Act 18 - The Earth's Beast

Seirei Gensouki 18 - Daichi no Kemono ( 精霊幻想記 18.大地の獣).

## Synopsis

**The earth shakes with the cheers on the saint-- The divine beast roars!!**

The duke's daughter from the Galarc Kingdom, Liselotte Cretia, was kidnapped by the sixth hero that calls herself the Saint Erika. Rio gets the king's approval for going on her rescue and accompanied by her chief servant Aria follows the saint's trace. On the other side t,he prisoner turned Liselotte sees the situation of the Saint Erika's Democratic Republic with the saint as its head "Who do you want to take revenge from?". The heat on the saint's eye eventually becomes fire and goes to swallow the world!!

聖女への喝采に大地は揺らぎ――神なる獣は咆哮す!!
聖女を名乗る六人目の勇者エリカの手によって、ガルアーク王国の公爵令嬢リーゼロッテ＝クレティアが拉致された。国王の承認を得てリーゼロッテ奪還に乗り出したリオは、彼女の筆頭侍女であるアリアと共に聖女の追跡を開始する。一方、囚われの身となったリーゼロッテは聖女を国家元首に戴く辺境の小国【神聖エリカ民主共和国】の現状を目にし――……「貴方は誰に復讐したいのですか？」聖女の瞳に灯る熱はやがて業火となり、世界を包み込んでいく!!

## Content

### **Prologue.**

In front of Galarc’s royal castle gates, Aria is asking Rio for permission to accompany him in Liselotte’s rescue with her head lowered at him. Looking at Aria’s combat outfit, Rio concludes that even if he refuses, Aria was fully prepared from the start to go to Liselotte’s rescue even without Rio or the king’s permission. Rio thinks about the pros such as Aria being strong enough to be helpful to him if the need arises and if she has information about Erika that may be useful on their mission. Rio thinks about the cons like the need to reveal to her thatAsiaa is a spirit and about the spirit arts. Rio asks Aria if she will be fine with following his orders during their trip, to which Aria agrees.

Aishia warns Rio through telepathy that Erika raised her speed after leaving the castle and that she’s about to leave the noble district. Rio tells Asia to keep following her, Rio tells Aria that Erika raised her speed and begin to move, Aria nods surprisedly while wondering what Rio meant before about having a way of tracking Erika while keeping a distance. Rio says that he will give a detailed explanation while they move and tells her to strengthen her body with her sword, Aria swallows her questions and feelings for the time being and obeys. Rio tells Aria to follow him, and they begin to run toward the city’s gates.

### **Chapter 1: Persecution’s beginning.**

Ten and a few minutes later, three kilometers northeast of the capital, Rio and Aria are hiding behind a rock inside a forest next to a grain-producing field. Rio tells Aria that Erika has just met an escort-looking man in his twenties, Aria says that she understands while wondering how he’s able to see so far and with so many obstacles in between because she can’t see beyond some tenths of meters at all. Rio tells Aria that those two have two griffins with them and that he can’t see Liselotte so they must have left her elsewhere in advance. Rio tells her that they seem about to leave on the griffins. Aria is worried because it would be almost impossible to follow them on foot if they fly, to which Rio replies that they will also fly as well. Aria is then worried about how long Rio will be able to follow the griffins like that, Rio says that Erika has just departed and that she’s flying northwest. Rio says that he needs to let some distance between them in case Erika can use her powers to see them, so for the time being he would just focus on gaining height and that he wants to take flight, Aria says yes with a worried face.

Aria apologizes to Rio in his arms for completely becoming luggage. The mood is awkward between them, having to be that close to each other even though neither of them considers the other to be a friend. Rio says he apologizes too which Aria asks why, Rio says that it isn’t good for a single woman to be touched by a man who isn’t her fiance, Aria says she is not a noblewoman or anything and laughs lightly, a little surprised. Rio says he thinks being a noble or not is unrelated, Aria says that such consideration is unneeded for the non-noblewoman like her and says that it’s the opposite, that he may have troubles because a single nobleman like him is touching a single woman that isn’t his fiancee, Rio says that he thinks that too is unrelated to being a noble. Aria says that the women close to him certainly wouldn't like it, and that she’s worried about her accompanying him upsetting the girls acquainted with Rio and that she forgot about it because she was just thinking about the saint and that she’s sorry about it.

Rio says that Aria’s premise is wrong, that she isn’t a stranger and that having her with him is reassuring for him, he then tells her not to apologize, Aria thanks his words and feelings and asks him why he’s doing all of this, to which Rio asks what she means. Aria asks why he took action to rescue Liselotte doubtlessly and faster than anyone despite having just arrived at the castle and not knowing of the situation yet. Rio says that Liselotte being kidnapped is everything he needed to know and that she’s a very important friend of him and for the people around him. Aria doesn’t know what to say while Rio tells her that because there’s something he can do to help Liselotte he will do it. Aria thanks him for doing that for her lord, Rio tells her to not thank him and says that Aria also is doing this because she feels a connection to Liselotte different from a master-servant one and that she has the same reason acting like him and make sure they rescue Liselotte together, to which Aria agrees with resolution.

Rio now asks Aria to tell as much as he can about Erika, Aria tells Rio about how Erika caused a revolt on small kingdom on the northwest and created a country more or less at the same time he left the castle before his return, Rio is impressed and rises in his head Erika’s danger level, Aria tells now that the cause for her revolution was the same as she told François, to save the populace from the nobles’ tyranny, Rio says that she has a lot of acting power, that he thinks something like rising a revolt and opposing the nobles can’t be done with half-baked thought, Rio wonders on his head while someone come from earth decided to go down such a way and even declared war on a big country, Rio wonders about how she rose the revolt because it isn’t something that someone can do alone or without enough mental strength, that if being unsatisfied with the nobles is enough for a revolution to occur there would be revolts everywhere, that real resolve and will to change the world are needed, and with just that it’s still something complicated.

Rio thinks due to his memories as Haruto he understands well all the problems the nobility has, but even like that he never ever thought of revolting on the Beltram Kingdom due to the discrimination against him on the royal academy, that if he tries to understand about Erika by comparing with himself the only similitude he finds is his wish of revenge against Lucius, no one takes revenge just because they have a grudge, but he still did it because he couldn’t forgive, that he took revenge because there was something he couldn’t forgive, just because he had that kind of strong feeling he took revenge, Rio wonders if Erika caused the revolt because on her there was an emotion as strong as his wish for revenge, Rio wonders if something happened to her after being summoned so she caused the revolt in retaliation or if she’s just that stronghearted, Rio tries to guess about Erika’s reason for revolting but he can’t reach an answer because what she’s doing is too far of his image of what lengths a Japanese would or not like to go to.

Rio asks Aria why Erika kidnapped Liselotte, Aria tells him that she came to Amanda with reason of asking Liselotte to move to her country and using her influence for its sake, Rio asks if she refused, and then the talk got complicated, Aria says it was exactly like that, Rio asks how it was their conversation, Aria tells that at the beginning she began to try to scout Liselotte criticizing the monarchical system and … Aria pauses, Rio asks her to continue, Aria tells that she didn’t tell that to the king but Erika realized Liselotte’s secret and explains to Rio their exchange of questions after that, about how Erika’s way of talking changed during it, about how she talked about her other way of talking like the one from before becoming the saint, and that creating a world where the weak ones don’t exist and a country completely equality for the people would be her greatest revenge.

Rio begins to wonder if Erika’s reason is a grudge against the people in power, Rio thinks about the conflict inside of him when deciding to take revenge due to his memories as Haruto, he thinks he knows about how the lightness of life on the other world can change the Japanese values, Rio keeps wondering about what happened that turned Erika into an avenger but decides that there isn’t any meaning on thinking about it, Rio thinks that even if he wants to make a mental image of his opponent for the sake of rescuing Liselotte it would be a bad idea to continue thinking like that.

Rio tells Aria that looking at Erika’s actions there seems to be a grudge against the people in power, that it seems that that emotion isn’t pointed at Liselotte so she shouldn’t be in danger for the time being but that he’s worried about the Erika that seems to have a side that won’t choose her means for achieving her goal, Aria says that she has a calculative side too, that even if she acts stupid she’s thinking things through and does always as planned, Rio says that if her plan was the war with the Galarc Kingdom then it’s likely that she kidnapped Liselotte for the sake of causing it, that she didn’t seem to have any intention of negotiating, Aria says that she thought of that possibility too because in Amanda she didn’t look like having any intention of negotiating either, Rio says he doesn’t understand why Erika wants a fight, that even if she has a grudge against the people on power picking a fight with a great kingdom like Galarc is calling for self-destruction.

Rio begins to ask himself if precisely that is Erika’s wish, if precisely going down that way of destruction is Erika’s revenge, Rio decides to let go of that thought due to its absurdity, he thinks that she doesn’t has a reason for going that far away from the ideals she says to have or destroying the country that she has just made, Rio wonders if Erika has a way of winning, if she’s picking the fight because she’s confident on winning, Rio can’t understand what the way of winning against a big country is, Rio sights trying to calm his anxieties and asks Aria if Erika visited Liselotte alone, Aria says she came alone like she did on the castle, Rio says that Liselotte must have been left with another team acting separately from her then, that she may hate to have dead weight around her.

Rio thinks on his head that way she can fabricate too whatever story she wishes about what happened on the negotiations, that if she wants to be revered as a saint there can’t be people that doubts of her actions, that if she wants a war she can do as she pleases, Rio concludes that the only thing he can think of that is that the Erika wants a war with the Galarc kingdom and his look at the distant Erika becomes a severe one thinking about the future war, Aria realizes the change on Rio and asks him if something happened, Rio tells her that it’s nothing, that it’s possible that he’s overthinking it and his analysis going on wrong direction, Rio fakes a smile and changes the topic, he asks Aria if there’s anything else she’s curious about.

Aria tells Rio that she doesn’t know why but that Erika said that she still needed to keep a secret she was a hero and the moment Liselotte asked if she was hero and she admitted it she attacked Liselotte, Rio says that it may be an excuse she made on the spot or she really meant it and wanted to choose another timing more convenient for her for making it known, Rio decides to asks about Erika’s skills now, Rio looks worriedly at Aria because she must have been defeated by Erika for her to be able of kidnapping Liselotte, Aria says with a frustrated face that there wasn’t anything remarkable about her martial arts, that her way of moving her body and weapon were that of rookie and just relying on the power of her weapon, Rio asks if she was strong enough for beating Aria despite of that, Aria denies it and tells Rio about her attempt of incapacitating Erika, Rio asks if she is someone the average one can’t knock out, Aria explains about the hits she connected on Erika and how she thought she had collapsed, Rio describes Erika as someone that seems capable of taking few damage despite being hit by a heavily strengthened opponent, Aria explains now about how Erika took advantage of her opening for taking them by surprise, and how she seemed to have barely taken any damage, that her toughness aside her speed and strength were considerable too, she tells Rio to also be careful about the earth attacks of Erika’s weapon.

Also in the sky, following Rio and Aria from behind, Reiss that has been following after Erika knows about Liselotte’s kidnapping and Erika’s plan of visiting the castle, but he doesn’t know what happened there yet, Reiss thinks that if Rio is following Erika then the relationship between the Galarc kingdom and her must be broken, Reiss thinks that Aisia’s presence disappeared from the castle at the same time that Erika left so she the two must be following after Erika now, Reiss sends his consciousness back to Galarc’s capital wondering if this may be his last chance of taking hostage someone important for Rio, Reiss decides that for the time being it depends on how good at using her hero powers the saint is, that if she’s someone able of standing against Rio and Aisia his future actions will change greatly, that it would be ideal if two opponents that seem troublesome take each other out, that it would be the most thankful and he wouldn’t lose nothing, that he wants to keep his cards hidden longer too, Reiss thinks that the current one is a good chance so he needs to keep his eyes on Rio’s group, he thinks that it won’t be interesting if he makes everyone cautious of the Proxia Empire if they perceive he’s moving, Reiss thinks Rio’s perception radius of terrifyingly wide so it will be bad if he isn’t cautious and he continued the double tailing.

