18. Coffin

“I’m sorry I was upset earlier! Thank you for getting my luggage back! “

Ignacio thanked me for recovering her luggage.

Apparently, when she saw her underwear being spread out, she misunderstood that I was the leader of the small demons.

It was a stupid misunderstanding, but I decided to forgive her because the mysterious events that happened to us seemed to panic her.

“Ignacio, you probably moving in the shore before entering the forest, right? Hmm, what I mean is, you made that move because the small demons also made such a move, right?”

“Y-Yes…  you know it well, huh.”

“If you didn’t move in a roundabout way, you wouldn’t be in contact with me who made a detour.”

I sat down and drew a circle on the ground.

“Assuming this circle is the island, our current location is here in the southeast.”

The place where the ship arrived is the south of the island.

And,

“You and the small demons were heading west from the eastern shore through the southeastern part.”

“The place where the little demon was heading is southwest.”

“Yes. Maybe their nest is there too. The route where the small demons were dispersed was also biased to the west. I guess they plan to lure us into their nest and put us in a trap.”

Ignacio’s face became pale.

Earlier, Ignacio saw a corpse scattered by the horse monster. That must had been in her brain for a while.

If I didn’t happen to defeat the small demons, Ignacio would keep chasing after the demons―― she would have been trapped by them and met a miserable end… Like that corpse…

“The strength of the opponent is far beyond imagination. The other guys wouldn’t be safe…”

“No, no way… I mean, you don’t know for sure! Let’s go toward the nest as soon as possible and annihilate the monsters!”

“I agree with hitting the nest as soon as possible. There was a monster that was about to become a Human Demon (<JINMA>)…. that monster seems to have eaten humans before we came to this island. Perhaps kidnapping the people in the harbor. I’m 90% sure, they are the true identity of kidnapper.”

“Then ――!”

“But if you rush in without any measures, you’ll be the one who get killed.”

At the very least, I have to know the information and strength of the opponent’s nest.

“Would you like to go back to the shore for the time being? There may be someone there.”

“I understand… I will follow you. Apparently, you are more level-headed than me.”

To be honest, the situation right now is the worst.

We’re completely fall behind.

There is only one ally here in the middle of the enemy line. The main player, the ‘Ashura Sisters’, is in the enemy’s hand.

The only way to overcome this situation is to get the talisman back.

Ash and Shura. With them, the situation will be a little better. Even the horse monster I mentioned earlier could have been killed instantly by Shura, and I can rely on her because she has more experience than I do.

Securing survivors → Isolating survivors in a safe place → Collecting information → Reclaiming luggage with usable strength.

For the time being, this is the strategy.

“Seal. How good are you? “

“Hmm? Well, I can’t say anything because I don’t have much experience in actual battles…”

“Is that so? Then hide behind me. In the name of Rosso, I will protect you!”

Ignacio was so proud of herself.

So, you want to protect me, huh…

“Ignacio. Can you control Mana or do something related with it?”

“Mana? I know it exists, but I can’t control it.”

How far can you fight without using Mana…?

I and Ignacio, we were walking in the forest.

I was at the back and Ignacio was at the forefront, while sharpening her sense to react to any noise, both of us were heading south.

It felt like Ignacio was used to walking while being alert to the surroundings.

“Seal, please move one step back.”

Wolf monster, {Fang}…

Three {Fang} were approaching at the same time with saliva coming out from its mouth.

Well, it’s time to look at her skill.

Just in case, I held <Lutta> and got ready for battle.

Both of them approach each other while measuring the distance between them.

The first one who made a move was the monster, {Fang}.

{Fang} opened its mouth wide and jumped on Ignacio from front. The remaining two, went around on both sides of Ignacio as a decoy. It was an attack from three directions.

On the other hand, Ignacio… quietly turned the tip of the rapier to the front.

” (Ann Tush) ” [TN: from the kanji, the skill means, One step assault]

A stunningly beautiful thrust from the rapier on the front, it pierced the throat of {Fang}.

From both sides of Ignacio, the claws of the other two {Fang} were approaching.

” (Parade) ” [TN: From the kanji, the skill means, Defesive posture]

Ignacio deflected the claws silently with the rapier’s blade.

Both of {Fang} that their attack was lightly diverted and stunned in the air, Inevitable pursuit was released by Ignacio.

” (Repost) ” [TN: from the kanji, the skill means, Interception]

It was splendid.

Seeing that, I instinctively said, ‘Amazing…’.

Ignacio killed three violent {Fang} with minimal movement, and her movement was beautiful.

“How is it? This is the “Soft” sword technique that is passed down to the Rosso family. <Flux Statics>.” [TN: From the kanji, it means, A quiet style]

I see, it called <Flux Statics> huh…

It’s a name that I’ll definitely forget tomorrow.

