... Still, at least we're a long way from it. Floating that high in the sky, it doesn't look like it can do much to us.”

Noel held a hand to her head in disbelief as she said this.

Aiden nodded quietly.

“That was actually the difficult part.”

“... Pardon?”

“It forms at such an extraordinary height that getting close is incredibly difficult. No matter how strong you are, you can't easily fly up there without some special device.”

That was precisely why he had gone to the trouble of asking Ganesha to make this.

Before Noel could properly consider what he meant, two buckles popped out from the side of the box beneath them with a hiss, and Aiden picked them up.

He calmly pulled them out, fastened one around his waist, and fumbled about to fasten the other around Dame Noel.

“... What is this now?”

“A seat belt.”

“...”

“We wouldn't want you getting hurt. Is it too tight?”

“... Aiden...”

Noel's voice was laden with the implication that he was already about to make her suffer.

But she never got to finish.

WHIRRR

Mechanical devices could be heard emerging from beneath the rectangle.

“...”

Well.

Noel wasn't particularly well versed in engineering, but those things unmistakably resembled engines.

And the moment she saw them, she had the distinct impression that this device had been built to launch them into the sky.

To send them soaring high into the air, like a rocket.

“... Aiden.”

“Yes?”

“Surely not... I mean, I can hardly believe you'd actually do it, but...”

“Yes?”

“Are we going in there now?”

“Yes.”

“Without any equipment?”

“No, we're not going in empty-handed.”

Aiden rummaged around and handed something to Noel, who looked positively dizzy.

Wondering what it was, she accepted it. A sack.

Just a plain cloth sack.

A sack whose shape was ideally suited to holding things.

The kind of sack you could buy at the market for a few coins...

“You'll need it.”

“...”

“Hold on to it.”

“... I'm only asking just in case.”

Hearing the engines ignite beneath them, Noel spoke in something close to a growl.

“Is the reason you refused to answer, no matter how many times I asked what we were doing here, that you knew I'd never agree if you told me?”

“...”

“Answer me.”

“...”

“I said, answer me.”

... So even she dropped the politeness when she was angry.

Turning that observation over in his mind, Aiden averted his eyes and spoke sheepishly.

“... Didn't you tell me earlier to do everything I wanted?”

Noel drew a deep breath and let it out.

“Aiden.”

“Yes?”

“You and I are going to have a talk when this is over.”

“...”

Before he could say anything in reply, Aiden and Noel were launched into the air at a terrifying speed.