On the other side, on Galarc’s castle, Miharu, Celia, Satsuki and Charlotte went back to Rio’s mansion and reported to Latifa, Sara, Ouphia and Alma what happened, Charlotte thinks it’s mysterious that Aisia isn’t there but the rest of the girls can’t explain to her that Rio called her telepathically, Sara is surprised at what happened, Latifa is anxious and angry, she asks why Erika kidnapped Liselotte despite being a hero and the saints supposedly being good people, Satsuki says she doesn’t understand how the heroes are chosen but that it isn’t guaranteed the summoned one will be a good person and that she doesn’t know either how she was when she was still in Japan, Charlotte explains without hiding her disgust that the title of saint doesn’t guarantees anything about its holder even more in the case of a self-proclaimed one, that there’re times when the powerful ones create saints for their convenience, that she’s reluctant to describe a hero in that way but that Erika is an abnormal the furthest of a saint.

Satsuki says she gets angry just from thinking about Erika and asks to no one why did she have to kidnap Liselotte, Miharu tries to calm her saying that Rio and Aisia went already on her rescue so now they can just believe in them, Celia agrees, Satsuki is still worried and sad, Latifa says that there isn’t a way Rio and Aisia can lose being together, Sara, Ouphia and Alma agree smiling, Charlotte agrees too and says that if they can’t do something is to protect Rio’s and Liselotte’s place to return to, Satsuki tells Charlotte to tell her if she can help with that somehow, Charlotte thanks her because the more time Rio takes the more impatient will get the rest of the nobles, Satsuki says that they don’t know if he will come back soon either.

Ouphia says that if Rio’s return will get delayed it may be better for them to contact Gouki’s group themselves instead of Rio, Sara agrees, Charlotte asks if they promised to meet with someone, Sara explains that Rio promised to meet some acquaintances and that if he may not be able of going they may need to leave the castle for contacting them, Charlotte tells Sara to tell her if she needs to leave the castle because she will arrange it with François, Sara thanks her, Charlotte says she will go back to the castle, Satsuki asks if she’s leaving already, Charlotte says she will give a try to consult with her father about what to do on the future and that if she knows about anything new she will share the information with them, Satsuki thanks her, Charlotte says that it is her duty as royalty too, Charlotte leaves the room with a leave it to me.

### **Chapter 2: On the way.**

Rio’s side, an hour after he began to follow Erika, Rio says that Erika’s group began to lower their height somewhere without anything around, Aria says she understands, Rio says they’re going to a little pond inside the forest so they may be going to take a rest so they will land too, Aria tries to analyze Rio’s way of observing Erika inside her head, Aria thinks about Rio as a reassuring ally but a terrible enemy, Rio lands and puts Aria on the ground, Aria now on the ground thinks that the ability of flying can’t be explained by the power of Rio’s sword and wonders about how he’s doing it and about Rio’s quantity of magic power, Rio says that Erika’s group didn’t meet with anyone and that they seem to be letting the griffins rest, Aria says she understands a little rigidly, Rio says she’s thinking about how he can talk as if he can see and listen to Erika’s group, Aria says that he doesn’t have to force himself to tell her, that there’re a lot of magic swords with special effects and it’s normal to keep them hidden from the allies too, that he’s even sharing too much information already.

Rio says that because Aria is Liselotte’s confidant and Celia’s friends he will give some details believing she won’t do anything improper with that information, Rio tells her that his way of keeping Erika on check isn’t the sword’s power, Rio explains about his telepathy with Aisia as a way of long distance communication different from the magic tools, Aria says that’s convenient and that it looks really useful despite the short rank, Rio explains that he told Aisia to follow after Erika before she left the castle and that she can fly too, Aria is surprised and happy about having more allies, Rio says he can’t compare to Aisia when it comes to tailing, that even now she’s giving him information, Rio explains that Erika seems to be on her way to her country, that she has been flying northwest since her departure so it seems that Liselotte was taken in advance to her country.

Aria suggests a surprise attack on Erika’s group because the timing seems perfect and they have more people, Rio says he’s worried about what Erika said about Liselotte being executed if she isn’t back to her country on the set date, Rio says that the chance of it being a bluff is high because it is unlikely to hurt someone with an use but that he wants to be safe, Aria apologizes for suggesting it on the first place and is frustrated for suggesting such a thing just because she got impatient, Rio tries to encourage her to keep giving her opinion because there can be things he may not realize thinking alone too, Aria thanks him, Aria admonishes herself on her head for being consoled by a younger person, now she thinks about how Rio is always strangely calm and about how it feels to be with an older man instead of a younger one, she thinks that Celia may feel attracted to that, Rio says that there seems to still be time until their departure and takes out the rock house, Aria is surprised, Rio explains about the time-space cache and the rock house, Rio shows Aria the house.

Several hours later, at sunset, Erika’s group took another two rests on their way, now they go towards a little town nearby, Rio says they seem to be preparing for checking in some inn, Rio tells Aisia to contact him once Erika is done with that, that he will enter the city after that and to tell him if something happens, Aisia says she understands, Rio lands, sets the rock house and asks Aria if she recognizes the crest on the town’s flags, Aria says it belongs to the Margrave Podorier, a noble from the Galarc Kingdom, Rio tells Aria to wait for him on the rock house while he uses the city’s magic tool for contacting the castle, Rio tells Aria to feel free to use freely the things on the kitchen and to have dinner and a bath ahead of him if she wants, Aria sees Rio off making a reverence and thanking him.

Reiss observes Rio and Erika from the sky, he guesses that Rio went to contact Galarc’s castle, Reiss thinks that if they continue like that they will arrive soon to Erika’s country several days later, so it may be fine to make the necessary arrangements during the night even if he has to lose sight of them for some hours, Reiss thinks about his different pieces and decides to contact the heavenly lions and to have them putting effort in memory of their leader.

An hour later, Rio enters the house and smells something nice, Aria welcomes him back, Rio is surprised at Aria’s looks on the clothes she borrowed from Aisia, Aria says she already prepared the dinner, Rio thanks her and says it smells well a little awkwardly, Aria asks him if he will have dinner first or if he will take a bath, Rio says he will eat first, Rio washes his hands and sits to the table, Aria tries to stand behind Rio while he eats, Rio asks if Aria already ate because he doesn’t see her portion on the table, Aria says a maid can’t partake on a nobles dinner, Rio convinces her of having dinner together.

While they eat Rio tells to Aria he already informed the castle that they will have to leave the kingdom and that it may take then more than a week to go back, Aria thanks him and Rio thanks her for the food, Aria stops eating and looks softly at Rio, Rio asks what happens, Aria says she thinks she understands why Celia and the girls think highly of him, that he has a mysterious charm on him, Rio asks what is she saying suddenly, Aria explains that even now when she thinks about Erika she can’t avoid to get angry at her and her weak self again but when she sees Rio keeping his cool and going forward calmly and silently she can recover her calm too, Rio says that Aria’s eyes when she asked him to let her accompany him looked like she was thinking about a lot of things, that he doesn’t know if is good or bad but that he prefers the face Aria is making now, that he doesn’t remember it but if he did something that influenced her for good that’s fine.

Aria says that as expected it is that, Rio asks what it is, Aria says that more important that is if Aisia needs to change shifts watching over Erika, that she wants to help at least changing with her at night, Rio says he already offered himself too but he was rejected saying she was fine because Aisia doesn’t need to eat, drink or sleep, Aria is speechless and doesn’t understand Rio’s meaning, Rio says that since it’s a good chance he will explains several things more, Aria says that it’s fine to not tell her because she thinks it’s something as important as the hidden abilities of a magic sword, Rio says that it’s fine because she’s Liselotte’s confidant and Celia’s friend so he will trust her, that there she will see a lot of things that can’t be explained as his sword’s power and that he doesn’t want to lower his chances of rescuing Liselotte for having to hide them, Aria asks Rio to let her explain first the abilities of her sword as her prove of trust on him.

Rio asks if it is fine to reveal that without Liselotte’s permission, Aria says she will just ask for Liselotte’s forgiveness later and if she isn’t forgiven she will just take responsibility, Rio agrees reluctantly, Aria explains her sword is called “lethal bringer” and that when she puts magic power on it its cutting power rises and the wounds inflicted with it can’t heal well, Rio explains about the spirit arts and Aisia being a spirit, now Aria feels bad for having asked because she received more information than what she gave, Rio says that it’s fine because it is for the sake of rescuing Liselotte with certainty, that now he and Aisia don’t need to hold back, Aria says that even like that she will become their luggage, Rio denies it, he says it’s reassuring to have an ally as strong as Aria when there’re so many unknowns about the enemy or what will happen, that Liselotte will surely be relieved of seeing her too, Aria says she can’t win against Rio with a little smile and a impressed gaze.

### **Chapter 3: Saint Erika’s Democratic Republic.**

A week ago, as Rio guessed Liselotte was taken in advance to Erika’s country, Liselotte is on a mansion that belonged to one of the country’s former nobles, her room doesn’t have windows, a guard stands always outside and she’s made to wear a magic sealing collar, she can’t find a way to escape no matter how much she thinks about it and can’t see herself making it through on the outside even if she manages to escape, she wasn’t given any kind of information, the moment she tries to talk to the person that brings her food they leave, when she was kidnapped Erika left her unconscious and when she woke up she was on a griffin flying towards the republic, Erika’s escorts weren’t told anything either on her way, her eyes were bandaged too.

Liselotte understands that all of this is for the sake of upsetting her and making her anxious, that she’s just being given time for getting more desperate, but she doesn’t give up, she thinks that it will be bad if she stops thinking about a way of going back to the Galarc kingdom, she thinks her chances of escaping begin with finding a way of taking out the collar and somehow stealing a griffin, she thinks her kidnapping is somehow related to the Rikka firm so she will need to negotiate or wait for a rescue, Liselotte thinks waiting to be rescued may be the most simple but that it looks too convenient, she thinks it isn’t impossible for François to be forced to choose to sacrifice her depending on how much other nobles oppose the kingdom moving for the sake of rescuing her, she thinks even if her father can smoothly organize the rescue appealing to François he won’t escape to be accused of moving the kingdom to his convenience so she shouldn’t try to rely on him, if there’re those who move on secret for the sake of rescuing her it will be easy to guess they come from the Galarc and that they received some kind of order, depending on the situation they may be even accused of betraying the kingdom.

Liselotte wonders if someone will be willing to take that much risks for her sake but concludes there isn’t, for a moment she thinks about a certain person but she thinks that convenient dream like story is impossible, she thinks it is more realistic to wait for her maids to rescue her instead but they should know that moving without François’ permission may make things worse for her on the Galarc Kingdom, she’s especially worried about Aria and hopes her maids won’t feel any kind of strange responsibility towards her, Liselotte remembers the fight between Aria and Erika and gets worried about her maids, she hopes they are fine and feels guilty about them getting hurt for her sake, she hopes that they don’t feel guilty for not stopping Erika, Liselotte thinks she needs to go back to the Galarc kingdom by herself no matter how, she thinks someone would come to talk to her sooner or later and thinks about the pros and cons of the her possible activities to show at that time, Liselotte thinks that it may be troublesome if Erika is the first person she talks to after her confinement, she thinks both of Erika’s selves are difficult to read on their own way, Liselotte thinks she wants to talk to someone different from her before her return.