“Defense, Counterattack, Thrust. It is the strongest sword technique that consists of these three elements!”

Ignacio proudly said so.

I felt a little uneasy in her words.

――Well, it’s a wonderful sword technique.

There is no lie in this.

But, no matter how great the sword technique is, her physical strength is too low.

Sure, Ignacio is better than me in terms of physical strength without imbued with Mana. If it’s allowed to use Mana, I can land an attack that’s stronger than that.

For that matter, Ignacio is far from the physical strength of the horse monster that I fought earlier.

If Shura had been against Ignacio, she would have yawned and smashed the rapier’s thrust easily.

There is no problem if it is a monster opponent of small fish.

So, her strength is barely meet the minimum――isn’t it?

Well, she might haven’t show her best yet, so it’s too early to solidify the evaluation.

——————————————-

We arrived at the southern shore where we were dropped off.

The wreckage of the ship was floating on the surface of the sea. I and Ignacio looked around, but there was no sign of anybody else.

“No one is there …”

“No, that doesn’t seem to be the case. See there.”

I pointed to the sandy ground.

There were human footprints on the sandy shore. The footprints went to the shadow of the rocky area on the right.

Since the footprints was rather big, probably it was a man’s footprints.

I and Ignacio headed for the rocky area. I stood in front, put my hand on the rock, and at the same time I felt cold in my hand. Then, I leaned forward and looked into the shadow.

There, was a man who was bending down and observing something. A man with red hair.

“Urgh…”

Ignacio made a disgusted voice.

“――Yo, Carrs, what are you doing? Did you find a treasure?”

“Yeah. Would you like to see it?”

Red-haired man――Carrs answered so.

I walked up near him while twisting my neck.

Hiding in the shadow of Carrs was a black object.

――It’s a coffin.

“It’s a coffin… isn’t it?”

“I found it by chance. I wonder if it was washed away by the sea. Besides, I can’t find any rust. Somehow, I feel uneasy about this.”

The coffin was a black coffin. There was no scratch on it.

But more than the coffin itself, I was interested to the thing that stuck on the lid of the coffin.

“This is…!”

A rectangular piece of white paper with a familiar mark.

It’s a talisman.

It was a talisman, and I was sure that it used for sealing. Two talismans were placed on it.

Both were split in half. One of it had a circular magic circle that I am familiar with. It was the one used for basic sealing technique.

However, the other talisman had a pentagonal magic circle and an unfamiliar character stamp on it.

I’m sure this is not a technique to seal something directly on the talisman.

Interesting, it’s a sealing technique that I don’t know.

“What happened to the general, was there something you were curious about?”

“Well”

I observed the talisman with the round letter on the coffin.

” ‘Reyes Rou Ampleur’…” [TN: in kanji it’s, ‘レイズ＝ロウ＝アンプルール’…]

I read the name written on the talisman.

It’s definitely traces of someone being sealed.

The pentagonal tag is a handwriting that I don’t know. However, the other circular magic circle, and the feeling of how this letter was written, it is definitely ―― the old man.

I try to touch the talisman with the pentagonal magic circle on it.

“Hmm?!”

There was a feeling that my Mana was absorbed.

I see, I see. Is it such a mechanism? If so, the one who was sealed in this is almost out of mana.

But, both of these seals have been completely broken.

Which means, something that the old man sealed may be on this island.

It is reasonable to think that the seal was broken by the death of the old man.

――『”Actually … I haven’t seen her since a month ago …”』

The mother looking for her kidnapped daughter did say so.

A month ago …

One hypothesis came to mind.

A month ago, it was the time when the old man passed away.

The old man died, and a guy called “Reyes Rou Ampleur” came out of the coffin. And so, the guy start kidnapping ―― hmm, maybe I think too much?

“Apparently this might be a case for me to solve.”

―― 『”That 20 points, the thing that left unfinished by you, old man―― I’ll do something about it.”』

Well, I don’t know the breakdown of that 20 points.

But I’m sure this is not all that 20 points, this is probably just one of things left unfinished by the old man.

It may not be a coincidence that I came to this island.

There is an existence here that must be sealed.

“Who cares about such a coffin. Let’s go find another survivor!”

“I don’t know where the survivors are, But I found the enemy’s home base after I followed the small demons.”

Carrs stood up and cracked his neck.

“There are places where we can use to hide. Should we go there now?”

“Of course! Let’s go!”

TN: I’m not sure with the name, ‘ レイズ＝ロウ＝アンプルール ‘ yet, it’s doesn’t really have any specific meaning so,I’ll leave it as ‘Reyes Rou Ampleur’, but to be honest I was thinking either that one, or ‘Reyes Law Ampleur’, or ‘Raise Low Ampleur’…