The next morning, after breakfast, when the person who takes out the dishes left a man and a woman knight entered the room, the man introduced himself as Andrei, the country’s prime minister, Liselotte doubts it at the beginning because he looks too young and unreliable for being a prime minister but decides to let it be because she finally has a chance to negotiate with someone, Liselotte introduces herself showing a little of pretended anger, Andrei says he knows about the Rikka firm because in the past he was a merchant too, Andrey looks seriously and fixedly at Liselotte with admiration and curiosity, Liselotte asks Andrei the reason of his visit, Andrei says he came to have her looking at their country, Liselotte asks his meaning, Andrei says he wants her to see with her own eyes the wonderfulness of their country so she will understand Erika’s greatness, Liselotte asks if he will take her out of the room, Andrei asks if there’s any problem with that, Liselotte doubts it’s fine to let her out after a week confined.

Andrei says that it is Erika’s orders, Liselotte asks what orders, Andrei talks about Erika’s intention of having Liselotte joining the republic, Liselotte says she already rejected that and that she already asked a lot of times to Natalia next to Andrei to be let go on their way to the republic, Natalia tells to Andrei that Liselotte is an irreverent noble that can’t understand Erika’s kindness, Natalia keeps being hostile to Liselotte, on their way to the republic she tried to explain a lot of times what happened with Erika and how it can create an international problem but Natalia never paid her any mind and treated her as nuisance.

Andrei says that it seems Liselotte is misunderstanding Erika and Natilia, Liselotte asks him how is it a little misunderstanding to be attacked, kidnapped and taken to another country, Andrei says he heard from Natalia too that Liselotte came to the country detained by Erika, Liselotte says that then she wants to know what he thinks about the kidnapping of people of other countries, Andrei says he believes on Erika, that he can’t say the truth and lies of the case instead of Erika, that Erika will talk about where this incident is going towards at her return, that it’s fine to consider his words as the country’s words and asks Liselotte to understand them, Liselotte gives up on persuading anyone with words and decides to just try to not make any more enemies on that country, she tells to Andrei to understand too that what it’s happening isn’t a small misunderstanding but a real international problem, Andrei says he will take it to heart.

Liselotte asks what it is his purpose on Erika’s absence, Andrei says that as said before he wants Liselotte to see their country so she will understand Erika’s wonderfulness and she will surely want to cooperate with Erika, that then the misunderstanding will be cleared too, Liselotte doubts if that is really Andrei’s only purpose, Liselotte says she can’t understand how she can’t believe so much on Erika despite understanding what she did, Andrei looks like Erika’s puppet for her and it is disquieting for her, Andrei tells Liselotte to think of Erika’s will as his, a strong disappointment extends through Liselotte’s eyes, she thinks they couldn’t be more mismatched while that blind faith on Erika remains but more than that she can’t understand why Erika is so adored, Liselotte decides to follow Andrei and Natalia for the sake of gathering information about Erika and her country.

Liselotte leaves the mansion with Natalia and Andrei and surrounded by guards, Andrei asks Liselotte how much she knows about the republic, Liselotte says she just knows that it was born after the revolt that Erika caused but that she doesn’t know that much about the revolt itself, Andrei talks about the big quantity of small countries on that part of the Stralh region and their endless skirmishing, he tells that the Rivanov kingdom where they revolted didn’t participate on that, he talks about the agriculture being the main industry and the kingdom never being an strategically important one due to the bad climate and unfertile land, Liselotte listens silently without denying or agreeing because she postponed to gather information about the republic for the same reason.

Andrei talks about the past kings being all bad ones that used the country’s location for sucking up to the Proxia empire, using that for being the only ones who had rich life's being the cause of revolt, Liselotte asks if the revolt would have occurred even without Erika being there then, Andrei says that even if there was a good ground for the revolt without Erika it wouldn’t have happened, that for them it was a matter of course to live under the nobles despite the harsh daily life, Liselotte asks if Erika was the one who changed them, Andrei confirms it and talks about Erika teaching them about the people having rights despite their statuses, the nobles that said to rule in the name of the god being just humans too and their wrongness when making laws that puts them above others, Andrei talks passionately about Erika giving them that knowledge and leading the revolt from the front lines so they wouldn’t die, Liselotte says she doesn’t know what Erika did and his story doesn’t make her understand why they adore her so much, Andrei’s delusional appearance just makes Liselotte more wary of Erika, Andrei says it is enough with her knowing about what Erika did after that like everything she did for the sake of the weak ones, he says he will show her what Erika’s power that can just be called miraculous did, Andrei walks through the streets with a prideful smile.

Andrei explains to Liselotte that she’s on the country’s capital, Ericaburg, that the mansion she stays in belonged to a former noble and is at the limit of the former noble district, Liselotte asks if they’re really on the noble district, Andrei confirms it and asks if isn’t lively, Liselotte doesn’t deny it but says that everything is under construction, Andrei explains about the noble district getting destroyed during the revolt and shows Liselotte the mountain of rubble in the place the royal castle used to be in, Andrei explains about Erika destroying the castle in one blow, Liselotte asks how she did it, Andrei just says that Erika is the owner of a miraculous power, Liselotte asks if it is the power of her Divine Arm, Andrei doesn’t know what the Divine arms are, Liselotte explains what the divine Arms are and asks Andrei if he didn’t know that Erika is a hero, Andrei says he didn’t know.

Liselotte wonders if keeping her own people without knowing was one of the reasons why Erika wanted to keep the fact of being a hero a secret, she wonders too if the rest of the heroes can do the same as Erika, she remembers about Hiroaki’s yamata no orochi, she rates it as something as strong as the highest level magic but still thinks of it as something way weaker than Erika’s attacks, she wonders if Erika is just better at using her arm’s power than the rest of the heroes or if she’s just different from the rest, Liselotte wonders if Erika wanted to hide being a hero for being able of taking by surprise with her powers a possible enemy army, Liselotte thinks she needs to find out more about Erika whatever it is like what happened to her after the summoning, Andrei calls Liselotte out of her thoughts, Liselotte says she was just a little surprised.

Andrei asks her with a satisfied smile if she already understood why they follow Erika, Liselotte says that can mean that they follow her because of her power but that she’s sure he means something different, Andrei confirms it and says that it’s because she has a cause, because she thinks about the people more than anyone, that she just uses her power for the sake of helping the weak ones, that she has a great power because she’s a saint instead of being a saint because she has a great power, because of that they’re convinced of the future being where she walks towards and that she will guide them to it if they follow her back, Liselotte says they sound like they adore Erika as much as the six wise gods, Andrei asks if a saint isn’t precisely that, he says that in the republic Erika is like a prophet who mediates between the gods and the populace, that there’re a lot who believe her to be a god’s reincarnation and that if she’s a hero it will be a matter of course for her to be someone sacred.

Liselotte wonders about how much Erika has calculated ahead and pretended, Liselotte asks Andrei to describe the attack Erika used for destroying the castle, Andrei explains about the earth tsunami destroying the castle, Liselotte sends a pained look at the rabble thinking about the innocent ones that must have died too, Liselotte asks if it wasn’t too wasteful to destroy the castle with how useful the building, its treasure and supplies could have been hoping that while those things were being surrendered the people could have escaped Erika’s destruction, Andrei says they expect to recover the treasure but that the castle as a symbol of the bad previous government needed to be destroyed, Liselotte asks if the evil nobles were included too, Andrei says it was a necessary sacrifice and that just the ones who stayed hostile towards Erika until the end remained in the castle, Andrei says they don’t condemn someone just because they’re nobles, that if they can understand Erika’s ideals they will reach their hands to them and asks about Liselotte’s opinion.

Liselotte says she hates the practices that oppress the populace and that she doesn’t think about herself as superior to anyone just because she’s a noble, but that she was raised as one of the nobles they call exploiters so she may have a different point of view from theirs that grew as the oppressed, Andrei praises Liselotte’s answer as good and honest because he already saw a lot nobles just pretending to agree with them for the sake of salvation, he smiles widely saying she was the person he heard she was, Liselotte says she’s honored and asks Andrei to tell her more about the country and Erika because there’re thinks she will just understand by looking at them, Andrei agrees and says in a good mood he will guide her now to where the general populace lives.

Andrei explains Liselotte about the country’s parliament, its functions, the way its members are chosen, that that system was taught to them by Erika and that there’re parts of the system that they don’t understand well yet so they just promulgated a few laws for the time being, Andrei talks about the country needing the populace’s consensus for advancing as the important, because if it’s just the consensus of the privileged ones it will go towards more exploitation of the weak ones, Liselotte says that if the people participating in the decision increases it will certainly be more difficult to ignore opposing opinions, Andrei says their wonderful saint taught them that too, Liselotte praises the fact of the ones in power taking into account the populace’s opinion because it raises their sense of responsibility towards the populace for keeping Andrei happy and talkative.

Andrei is happy about Liselotte’s comments, he says he wants her to see the parliament’s debate on the evening and the promulgation of laws, he wants her to look as the laws’ draft and hear her opinion too, Liselotte says with a troubled smile she’s expecting it, in her head Liselotte lowers Andrei’s evaluation as politician even further, she considers him good scholar material but deems his personality too simple and careless for being a politician, she wonders if he has his position due to the lack of better or more experienced people in the republic, Natalia next to them snorts unamused about Andrei’s good mood, Liselotte pretends to not notice and asks Andrei to tell her more about Erika, she asks him if she was already the saint when they met, Andrei explains Erika not calling herself the saint yet when he first met her and he wondering too several times why she wanted to be called that.

Liselotte asks him to tell her the story if he doesn’t mind, Andrei says he will talk because he has Erika’s permission for answering her questions, Andrei explains that Erika used to live with her fiançe in a certain village, Liselotte remembers Erika telling her that she couldn’t meet with her loved one again, Andrei tells her that Erika’s fiançe is dead, Liselotte guesses Erika’s fiançe got dragged into the summoning and wonders about why he died, Andrei explains that Erika told him that her fiançe and her arrived at the village after a certain thing happened, Liselotte guesses that the stone that summoned Erika must have been anywhere near that village without anyone noticing, Andrei explains that Erika didn’t talk much about her time at that village but that she told him that it was her fiançe’s death that made her decide to become the saint, Liselotte asks why Erika’s fiançe died, Andrei tells her that he died protecting the villagers from a powerful person that came to the village, Andrei says he was a good man and that Erika described him as a very good man that always thought more about what he can do for the sake of the ones suffering than his own.

Andrei explains that Erika was sad, angry and despaired seeing her fiançe’s death, that at that time she was really resentful towards the powerful ones that made a world where the people is discriminated due to their statuses but then she had a revelation that told her to save the world, Liselotte is curious about the world revelation that uses to be associated to suspicious things, Liselotte asks if by revelation he means that Erika is doing god’s will, Andrei smiles at Liselotte’s doubtful reaction and says that a lot of people suspected of Erika at the beginning and that the former royal family considered her a fraud until the end, Liselotte asks distraught if there’s any proof of Erika receiving the gods’ prophecies, Andrei says that there isn’t any proof, Liselotte asks why they believe Erika is a prophet then.

Andrei tells her that they’re three reasons, the first is that until now everything happened as her prophecies said, that she prophesied that a country of the populace and for the populace would be born and she made it possible, Liselotte thought in her head that that is just to establish a goal and having the power to achieve it but she didn’t retort and decided to listen to the other two reasons first, Andrei tells the second reason is Erika’s power, that she said it was the god’s present and she has used it for causing miracles, Liselotte asks if he means the castle destruction, Andrei tells it wasn’t just that and talks about Erika healing people without magic, fertilizing the earth and changing the river’s courses moving the earth, Liselotte thinks that all of that is just her weapon’s power, she remembers about Satsuki explaining about her dream where a voice explained her the way of using her weapon and wonders if that is what Erika is calling a prophecy, Andrei tells that their last reason for believing in Erika is that she earned it by continuing to help the weak ones through the country for a long time, causing miracles where she went and defending the populace from the powerful ones even before of being called saint, Andrei says he met Erika during her travel.

Liselotte thinks the third reason is that nobody doubts their object of adoration, that she made herself the saint for the sake of creating that unshakable position, Liselotte wonders if the six wise gods are the voice that explained to the heroes how to use their weapons in their dreams, Andrei asks Liselotte if she believes on Erika now, Liselotte says she’s still skeptical, Andrei praises Liselotte’s honesty, education, valors and cautiousness, he says he feels she will surely lent her power to their country and invites Liselotte to walk through the city with a heated gaze.

### **Intermission: On the other side, at that time.**

The morning after Rio and Aria began to tail Erika, in the Paladia kingdom, six members of the heavenly lions visited Paladia’s royal castle as Proxia’s messengers, Arein, Lucci and Ven included, Arein enters alone the audience room where Duran receives him, Duran is curious because Arein is wearing the heavenly lions uniform despite they never wearing it when they do some dirty job for the Proxia empire, Arein says that for the first time after long Reiss wants them to make a job as the heavenly lions so he wants to be done quickly, Duran asks him if he came for recovering Lucius’ sword and if he brought the promised magic swords in exchange, Arein says that the five waiting outside have them and asks for permission for bringing them inside, Duran allows it, Lucci, Ven and three more people wearing the heavenly lions’ uniform enter the room, each one holding two swords, Arein says that there are seven swords that just enhance the body and three with hidden abilities too, Duran asks if he has to choose between the three and the seven, Arein says he was told to deliver the ten.

Duran laughs, Arein asks if there’s anything strange, Duran says that a deal too good is suspicious and asks what they’re hiding, Arein says that part of it is the apology for the delay on their coming, because they have been busy lately too, Duran calls that suspicious, Arein says that it’s the truth and says that it is because they wish to strengthen their allied country the Paladia Kingdom, Arein says that the weak magic swords are the same they are using, he explains that more than magic swords they’re imitations, Arein explains that they can’t be produced on the hundreds but that the seven weaker swords were made in the Proxia empire, that other reason why it took them time to come for Lucius’ sword was because they couldn’t gather faster the necessary quantity of swords, Arein says they’re weaker than genuine magic swords but that they’re still enough for overwhelming a lot of normal knights.

Duran says the empire is a terrifying country, Arein says that rather than the empire the terrifying one is Reiss, Duran calls Reiss creepy, Arein asks if he can give back already Lucius’s sword, Duran agrees and Lucci is given the sword, after giving the sword Duran asks the six if they will serve under him, Arein declines saying there’s something it won’t do if they don’t do it, Duran asks if they want to avenge Lucius, Arein confirms it, Duran says it’s suicidal and says he wouldn’t fight Rio even after equipping his subordinates with the ten swords, Arein agrees and says that this time Rio himself isn’t the target, that they will just give some retribution as mercenaries.

On the other side, on Galarc’s royal castle, five days after Rio’s and Aria’s departure, the girls are gathered at the gates of Rio’s mansion, Ouphia says she’s going, the rest say their farewells while she leaves for the sake of meeting Gouki’s group, informing them of Rio’s absence and setting a teleportation point near the royal capital so she can come back to the royal capital instantly instead of two weeks later, Ouphia leaves the capital and begins to run around it searching for a suitable place.

### **Chapter 4: The saint’s return.**

Almost two weeks after Liselotte was brought to the republic, Liselotte is still a prisoner but now she’s allowed to go out if she’s with Andrei, but it was just the on the first days that Liselotte left the mansion for looking at the republic, after that it was just Andrei visiting Liselotte and getting absorbed in the things she said, Liselotte was supposed to learn about the republic and Erika from Andrei but now he’s the one learning from her instead, the difference between their quantities of knowledge and life experience were too different, currently Liselotte is talking to Andrei about the possible problems that may arise when two people with equal rights fight over something, about how the state needs the power to take care of that itself so those problems don’t occur, the need of the laws that state clearly what to do in every situation and in case a situation not included in the law occurs to make a new one asap.

Andrei is a little overwhelmed by all of that, he thought that focusing on writing the country’s constitution was good enough for the time being but Liselotte is telling him that they have to do the rest of the laws in parallel too, Andrei agrees with Liselotte and says he will talk in the parliament about what she said but he wonders about how to do it because in the parliament a lot of people distrust the laws made by nobles, Liselotte advises him to use the laws of the former Rivanof Kingdom for the time being, she says that taking out the parts about favoring the nobility they aren’t irrational laws and that they should be a good reference for them, Andrei says all the documents about that are in the destroyed royal castle, Liselotte tells him to try asking a bigger country because the laws of small kingdoms uses to be copies of theirs in a lot of cases, Andrei says that the republic doesn’t have a diplomatic relationship with any country, Liselotte tells him to rely on merchants or former functionaries that are familiar with the laws then, Andrei keeps silent making a bitter face.

Liselotte thinks that there mustn't have there been a lot of people familiar with the laws even before the revolt and wonders if this is one of the causes of the lack of human talent in the republic, Liselotte thinks about the republic’s other problems, their excess of pride and trust in their fellow commoners, their lack of knowledge, technology, experience, industry and skillful personal and the parliament that is just full of villagers without any idea about politics, Liselotte thinks left as it is the republic will collapse alone in just a little more of time, Liselotte thinks in a situation where Erika is absent the country is helpless being against external attacks or the ability to function, she thinks without Erika was simply impossible to succeed, she wonders if how Erika shortened the normal process for the revolt to happen is responsible too of the republic’s lacks, Liselotte thinks Erika’s way of making things makes it look like she just wants to pick a fight with random royalist countries, she wonders if the relief of the weak ones is really Erika’s wish thinking about how many deaths and international problems will cause her way of doing things, Liselotte wonders if the permission for contacting with other people was for the sake of showing her the republic’s sorry state.

Liselotte realizes Andrei is looking at her and asks what happens, Andrei says that as expected of Erika, she brought Liselotte to the republic because she understood that people like her were necessary, Andrei tells Liselotte he needs her, Liselotte says she already refused that every time and sighs tiredly because this happens everyday, Andrei insists, Liselotte says it’s troubling, Natalia that got bored of the difficult talk and was sleeping on a chair of the room tells Andrei he’s sounding again like he’s confessing his love with a grin, Andrei denies it flustered, Natalia makes a teasing face and Andrei asks its meaning, Natalia says that they’re rumors about spring coming to him because he visits a woman everyday, Andrei says screaming he’s just trying to convince Liselotte of joining the republic, Natalia tells she never said it was Liselotte and asks him if he visited her everyday too.

Liselotte thinks about her time with Andrei and Natalia, she thinks Andrei isn’t a bad person if how much he overthrusts on Erika isn’t taken into account, she thinks despite Erika’s actions the people under her aren’t all villains, she thinks Natalia has opened to her a lot during the last days, but decides to be careful about being too friendly with them because it is possible for them to become enemies in the future, Liselotte wonders if she would be able of getting close to the two like with Rio and Miharu if she had been in a different situation, Liselotte thinks she wants to know how the republic looks like in the eyes of Rio who is reincarnator just like her, Liselotte makes a lonely face while remembering Rio, she looks at Andrei and Natalia’s exchange feeling complicated, Andrei tells Natalia to let it be because Liselotte surely has already a fiançe, Natalia asks Liselotte is she has a fiançe, Liselotte denies it, Natalia asks if there is anyone she loves, Liselotte was going to say that there was not but the not doesn’t get out of her mouth when she thinks about a certain person, Natalia is convinced there’s someone, Andrei decides to change the topic again to the hardness of building a country, Liselotte says they seem to have it tough figuring out the right way to use their authority and the right quantity to have of it, Andrei says it is a big responsibility and that he wants Erika to be back quickly, the next day Erika comes back.

At noon, Andrei hears Erika is back and goes to her office for greeting her, he tells Erika he wanted to see her, Erika says she’s happy of seeing him again too and asks Andrei if something happened during her absence, Andrei reports that everything is as usual and Erika is happy, she praises Andrei, he acts humble and Erika says he seems to be making a good expression, Erika says that she left the country for the sake of letting him and the legislators to gain experience, Andrei gets emotional and Erika laughs a little, Andrei changes the topic to Liselotte, he praises her as someone wonderful and praises Erika for picking her, Erika talks about Liselotte as someone smart that rules thinking about the people despite being a noblewoman, Andrei says he got surprised at the depth of her knowledge a lot of times and that he learned a lot from her, Andrei says that she’s the kind of person their country needs now, Erika acts moved by Andrei’s words, Andrei says he got a good feedback from their conversations and that he’s sure she will join their country, Erika asks Liselotte’s thoughts about her being brought to the republic by force.

Andrei explains with a face a little clouded what he told to Liselotte the first time they talked about it, now that Andrei talked so much to Liselotte he’s beginning to think her complaints may be legitimate despite his faith on Erika, Erika apologizes to Andrei for leaving him the hard job, Andrei says that it’s fine because it is his duty, Erika says Andrei is a serious one so she’s worried about him bottling up things, Andrei thanks her words, while Andrei lowers his head at her Erika stands and gets close to him, she touches Andrei’s face and tells him smiling kindly to tell her everything, Andrei thanks her worry flustered, Erika says she will talk with Liselotte now, she tells Andrei to gather all the legislators at the parliament and to take Liselotte there when everything is ready, Andrei obeys and leaves Erika’s office.

An hour later Natalia takes Liselotte to the parliament, Liselotte looks at the full parliament and Erika, Natalia tells her to move in front of everyone, Erika greets Liselotte on her saint mode as if nothing happened at Amande, Liselotte stays silent showing an angry face, Erika says she will ruin her cute face frowning like that, Liselotte says it’s fine because she’s still fifteen, Erika says she doesn’t look like it, Liselotte says Erika looked like a beast too the last time she saw her at Amande, Erika feigns ignorance, Andrei and Natalia standing behind her are surprised about Liselotte calling Erika “Sakuraba-san”, Liselotte asks her if it is hard to be that forgetful, Erika says that a lot happened on her travel so she forgot about, Liselotte tells Erika to take care of herself because the work seems to making her get older faster, Erika thanks her words laughing a little, Natalia and Andrei whisper among themselves about the tense air in the room while sweating coldly.

Liselotte tells Erika to tell her already with what intent she was kidnapped and brought to the republic, Erika says she can’t send Liselotte back to the Galarc kingdom because she knows a national secret, Liselotte asks if she means the fact that she’s a hero, Erika confirms it, Liselotte says she’s accepting it quite easily despite not even the prime minister Andrei knowing about it yet, Andrei asks Erika if it is true, Erika admits it, everyone in the room gets noisy, Erika tells them to stay silent because she has to talk with Liselotte, Liselotte says that if she was going to admit it that easily there wasn’t any need of kidnapping her and asks her if she wouldn’t have kidnapped her if she hadn’t asked if she was hero, Erika says that that it’s meaningless now, that she discovered an important national secret so she just brought a souvenir in exchange, Liselotte asks if her being a hero is national secret, Erika says that it is, that if it is her she already knows the information’s worth and that she may have already made several guesses about her reasons for keeping the secret.

Liselotte says it may be for the sake of taking advantage of several things depending of the timing but says that in exchange for her troubles she wants Erika to tell her, Erika refuses, Liselotte asks if it is related to her being a prophet, and asks if by prophecies she means the dream that explained her how to use her weapon, Erika says she knows a lot, Liselotte says that included her she has met five heroes, Liselotte asks again if that dream was the prophecy, Erika says she wouldn’t mind explaining it if she joins the republic and Liselotte refuses, Erika says it’s a pity and tells Liselotte she met Satsuki and Miharu in the Galarc Kingdom, when Liselotte hears that she wonders if Rio was there too, Erika says that there was a gray haired young man who was stronger than Satsuki and that she wonders if he’s a hero because he could match her body strengthening.

Liselotte tells Erika that if her being a hero was a secret she shouldn’t have answered her question, that she doesn’t like to dig into anyone’s personal information, Erika says sulking that it was Liselotte who forced her to answer, Liselotte denies it and says she just asked questions by the rules they set, Erika says she seems to have asked a lot about her to Andrei in her absence, and asks what about that, saying she doesn’t want to dig into someone but instead asking their acquaintances about them behind their backs, that that is the kind of unfair thing the nobles do, Liselotte says she’s playing innocent and says that it is matter of trust and of the person one is talking with, that it was her who told Andrei to teach Liselotte about the republic and that it would be strange to not ask about its key people, Erika says Liselotte is really good at talking and that precisely because of that she doesn’t seem to be fifteen, she tells everyone around them to learn from her way of acting because it is what it is required of a politician and laughs.

Erika remembers something and asks if she has that kind of relationship with the gray-haired young man, Liselotte asks what she means by that kind of relationship, Erika asks if they aren’t lovers or if he was the person she said she was interested in, because he seemed to be a wonderful person loved by several people, Liselotte says she doesn’t have a reason for answering, Erika insists but Liselotte stays silent, Erika says that if she still doesn’t answer she won’t answer either later, Liselotte says that it is enough if she just answers what she wishes to answer to and tells her to do meaningful questions if she wants a meaningful answer, Liselotte says she never believed that everything she said was the truth either, Erika says pretending to be sad that she seems to be quite hated, after that Erika tells Liselotte to go back the main topic, she tells Liselotte to do whatever question she pleases, implying for everyone present that different from her she will answer, Liselotte thinks she’s really good at making herself look well in front of others.

Liselotte asks Erika if she visited the Galarc Kingdom, Erika says she went to talk about her kidnapping with François but that it wasn’t good, that the Galarc kingdom is hopeless, that when she told François to abandon the monarchy he just clung to power and threatened her with the military power of a great kingdom, Liselotte says that that is different from the person she knows and implies she’s lying, Erika insists on that being what she saw, she says that Aria was there too, Liselotte is relieved of knowing Aria was fine, Erika says that if the François they know is different it must be because Aria must have put him against her with some lie, Liselotte says it is obvious that Aria would be hostile to her after what happened at Amande but that she would never lie, Erika says that Liselotte trusts Aria and she’s trusted too by everyone in the parliament and the republic, everyone smiles at Erika, Liselotte says that there’s that much piled trust between her and Aria.

Erika says that what was piled up is certainly important, that the two lack that, that she still wants to scout Liselotte but that it may be impossible without anything piled up between then yet, Liselotte says it is obvious, Erika asks Liselotte about Natalia and Andrei, if she doesn’t think they’re good people, she asks her if it didn’t pile up anything between them while she didn’t return, Liselotte says that more than with Erika at least, Erika asks Liselotte if she minds telling her thoughts to those two if it is like that, Liselotte asks if she’s talking about their talk at Amande, Liselotte tells that her answer won’t change not matter how much she asks, that she just intended to talk about several things with Andrei while she wasn’t back, Erika says that even like that she wants to show everyone in the room, everything that the her raised as the daughter of a grand noble and that has the right set of values understands about ruling, that she heard about everything she told Andrei and the people of the parliament about their government system and the advices she gave them, Erika says she’s thankful for that, Liselotte says she didn’t told them that much, Erika says that it isn’t like that, Erika says that everything that Liselotte says like the problems that may arise between two people with equal rights clashing is really interesting and that she wants to discuss that with everyone present, Liselotte remembers when Erika said at Amande that she was a teacher and thinks that she’s too good at this kind of discussions.

Liselotte says she doesn’t mind but that before that she wants to confirm something, Erika asks what it is, Liselotte says she can’t think Erika, as the one who guided the discussion there, didn’t realize already the country’s problems, Erika admits to be aware of them, everyone is surprised and Andrei asks why she kept silence from behind Erika, Erika says that she kept silence because she wanted everyone to gain experience, that everyone trusts on her too much and would just have done as she told them without thinking about it and without learning anything from it, Andrei and the rest of the members of the legislators are moved, and inside their heads are “as expected of Erika-sama”,”How much ahead did she look?”, Liselotte asks if she made Andrei to show her the republic expecting she would realize its problems and point them out to Andrei because she thought she wouldn’t believe on her unconditionally, Erika says that she believed she would realize the republic’s problems but that her telling about them to Andrei and the rest was just fifty-fifty and smiles, Liselotte thinks that smile is creepy and wonders about how much Erika is acting or calculating, about why she’s doing things like that.

Erika tells Liselotte to continue the discussion if the confirmation is done, Erika says that she has been talking about to the people of the republic for some time already about the problems and instability of the systems made for the rulers’ sakes and that change with the ruler himself too, Liselotte asks if she will make a society where the law controls everyone equally because of that, for making everyone equal by law, Erika confirms it and talks about her ideals of helping the weak ones, about nobody being able of making laws that make them more important than anybody else like the nobles and asks Liselotte if she doesn’t think it is a really wonderful way of thinking, Liselotte says that as she already told at Amande she doesn’t think the nobles can’t say to be an existence above others just because they’re nobles, Erika says that her way of thinking is really wonderful and that if everyone thought like her the world would be a better and kinder place, but that it isn’t like that, that people is stupid, that there are those who get a feeling of security and superiority from discriminating others, that while people like that exist it’s impossible to create a world where the weak ones don’t exist, that everyone there experienced it.

Everyone agrees with Erika nodding strongly, then the mood in the room changed to Erika representing the people denouncing Liselotte who represents the nobility, to begin with what happened there wasn’t a discussion but a trial, except Liselotte everyone in the parliament lived just being oppressed by the nobility and agree with Erika’s ideas, Liselotte has thought it would be like that the moment she saw Erika’s face, but she still participated in the talk because otherwise she would just be labelled a villainess then and there, her only chance was to try to appeal for herself through the discussion, Liselotte says she intends to understand why everyone agree so strongly with Erika, Erika asks Liselotte about her opinion on the matter, Liselotte says she thinks she can sympathize with parts of it as an individual, Erika says that it really is a noble-like answer, without admitting anything and sounding like she has things to add, Liselotte says that she just thinks guided interrogations that reduce her answers to yes or no aren’t enough for expressing her thoughts.

Erika asks Liselotte if there is anything bad with guiding the world to its rightful form where the weak ones are saved, Liselotte says that it isn’t mistaken but that spreading those ideas will just create chaos, Erika asks why, Liselotte says that because all of the nobles who wants to keep their interests will become their enemies and it will result in a war, Erika says that those nobles are the ones in the wrong, Erika says that if the nobles aren’t willing to stop oppressing the populace its normal for them to make right by revolting, Liselotte says that the ones in power aren’t the only ones living in a country, that the populace is the majority, that the country prospers because the populace is there, that she understands it may be legitimate to revolt if the populace wishes for rightfulness, but that if the royal government is solid and stable there will representatives, Erika asks if the conflict with the rest of the nobles is that scary.

Liselotte says that if by example she were to start a revolt in Amande every surrounding noble would send troops to crash her, that then she wouldn’t be the only one crushed, the populace would be too and then she would be made responsible too for making them lose everything for rebelling without a chance of winning, Erika asks if she must just wait until the power of the nobility runs out and ignore the people suffering now, Liselotte says she isn’t telling them to ignore them but that they can’t risk their lives because of beautiful ideals because of that, Erika says that if she will give up on resolving the problem she should just give up her nobility, that if she can’t it is because she wants to keep living well as a noble, that she’s just protecting herself clinging to the nobility, that if she obeys the populace’s will they won’t resent her, Erika’s words are nothing more than one sided accusations, but everyone in the parliament are people who stand in the position of the victims and are closer to Erika, a lot blame Liselotte who is on the perpetrators’ side, they nod while saying “that’s it, that’s it go and try to give up your nobility”, and think that if she thinks about the people she can do something like giving up her status as a well-living noble.

Liselotte tells everyone that she’s a noble from the Galarc Kingdom, that as governor she’s on a position where it won’t do if she can’t be responsible of the lives of Amande’s citizens, she asks everyone if renouncing to that position and bringing instability to the people’s lives with it isn’t an irresponsibility, the legislator are disappointed and resented towards Liselotte, some scream at her to not make excuses, another scream “that’s it, that’s it” without knowing how much she cares about Amande’s citizens, then Erika says that Amande is certainly a wonderful city and that without her as the governor it citizens’ lives may certainly worsen, Liselotte tells her to please let her return to Amande if it is like that and asks if it’s wrong that the lives of Amande’s citizens became unstable due to Erika kidnapping her and she not being able of acting as the governor, Erika says that that is a way of seeing it, then she asks Liselotte if another way of seeing it is that until now Amande’s citizens lived well because Liselotte was a good noble, but what will happen to Amande if the next governor is an oppressing one, that she’s sure a lot of people think like that.

Liselotte says that precisely because of that she wants to go back, Erika asks if it isn’t her who should have made it so that the lives of Amande’s citizens doesn’t worsen regardless of who comes after her, Liselotte asks what she means despite already having guessed it, Erika says Liselotte didn’t fulfill her responsibilities with Amande’s citizens despite saying herself that it won’t do if she doesn’t, that she didn’t think about the city’s future or the future generations, Erika asks the legislators if they want to live under a ruler like that, the legislators agree with Erika again and scream parroting her, Liselotte thinks as expected the talk is going on circles, that what Erika is saying is basically that they need to instaurate a democracy if they want to bring stability to the people, that despite she explaining that it is obvious that there will be a conflict with the nobility in the process nobody seems willing to hear, Liselotte thinks the most likely Erika planned from the beginning to end discussion at that point, she thinks it’s impossible to win an argument with Erika while her goal stays the same and decides to pass to the next topic.

Liselotte tells Erika to proceed to the debate about what kind of democracy they will create in the country, what they will do about the populace’s rights clashing between them and the creation of a system for managing it, the legislators scream at Liselotte to not run away and to admit defeat but Liselotte just shrugs, Erika says that they argued enough for the day, that that was a good example of conflicting rights, Liselotte says it just sounds like sophistry for her, Erika says that it isn’t like that, that different from the time at Amande now they’re before the legislators who will decide the country’s future, that without her here it wouldn’t have been an argument this advanced or heated, and that what they thought after listening to them will surely reflect in what they will decide for the country’s future, Erika looks mockingly around her.

Liselotte asks if it is fine to think the purpose of taking her there was achieved, Erika says there’s one last thing, she asks Liselotte to join her in saving the weak ones, she says that if they join forces they will create a government more durable and stable than hers in Amande, Liselotte asks Erika if she wants her to betray her kingdom, Erika says it is on her how to interpret it but that the hero her can do it, that because of that she is asking it, Liselotte says there are five more heroes aside of her, that it is confirmed that all of them are affiliated to a kingdom and that the five could become her enemies, Erika says they have the chance of winning, that the heroes who live comfortably in their kingdoms can win against her, that as long as her that is a saint and a hero stands at the front the populace won’t know defeat, Liselotte says she’s quite confident.

Erika says that indeed, she says that Liselotte must understand it too, that the people are stupid so smart people like her are necessary for creating a better future, Erika asks Liselotte to join her again and offers a hand to her making a kind face, Liselotte says she doesn’t think of herself as smart, she asks if she doesn’t want to create a law that makes everyone equal precisely because she thinks that their worth doesn’t change regardless of their smartness, Erika says it is exactly like that, Liselotte tells Erika to stop trying to force her ideas on her if it is like that otherwise she won’t be different from the nobles she hate, the legislators are furious at Liselotte, one screams “what!?!?!”, another one asks screaming why they would be just like the nobles, another one screams at her that they move by consensus and that the populace’s consensus is the rightful rule, another one scream that it’s a ridiculous insult, another screams at her to take it back, another one calls her a damn noblewoman that lives of her vested interests without fulfilling her responsibilities, another one says she’s just a sinner living of the taxes from those she should protect, another one tells her to stop acting high and reflect, another one says she’s a witch, another one says it won’t do if they don’t decapitate her, Liselotte bits her lips sadly without answering until Erika silences everyone.

Erika says that the parliament is place for the discussion so they must give Liselotte the chance of talking back, she says the gap between them seems too big to be filled anyway and asks Liselotte if she wants to say anything else, Liselotte says she already said what she thought and that how to judge her for it is on everyone else there, Erika says that then the discussion is over and tells the legislators to leave, the legislators begin to leave looking and angrily at Liselotte and clenching their fists, while they leave Erika tells Andrei and Natalia to take Liselotte back to her room after everyone left, Andrei nods and looks and Liselotte like wanting to say something but he holds it in biting his lips, Erika gets close to Liselotte and whispers to her ear, she says with Sakuraba Erika’s way of talking that if Rikka was her student she would get a perfect score, she tells her to be at ease because she will send her back safely to the Galarc Kingdom when the time comes, Liselotte says she wants to ask one last thing, she says she heard about what happened to her fiançee, she asks Erika if she’s really continuing his will and if what she’s doing is really for the sake of helping the weak ones, Erika says that it’s a stupid question, that she is indeed moving for sake of accepting his death because she won’t be able of listening to his words again, for an instant Erika makes a sad face but soon puts on again her mask as the saint, Liselotte makes a sad face too while the legislators didn’t leave yet, when they’re outside Liselotte tries to say something to Erika but she tells Andrei and Natalia to take Liselotte to her room before she can say anything.

### **Chapter 5: The takeback.**

Approximately an hour before Liselotte was taken to the parliament, after noon, when Erika went back home, Rio floats on the sky above Erikaburgh’s southern side while holding Aria, Rio tells Aisia telepathically to keep tailing Erika and to verify Liselotte’s whereabouts, to contact him immediately if she finds her, that if it looks like she can run away with Liselotte hiding her with spirit arts to do that, if that seems complicated to make a plan based on her confinement conditions, Aisia confirms it, saying that Erika looks like she will enter a building deep inside the city and she will contact him again, Rio tells Aria his talking with Aisia, Aria and Rio look at the city’s landscape and talk about it being on ruins, specially what seems to have been the noble district and the royal castle, they wonder about how it ended like that, Rio and Aria hypothesize about what happened during the revolt looking at the battle traces around the capital and inside it, the narrator explains about Erika annihilating alone the two thousand men royal army waiting for her and her ten thousand army of villagers, Rio and Aria conclude that they need to be careful in case of a fight and the two land on the city for scouting it.

At the same time Reiss is exploring the city’s outskirts from the ground while paying attention to Rio, looking at the destruction traces, Reiss thinks Erika seems to be quite good at using her hero powers and prays for her to not have awakened, Reiss decides to have Erika and Rio fighting in order to know if she has awakened or not, he thinks regardless of the impossibility to win if Erika awakened he must be able to run away, looking at Aisia’s and Rio’s actions Reiss guesses that Aisia will be in charge of rescuing Liselotte, hiding her with wind spirit arts and that Rio and Aria will just move in case of emergency, Reiss think Rio and Aisia can surely do it unseen, but that he will make sure there’s a fight.

While Rio and Aria are exploring the city, Aisia tells Rio she found Liselotte, Rio tells Aria to enter a back alley while he talks with Aisia, Rio asks about Liselotte’s condition, Aisia tells Liselotte is healthy, that she’s surrounded by guards taking her to the parliament, Rio tells Aisia to wait until no one is around for contacting Liselotte and to keep watching her, Aisia confirms it, Rio says he and Aria will continue to explore the city near that building, he tells Aisia to act on her own judgement if some problem occurs and to contact him if anything happens, Rio tells Aria that Aisia found Liselotte and that she’s fine, Aria thanks him, Rio says that saving Liselotte is still from now on and tells her to do what they can too, Aria agrees and the two begin to explore the city again for the sake of finding the best escape route.

An hour and a half later, Andrei tells Liselotte to enter her room after opening the door for her, on their way there neither Liselotte, Erika, Andrei or Natalia said a word, Erika thanks Liselotte for her participation in the previous discussion and tells her to rest for the day, Liselotte nods to her silently and Erika and Natalia leave, Andrei keeps looking at Liselotte’s back until Erika tells him to go too, Andrei obeys and closes the door, Erika tells Andrei to tell her his thoughts, Andrei looks down clenching his fists, he says he didn’t look well at it, that he’s disappointed with Liselotte, who that chooses to remain a noble despite her smartness and knowing the nobility’s absurdity, Erika says he’s pitiful, that he believed that it could there be a future where they hold hands because he’s too pure, she asks him if he didn’t say anything to Liselotte because he still has some hope on her, Andrei says that maybe, Erika says the treason is something really hurtful and tells Andrei to not to forget that feeling because the people’s essence is on how they stand up again when they’re wounded and despaired, Erika says that this is his chance for growing up and tells him to think well about how to treat Liselotte on their next meeting, Andrei nods bitterly.

After being left alone Liselotte sits on the sofa, she can’t hold back anymore her frustration and sadness for everything happening to her and begins to cry, she asks for help, then Aisia materializes and calls out to her, Aisia asks her if she’s fine, Liselotte says she may not be fine, Liselotte looks at Aisia dumbfounded, Aisia apologizes for not doing anything while she was on the parliament because then she could just look, Liselotte’s mind finally processes that she really is talking with Aisia and begins to wonder about how she got inside the room, why she came, etc and finally she just goes “eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhh”, Aisia tells Liselotte to be quiet and says she came to help her, Liselotte tells Aisia with a low voice to wait and say what she means, Aisia says she waited until Liselotte was alone then she got out and now she will take her out, she tells Liselotte Rio and Aria are waiting outside too, Liselotte is happy knowing she’s going to be rescued and begins to wonder if it is a dream, Aisia tells her that it isn’t a dream, Liselotte says it doesn’t look like that, Aisia says that Liselotte isn’t alone, that she’s there too, Liselotte begins to cry and Aisia tells her to not to, Liselotte apologizes, Aisia says it is fine to not apologize and tells Liselotte to wait while she talks with Rio.

Aisia stays silent for a moment while Liselotte wonders about what she’s doing and about how she’s contacting Rio, Aisia says she got Rio’s permission and that everything is ready so they will get out now, Aisia tells Liselotte to wait while takes care of the guard on the door, Aisia becomes light particles and disappears, Liselotte goes “eeeeehhhh” again, after an instant Aisia opens the room’s door saying the guard fainted, Aisia grabs the man’s body and lay it on the floor, Liselotte says she doesn’t mind if it is later and asks Aisia to please explain it, Aisia agrees and tells Liselotte to not let go of her hand because they will become invisible now and to not let out her voice, Liselotte obeys and holds Aisia’s hand, she feels a soft breeze and then everything gets blurred, while Liselotte wonders about how Aisia is making that and concludes that it isn’t magic Aisia tells her to not touch the mist because the space around would break then, Liselotte obeys, she holds Aisia’s hand stronger and thanks her happy and moved because Rio and Aria came to rescue her, Aisia tells her to walk silently until Rio’s and Aria’s place.

Rio and Aria are waiting in a back alley at five minutes walking away from the mansion Liselotte was confined in, they’re ready for quickly escaping flying the moment they merge with Aisia and Liselotte, Aria says she hopes the two reach their location without troubles, Rio says he thinks it will fine because just someone really sensible to presences would be able of noticing Aisia and Liselotte, Aria says she’s curious about how it would look like when something disappears completely, Rio tells her he will show her, Rio demonstrates for Aria the invisibility spirit arts and explains about them, after Aria gives her opinion about the spirit arts she and Rio hear strong noises coming from the mansion where Liselotte was confined, then Aisia contacts Rio and apologizes for being discovered.

A minute before, while Rio and Aria were talking, Aisia and Liselotte finally manage to get out of the mansion while Liselotte is fascinated at the guards that can’t realize they’re there at all despite being next to them, when they’re outside someone shouts with a loud voice that Liselotte is escaping, Aisia looks sharply around her without undoing the invisibility, Aisia stops the spirit arts and tells Liselotte to hold onto her while she hugs her, several light bullets several tens of centimeters thick fly at the two, Aisia dodges while hugging Liselotte, every light bullet crashes on the ground making a big noise and alerting everyone around the mansion, Aisia contacts Rio and apologizes for being discovered, Rio tells her to change to the plan B, to just escape flying and that he will soon support her from the sky.

Aisia tells Liselotte they will change to the plan B, Aisia takes flight with Liselotte in her arms while Erika, Andrei and Natalia look at them, more light bullets smaller than before but faster and in a bigger quantity fly towards Aisia and force her to lower her height for dodging, the light bullets keep flying at Aisia every time she changes her altitude and she keeps dodging them, Aisia tries several ways of moving and dodging the light bullets but they keep flying at her not letting her escape, Aisia contacts Rio, warms him about the person shooting at her and tells him that it’s likely the person shooting at her and the one that discovered her spirit arts are the same person, Rio confirms it, Erika gets close to Aisia and swings her mace at her saying she won’t escape, Rio tells Aisia they’re already there, Erika notices a shadow moving towards her and changes her stance for blocking Aria’s sword, Erika crashes against the ground and Aria lands near her, Rio appears in front of Aisia and erases the light bullets with a storm, Rio tells Aisia telepathically to take Liselotte away from the city while him and Aria take care of things there, Aisia begins to fly away from the city, Andrei gets out of his shock and orders the guards to help Erika and pursue Liselotte, Erika stands saying something like that won’t make her fall, the soldiers are moved with Erika’s aptitude, Rio thinks Erika seems to be as tough as Aria said, Aria screams at Rio to let her be Erika’s opponent while he takes care of the sky, Rio agrees and says he will keep the hindrances away from her, Erika and Aria begin to exchange attacks like they did in Amande, Erika is above in strength but Aria keeps her at bay with speed and technique, Rio analyzes Erika’s moves, he thinks she’s all the amateur Aria told she was, he thinks as things are now Aria will win if Erika doesn’t have reinforcements, Andrei orders the soldiers to support Erika and to capture Aria, the soldiers try to surround Erika and Aria while they run towards them letting out war cries, Rio rains light bullets on them from the sky and knocks them out.

The rest of soldiers stop on their tracks scared when they see their defeated companions and Rio creating more light bullets, Andrei yells at the soldiers for not fighting and orders them to let Aria alone and to shoot Rio down with arrows and magic, Rio puts a part of his light bullets on the away of the enemy attacks stopping them while he uses the rest for knocking out more soldiers, the soldiers and Andrei sink into despair when they realize they can’t do anything against Rio, they begin to wonder what is he and his attacks, Erika’s and Aria’s fight keeps intensifying in the meanwhile but Aria is still overwhelming Erika, Rio in the sky is suspicious of the man that stopped shooting light bullets at Aisia after she run away, Erika stops attacking Aria complaining about her not being able of using her full power, Aria asks her if she’s a bad loser, Erika begins to talk about her not being of using her powers because she may hurt the suffering people she wants to protect, she says that Rio’s way of doing things is dirty despite looking gentleman-like.

Rio contacts Aisia telepathically and asks if anything happened on her side, Aisia tells him that nothing for the time being and that she’s in the southern side of city at the limit of their communication distance, Rio tells Aisia the person shooting at her disappeared and to be careful of him being at her location, Rio tells her Aria and him will leave the place soon too, Erika tells to Rio that it’s cold of him to just ignore her, Rio keeps ignoring Erika’s words and tells Aria to retire themselves soon because the disappearance of the another attacker is giving him a bad feeling, Aria agrees, Erika asks with a belligerent smile if they think she will allow them to escape after making such a ruckus in enemy territory, Aria tells Erika she did the same at their country so she has no right to complain, Rio rains his light bullets on Erika and separates her from Aria, Rio lands next to Aria and takes flight while holding her, Rio hurries towards Aisia’s location flying wary of the hindering attacks that don’t seem to come again and wondering why she didn’t report either anything about another attack, in the meanwhile Reiss keeps observing everything from the sky, he thinks it is as expected that Erika won’t let out that much power while surrounded of people and that it doesn’t look like she could have done much more even outside the city, Reiss wonders about what will Erika do from now on.

At the same time on the ground, the soldiers are depressed after tasting defeat for the first time and being made aware of their own weakness, Andrei apologizes at Erika despaired and regretful because of their powerlessness, Erika tells Andrei and the soldiers that it is fine, that they fought well, the soldiers are moved at Erika’s words, Andrei begins to call Liselotte a witch that brought misery to the country and symbol of disaster, Erika apologizes, she says that it was just her mistake to decide to bring Liselotte to the country, Andrei says that it isn’t like that, that nobody could have known that Liselotte was hiding her nature as a witch playing the innocent saint, that nobody could have known that she was a too sly woman wanting to sneak in the gaps of their hearts pretending to side with the populace, Erika tells Andrei that what appeared there today is the kind of power that the nobles in the big countries possess, that the evil they defeated was just a small existence, that as long as those big kingdoms exist they will always be threatened.

Andrei begins to lament and grieve about how ignorant they were, Erika tells him to not let it weight him down, that as she has always told him that the people were stupid, Andrei keeps saying he was stupid, depressed and regretful. Erika gives an speech for everyone, she tells that they mustn’t forget, that when the people faces desperation they must face themselves without running away, to grab the feelings that remain after shaking off the despair and keep going forward with them, she asks everyone if they’re going to give up on freeing all the continent from the royalty and the nobility, she asks if they still wish to make a world just for the populace, Erika rises her mace and tells everyone to tell her their wishes, everyone agrees to Erika’s words, some express their desire of keeping going on but some doubt about what to do from now on too, if there’s way of doing it, Erika says that there’s one, Erika asks everyone if they think she will let Rio’s group escape after the ruckus they made, she tells everyone to be relieved because she’s there, Erika asks if everyone if they believe on her and the miracles she made, everyone around her scream one after the other that they believe, Erika says that them she will show them a new miracle, that she had decided to not use this power until the moment of attacking a big country but that she doesn’t a have choice now because it was already the big country who attacked them instead, Erika rises her hands toward the sky and screams ”The weak ones, the populace, this country, protect them! Protect the people, judge the evil, as the strongest divine beast, be their guardian! Right now, is the time for judgement! Come already! Earth’s beast!” then the mansion’s garden got covered in shadows.

### **Chapter 6: The earth's beast.**

Rio flies holding Aria towards a rocky area at the capital’s south, the moment Rio and Aria are able of seeing Aisia and Liselotte from the sky, Rio felt from behind him a magic power beyond abnormal and hurriedly looked behind him, both him and Aria wonders about what it is, Liselotte was holding her breath shrugging into herself, Aisia looked sharply at that thing, in front of them was a beast that made the black wyvern Rio defeated in the past to look small in comparison, the same light particles that appear when a spirit materializes began to gather in a space with a diameter of one hundred meters, then it appeared from the nothingness, a giant bull with its skin made of rock and with three tails that resembled snakes, when the beast appeared it flew a kilometer through the air, when it saw Rio and Aria its eyes got full of hatred and began to roar, Aisia calls out to Rio flustered, Rio agrees with her and says that that thing is bad, Rio lands next to Aisia and tells her, Liselotte and Aria to run away still looking at the beast with his sword unsheathed and a maybe false composed face.

At the same time Reiss is looking at the beast from far away high in the sky, he thinks maybe that was its first roar in one thousand years, Reiss thinks that as expected Erika had awakened, so to say, she earned in one go the right to enter the transcendentals’ domain, Reiss looks sharply at Erika and the beast, he thinks Erika won’t enter that domain on this fight yet and decided to look how much Rio is able of fighting against the beast.

The beast stands one kilometer away from Rio in front of him at the same time that he told the other three to run away, the beast glares at Rio’s group and creates a ball of light thirty meters wide on its mouth, Rio begins to gather magic power in his sword, the beast shoots the light bullet, Liselotte is just able of trembling in from of it while Aria hugs her protectively, Aisia tells the two that it is fine, at the same time a storm hits the ball of light and changes its course, the ball of light flies past Rio’s group and crushes on the ground behind them, a hurricane-like wind hits them, it almost blows Liselotte away but Aria holds her in place, great pieces of rubble fly their way but Aisia protects the group with a wind barrier, the beast instead of approaching Rio’s group gets away from the city while keeping a one kilometer distance with Rio’s group, Rio wonders why the beast changed its location, the beast barks and begins to prepare an attack bigger than before, Rio thinks it looks like a terrible attack will come, he thinks he won’t be able of defending against it if he does it wrongly, Rio tells Aisia to run away with Aria and Liselotte until anywhere that looks safe the moment he defends against the beast’s attack, Rio begins to gather magic power for stopping the beast’s attack, Rio wonders about him being able of stopping the beast’s attack or not while he gathers magic power till the point it became visible, Rio isn’t confident on him being able of rising his magic power until the beast’s level.

Liselotte and Aria are surprised at the light overflowing from Rio’s body, Aisia says she will help Rio to prevent the first attack, Rio agrees and tells Aisia to take as much magic power as she needs and lets to her the timing of the counter attack, Aisia confirms it, she hugs Rio’s back and absorbs magic power from his body until its light overflows from her too, Aria and Liselotte look at the two dumbfounded, the beast is done gathering magic power, Aisia whispers on Rio’s ear that if it is him he will protect them, Rio thanks her, Aisia lets go of Rio so as to no longer hinder him and steps back a little, the beast shoots a light beam with a roar and everything on its way turns to dust, Rio shoots his own light beam at the beast with a yell, both light beams clash above the city’s outskirts, Aria stands paralyzed looking at it, Liselotte asks if the attacks are equal while looking at what is happening in front her trying to understand what it is happening but without being able of it, Aria says she doesn’t know it, Liselotte says they can just believe, she hugs Aria’s body closing her eyes just like she was praying. Rio is near his limit, he won’t be able of keeping active his spirit arts much longer, Aisia tells Rio she already gathered enough magic power and to counterattack, Rio’s and Aishia’s combined light beam pushes back the beast’s, reaches it and envelopes its body, the beast screams, Rio screams at Aisia to do it now, Aisia turns back ,grabs Aria’s and Liselotte’s bodies and flies away holding the two.

At the same time Erika and everyone else looks wordlessly at the battle between Rio and the beast, Erika asks herself inside her head what it is happening, she says that no one who exists that should be able of defeating the divine beast among the humanity, that this isn’t what she was told, she was expecting the beast to win easily but it is like this, she wonders if that is Rio’s power or the big kingdom’s, how many there are capable of making such an attack, she thinks it is outside of her expectations, she wonders about what will happen if there’re several people with Rio’s power, she thinks in the future there may be situations where she can’t continue to win one sidedly, she wonders if Rio is a hero and if he’s hiding as much power as her, she thinks if it is like that her plan make fail, Erika says it won’t do unless she finds out, Erika begins to walk towards the battlefield, Andrei calls out to Erika and asks her where she’s going to, Erika says she will go to look at the battle directly with her own eyes, at that moment everyone around them makes despaired noises and watch when Rio’s and Aisia’s attack hits the beast.

They think the beast was defeated and scream in despair, Erika tells them to calm down and asks them if they don’t believe in her and her miracles, Andrei looks worriedly and pale faced at the beast receiving the attack without calming down yet, Erika says that it is fine because their guardian won’t break down with just that, she says that she may have estimated wrongly the power of the great kingdoms, so she will go herself to look it, that she may need to pass down the judgement herself, she tells everyone to not stop her, Andrei says that if it is like that he will go too, Erika says Andrei is the minister and tells him to take care of the city in her absence, that he will be more helpful there than following her, Andrei agrees and obeys reluctantly, Natalia asks Erika to let her go instead of Andrei, Erika warns her that her life may be in danger, Erika asks Natalia if she doesn’t mind and sighs, Natalia says she doesn’t mind, that she’s living with the intention of offering her life to Erika and asks when is she supposed to fight if not now, all of the soldiers agree with Natalia and volunteer too, Erika accepts but she says that time is essential, she says that, with Natalia included, just a maximum of ten people who can strengthen their bodies with magic can follow her, that if the situation calls for it she will ask them to fight too, Erika says she will go ahead and leaves, Natalia activates her strengthening magic and follows Erika, after her more people do the same and follow Erika disorderly.

After confirming that Aisia flew away with Aria and Liselotte Rio stands alone with his eyes fixed in the cloud of dust that enveloped the beast after receiving Rio’s and Aisia’s counterattack, Rio thinks the beast’s magic power hasn’t go down at all, he can feel it, that the beast is gathering magic power again for continuing the fight, Rio thinks the beast is a existence he has to defeat then and there no matter what, that there isn’t a way he can’t do anything that will let the beast to go after the Galarc Kingdom, Rio is convinced there’s a reason it won’t do unless he stays back and fights the beast, the beast yells, three beams of light weaker than the previous attacks get out of the cloud of dust, they go towards Rio scorching the earth on their way, Rio dodges accelerating with his wind spirit arts, when the dust surrounding the beast disappears Rio sees it standing there woundless, the three tails like snake heads keep shooting beams of light at Rio, each of them seems to have its own conscience because they keep aiming at Rio on their own way, the beast being unhurt is mentally taxing for Rio, even scary, but there isn’t a way he will run away because of that. Rio gets close to the beast while dodging the rain of light beams, Rio shoots light bullets tens of meters wide towards the beast too, each one has the power for crushing castle walls but Rio doubts they will be able of hurting the beast if the previous attack didn’t, when Rio’s light bullets flew towards the beast’s tails they changed the courses of their breath for intercepting them, Rio wonders if that means that his attacks can hurt the beast, he thinks he wants to see what happens to a spot he manages to hit.

Now Rio is one hundred meters away from the beast, the beast rises one of its forelegs and hits the ground, the earth explodes at the point of impact, there’s an earthquake, shockwaves powerful enough for killing instantly even someone with a strengthened body spread from its center, Rio flies above the beast’s head and cuts its back side with his sword clad on a tornado, the beast falls headfirst to the ground, Rio looks at the spot he attacked wondering if he hurt the beast, Rio sees a big and serious wound behind the beast’s head but he sees a powerful regenerating power healing the beast too, Rio is unsure of how effective his attacks are on the beast, then instead of the head the beast’s tails attack Rio, Rio dodges flying, Rio approaches one of the tails, he runs through its surface with his sword stabbed on in its skin making a big cut on it, the tail screams pained but the wounds begins to heal from its beginning, another tail tries to bite the running Rio, Rio dodges jumping to the beast’s back and the tail Rio was running over receives the bite, the bitten tail trashes around screaming in pain, Rio shoots a big fire ball to the tails biting each other, the two scream in pain shaking violently and trying to put down the fire.

Rio runs towards the tails while shooting a beam of light tens of meters long from his sword, Rio swing his sword and cuts the three tails from their roots, Rio takes some distance from the beast flying for seeing what happened to the tails, Rio sees the three tails alive and trashing on the ground, their wounds begin to heal and the tails began to fly and to shoot light beams at Rio, the beast’s body stands up and from its mouth volleys of five light beams as powerful as the tails’ attack Rio, Rio needs to get away from the beast for dodging all the attacks, now he’s one kilometer away from the beast, Rio thinks he rose the quantity of enemies because every part has its own consciousness and that that way there won’t be an end to it.

Rio begins to analyze the battle in his head while he continues to dodge the light beams, he thinks about the beast not accumulating damage due to its regeneration, about him receiving just one of the beast’s attacks being the end, about the eight light beams attacking him endlessly, he wonders about what to do, about how to defeat it, Rio thinks about what the beast is, he wonders if it is a spirit and if a spirit that powerful exist to begin with, he thinks Erika must be controlling it and wonders if Erika created the beast with any earth magic or if it is just the power of her weapon, Rio thinks he wants to give a try to decapitate the beast’s body, there isn’t any single living being who can stay alive without its heart or its head, so he wants to try cutting its head since finding the heart seems difficult, but Rio isn’t sure he will be able of cutting the beast’s head or crossing the rain of light beams, Rio sees Erika looking at the battlefield from the city’s gates, Rio is a little more convinced now that Erika must be the one controlling the beast, Rio then thinks ”what if Erika is really controlling the beast? Wouldn’t the beast disappear if he kills her? If the saint can really control the beast there isn’t a way, he can let her attack the Galarc kingdom either. He can just do it”.

Rio begins to fly towards Erika at the same time he continues to prepare magic power for defending against the beast’s attacks, while Rio is flying towards Erika the beast’s attacks intensify then Rio is completely convinced now of Erika being the one controlling the beast, Erika looks at the Rio shortening the distance with her with a sinister smile, the beast and its tails fly with a speed equal to Rio’s and stand on his way to Erika, a strong windstorm blows against Rio probably created by the beast, Rio keeps pressing forward he thinks if he falls back there the situation will just worsen if the beast takes that chance for intensifying its attacks for protecting Erika and the city, then shortening the distance again will be even harder, Rio makes a path for him inside the stormy winds, the beast tails begin to shoot light beams again at Rio, Rio zigzags on the sky for dodging them while suffering from the g-forces and the changes of inertia straining his body.

Rio is now one hundred meters away from the beast, the five light beams coming from the mains body’s mouth became one again, Rio waited until the big light beam was just about to swallow him and dodged it with a ninety degrees turn while suffering from the strain of the sudden change, Rio gets close to the base of the beast’s neck faster than its reaction speed, Rio uses all the magic power he saved until then in shooting a light slash tens of meters long to the beast’s neck and cuts it, Rio lands between the beast and Erika while still paying attention to the beast’s condition, the beast leg’s lose strength and the beast falls to the grounds, its tails floating in the air lose their strength and fall too, Rio wonders if he defeated the beast, Rio feels the beast’s magic power is gone then Erika attacks Rio.

Rio stops Erika’s attack, Erika praises Rio’s defence, she says she gave a try to go there because she wanted to talk with him, Erika looks seriously at Rio while evaluating him, Rio says she doesn’t behave like someone who wants to talk, Erika says she really wants to talk, she says that honestly the beast is her most important thing, Rio says it would troublesome if there are more like that monster, Erika says she’s the one who wants to say that, that her plans may fail if there are more like him so she wants to make sure, Rio is curious at the word plan, Erika asks Rio if he wants to know and offers an information exchange, Rio asks Erika what she wants in exchange, Erika says she just wants to know one thing, that she thought he may be a hero but she’s fine about it now, that she wants to know if there’re more people like him capable of facing the beast alone in the other big kingdoms, Rio says he won’t answer without knowing what she will teach him in exchange, Erika tells Rio to asks whatever he wants, even about the beast, but that she will give abstract answers to abstract questions so Rio has to make concrete questions, Rio asks what guarantees him she will say the truth.

Erika says with a really serious look that nothing but that she promises to tell him the truth if he promises to not lie either, because she really needs to know, Rio agrees to the exchange, Erika says that since she offered the deal she will answer first as a sign of good will, Rio asks Erika who is her revenge target, Erika says that it is indeed a good question and that she will teach it just to him, Erika tells to Rio while her face changes from expressionless to full of hatred that she doesn’t want revenge against a specific individual, that she wants revenge against the world itself, that if that world created but stupid humans didn’t exist that person wouldn’t have died, so she wants revenge against the world, that it is fine if it breaks down, that that is her revenge, Rio wants to know what she means by that, Erika says she won’t answer anything more and tells Rio to ask his question now, then while Erika looks seriously at Rio Natalia’s group of ten caught up to her, when they see Rio and Erika locking weapons the ten surround the two for not letting him escape, Erika praises them for arriving at a good time pretending to be happy at their reliability, Rio asks if they can consider the exchange over since the situation changed, Erika refuses, she says Rio didn’t answer her question yet.

Rio tells Erika he doesn’t know about all of the kingdoms, but that he fought against a man from a certain big kingdom that was known as the strongest swordsman and that he would have it complicated, Erika says she’s relieved of hearing that and deems the information exchange over, that now it just rest to take of him and that it is troubling that Liselotte already run away with Rio’s companions, Erika sighs annoyedly, Rio says he’s the troubled one, that he can’t let her go after she declared war on the Galarc Kingdom when she’s that powerful, Erika asks Rio if he will kill her not matter what, Rio asks if he has a better option as things are now, Rio thinks if Erika is left alive his important ones will be in danger on the future, even more if it is possible that Erika will create another beast as long as she lives, that he can’t let happen no matter what a situation where Erika and that beast attack the Galarc Kingdom.

Erika laughs a little, she says that Rio seems to consider her a big threat, but that it is the same for her, it will be really bad for her if information about the beast leaks, but since the information will leak no matter what now that Liselotte run away she will at least kill him but that she doesn’t think he will be defeated easily without the divine beast, Erika looks with a troubled face at Rio and the soldiers encirclement, Erika says it is fine already because she will make it through anyway, Erika puts on a radiant a smile and Rio makes a suspectful face, then the eyes on one of the beast’s tails begin to shine and shoots a light beam towards Rio, Erika and the soldiers, the light beam was weaker than the previous ones but its area of effect was bigger, Rio covers himself hurriedly in a wind barrier but he wasn’t able of defending completely against the attack, Rio’s body is blown tens of meters away and crushes against the ground.

When Rio’s consciousness is fading he wonders about several things, about the beast not being really dead, about Erika attacking herself even surrounded of allies or the beast not really being under Erika’s control, Rio stands somehow, he looks at the place where he was before, there is a crater on the ground and no trace of the soldiers, he wasn’t expecting to find them either, Erika laughs while she runs towards Rio holding her mace, Rio tries to stop her attack with the sword in his right hand but he can’t, due to the damage he can’t control his magic power well and is blown away, Rio wonders about how Erika is able of moving that well despite having received the attack too, Erika’s clothes are in tatters but she keeps swinging the mace as if nothing happened, she continues to overwhelm Rio and blowing him away while he tries to disperse as much as he can the impact of her attacks, Rio thinks it is bad for him because his innards are wounded, Rio coughs blood while he holds his body with his left arm, Erika says she thought he could defeat him but he was fine, she says Rio is a terrifying person, Rio says she’s the terrifying one, he coughs blood again and asks Erika why she killed her allies, Rio’s sight gets blurred, he‘s just about to lose consciousness due to the bloodloss, Rio holds to his consciousness somehow using as much magic power as he can for strengthening his body, Erika begins to scream that Rio killed everyone, Rio asks what, Erika says the talk is over, Rio keeps receiving Erika’s attacks somehow relying on his speed, Erika tells him to please die quickly, Erika hits the ground with her mace, Rio falls back dodging the shockwaves, Rio coughs more blood while he dodges another of Erika’s attacks, Erika says he’s very stubborn, while Erika runs towards Rio he thinks it will worsen if he keeps prolonging the fight, Rio decides to aim for a counter.

Erika reaches Rio saying she will end it with this and swings her mace down at him, Rio swings his sword a little later, Rio hits the tip of Erika’s mace changing its course to the ground, Rio uses the impulse of the shockwave of the mace hitting the ground for striking with his knee, striking Erika’s lower jaw. Rio’s knee-strike blows back Erika’s body, it was an attack strong enough for crushing the bones and letting someone unconscious, in fact Rio got that kind of feedback but while Erika is flying back she swings her mace from left to right at Rio’s body, Rio grabs Erika’s shoulders that are moving backwards, Rio uses that movement for pulling himself out of the mace’s way, when Rio has his feet on the ground again he lets go of Erika while he remakes his stance, Erika lands unstably almost falling forward, Rio runs towards Erika’s back while she regains her balance, Erika swings her mace from left to right without looking back, Rio saw it coming and stopped just outside the mace’s reach, while Erika’s swing finishes Rio stabs her wide-open heart twisting his blade as much as he cans, Rio gets away from Erika while he coughs blood, despite being the stabbed one Erika laughs while Rio is the one who makes the face of someone just about to die, Erika kneels on the ground while her clothes get full of blood, Rio kneels stabbing his sword on the ground and breathing roughly, Erika collapses, Rio looks at her body for a moment before standing again while coughing more blood, Rio kneels next to Erika’s body, he turns her body and checks her pulse, when Rio makes sure Erika’s heart stopped and that the beast disappeared the tension leaves his body.

Rio begins to analyze his own state, he thinks about his fading consciousness and his irregular breathing, he thinks it will be bad if he isn’t healed quickly and joins Aisia’s group, Rio stands again without being able of thinking properly anymore, he tries to somehow use healing spirit arts but he can’t control his magic power all, he walks towards the south just thinking about the reunion, when he walked just a few meters he felt he heard a voice, he wonders if it was Aisia’s, Rio kneels looking forward and sees Aisia’s figure, Aisia hugs Rio saying it is fine already while she heals him, then Rio lost consciousness and Aisia flew southwards holding him.

Meanwhile, higher on the sky, Reiss wonders just what is Rio, he thinks just having a contract with a humanoid spirit isn’t enough for explaining him having the strength for being an awakened hero’s opponent. Reiss looks the way Aisia left for a moment while he wonders about what Erika was thinking about. Reiss looks suspiciously at Erika lying on the ground, Reiss thinks he really can’t understand humans. Reiss thinks that if Rio survived it was worth it to keep Arein’s group on standby, Reiss takes out a teleportation crystal and teleports to the outskirts of Galarc’s capital.

### **Epilogue:**

Several minutes after Aisia left while holding Rio, Andrei leads a rescue team to Erika’s location, they look despaired at her body lying on the ground soaked in blood, then Erika tells them that worrying is unnecessary, she stands like nothing happened and everyone is shocked, everyone look at her wordlessly and shocked, Andrei asks Erika why she’s so much soaked in blood if she’s alive, Erika asks Andrei if he didn’t knew, Andrei asks what, Erika says that the saint won’t die from having her heart stabbed, everyone looks at Erika half dubious and half believing, Erika says that it is a joke, she says she can’t die yet because she has an obligation that it won’t do if she doesn’t fulfill it, Erika says she’s really happy of seeing them again, then she apologizes for failing to protect Natalia’s group, Andrei asks her what happened, Erika tells them that Rio took Natalia’s group as hostages and used them against her for defeating her, Erika covers her face with her hands and sheds fake tears of desperation, Andrei and the soldiers are angry, after a moment of silence they begin to insult Rio, calling him and the Galarc Kingdom dirty and cowardly while Erika looks at them with a gaze horribly full of despise.

### **Next volume’s preview:**

The saint Erika and, the divine beast she summoned, they didn’t just invade the earth, next they involved the people in a killing drama that wounded Rio the most until now. On the other side, in Galarc’s castle where Rio and Aisia are absent, the avengers sent by Reis approach slowly but surely.

"At last. At last, I can hold my end to that person"

精霊幻想記19・風の太刀, Seirei Gensoki 19 - Fu no tachi, the wind’s sword, scheduled to be released on spring of 2021,

## Gallery

V18 coverVol 18 Eng coverV18 Clean coverSatsuki's tapestry, Melonbooks bonusAishia in wonderland, Melonbooks SS bookcoverAisia in wonderland, Melonbooks SS bookcoverWelcome back, Amakawa-kyou, do you want dinner? bath? or..me??what a great meal!!is it just me or that's Azdaha theme song playing...Liselotte asking for help.Liselotte asking for helpGlorious Thicc Aria's Thigh, yeah.. it's that importantMiharu and Celia in faithful wife mode.Andrei's and Liselotte's first meeting.Love talk.Erika mobs trying to CANCEL liselotteCome with me if you want to live!Aria protecting Aisia and Liselotte from Erika.Rio used HEROIC SLASH!!Erika impressed seing Rio plot armorAisia healing Rio.V19 preview.