[694] The Place of Reunion (3)
I was enjoying the view of the beautiful winter garden when Madeline came running from the direction of the castle, out of breath.
"Iruki! Iruki!"
A rank-and-file researcher from Yongroe missing a meeting wasn't just a work issue—it was a matter of attitude—so Shirone was worried about Iruki.
"Are you all right? You didn't get disciplined because of me, did you?"
"I'm fine. I just caught someone's eye a little while ago. Besides, this isn't a school. If they don't make use of someone of my caliber, it's their loss."
His confidence was as unshaken as ever.
"What are you doing here? Yongroe's in an uproar!"
Iruki turned and said,
"I'm going to attend now. It's not over yet, is it?"
"No, it's not a meeting!"
"Huh?"
Madeline widened her eyes and shouted.
"Lord Albino flew into a rage and demanded you be brought immediately! I've never seen him that angry in my life."
A shadow crossed Iruki's face.
"Sorry, but I should get going now."
"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing."
"Don't worry. If it's my father, there won't be any punishment. Damn it—I'd planned to use this chance to get a few days' proper rest."
Shirone's eyes softened.
Iruki was the sort who would deliberately get into trouble to be suspended when classes got boring.
"You didn't, by any chance, do that on purpose…"
Iruki cut him off and looked back at Rian.
"Good to have met you. Take care of Shirone."
"Yeah. Next time, let's have a drink."
Kido said.
"Take care, brother."
Shirone smiled—Iruki's joke showed he'd seen Shirone's true nature.
'I knew you'd like it.'
"Shirone, make sure you pass. I'll be spying for good news."
With that light smile, Iruki turned and sprinted toward the castle as if his heels were on fire.
Shirone looked at Rian and Kido and said,
"All right, let's get moving. There's still a chance to turn things around. From now on we'll be faster, too."
Kido asked,
"You said you had something in mind?"
"Yeah. I'm thinking of going to Kashan."
"Kashan? That's an empire, right?"
Memory's taste didn't hand over every memory, so Kido didn't know about Shirone's ties to Kashan.
Rian said,
"You mean to meet Teraje?"
"I'd rather not owe anyone favors…"
Uorin was not an easy person to deal with.
"But given the situation, I think we have no choice but to play a card. Uorin would know about Ra Enemi."
"Then our next destination is Kashan. Let's see…"
Rian unfolded a rough map.
"The route out of Bashka goes through the Kingdom of Kazra and the Kingdom of Acros. But Kazra has closed its borders…"
That left only the coastal Acros route up past Tormia.
"Then we'd reach Kashan via Acros, Merhen, and Zaive. But is this map accurate? The distance from Kashan's border to its capital is farther than going through three kingdoms."
Kashan was the largest empire in the world by territory.
"Will that be all right? Even nonstop by carriage it'd take at least two months."
"No. We won't take the Acros route. We'll go to Kazra. From there, we'll jump straight into Kashan."
"Hmm, that method…"
Uorin had been born to Kazra's King Orcamp and Teraje Mistra.
After the parentage scandal she cut off foreign diplomacy, which itself showed Kazra lay under Kashan's sphere of influence.
"Kazra should have a direct channel that teleports to Kashan. Using that will save time."
"But they won't approve it. If an illegal crossing is detected, it could spark an interstate incident."
"Orcamp will want to see me."
A sadness flickered in Shirone's eyes.
"The queen's son died in my place."
Geffin had used Kazra's prince to eliminate the cause of Hexa.
"I see."
"Aside from saving time, I think we should tell them their son is dead."
They would be living each day between hope and despair, clinging to the possibility their child still lived.
"So you planned to stop in Kazra from the start."
He spoke of efficiency, but the latter reason was likely the greater motive.
'That's why you placed third.'
Rian finally understood why Shirone had received only one vote in the Ivory Tower poll.
Tzuoyi hadn't said it, but she probably judged Shirone's card as:
Grand in scope, but too slow.
'Because he tries to embrace everything.'
But precisely because Shirone was like that, Rian had decided to entrust his whole life to him.
'Whoever gave that one vote—I won't regret it.'
Having made his decision, Rian said,
"All right, let's go to Kazra!"
Kido raised his hand.
"Fine, but how are we getting into Kazra? You said the border's closed."
"Huh?"
Rian blinked.
* * *
"You want to go to Kazra?"
Aria, seated at the diplomatic desk in the castle, asked.
"Yes. The border's closed, but I think there must be a secret diplomatic channel."
"Hmm."
She liked Shirone, but when it came to work, emotion had no place.
"Does it have to be Kazra? If you're going to Kashan I can send a diplomatic request to the nearest country."
"That'll still be slow. If we can't jump directly to Kashan's capital it wastes time."
And at present, the only way to reach Kashan's capital was through Kazra.
"If there's a channel connected to Kazra…"
Aria took off her glasses and set them on the desk.
"If I were lying, I'd say yes. That's my job. But I don't have to lie because it truly isn't there. The channels are completely severed."
It was the most honest answer a diplomat could give.
"Is there really no way?"
"There are three main ways into Kazra. First: cross the border. But the guards will be impenetrable. Second: use the Red Line channel. Kazra is a member of the Red Line, so you could go through the Mage Association. But that would let every Red Line nation trace your movements. Third: go through a demilitarized zone designated by inter-kingdom agreement. Countries often have secret meeting chambers not disclosed publicly. I'm guessing you're here because of that third option, but even that is currently blocked."
"Hmm."
Shirone stared at Aria.
She'd told him there were no options and yet explained them all—an issue she couldn't bring herself to say aloud.
"Only high nobles know the locations of the magic circles that lead to those secret chambers, so security is tight. Not impossible, but easier to breach than other routes. If you get caught, Tormia would owe massive reparations."
"Uuuugh."
As Shirone's sigh lengthened, Aria's gaze sharpened.
"The locations of the magic-circle sites are secret, but…"
Aria picked up a pen and, almost like doodling, jotted eight digits spaced apart. Then she inserted new digits between them, creating a sequence like pi.
Shirone memorized the initial digits.
'XY coordinates. The Gejo Mountains, behind Creta Castle.'
Aria put the pen down, linked her fingers, and said again.
"Anyway, right now it's completely closed—no one goes near it. Even if you go, it won't activate without the security codes."
Shirone could have decoded all of the codes.
"I see. We'll have to abandon that route."
Shirone smiled and Aria relaxed.
"Good choice. It's better to go through Acros."
"Yes, thank you."
"For this much, what are you thanking me for? When you get into the Ivory Tower, don't pretend you don't know me."
She wouldn't share secrets for nothing.
"Of course. I'll come back and see you."
Turning away, Shirone rode a carriage out of the castle and was dropped off on the outskirts of the capital.
Kido watched the carriage go and then looked back at Shirone.
"Do you know exactly where it is?"
"Yeah. The coordinates are precise, so we'll find it easily."
Rian asked,
"What do you mean? Weren't we going through Acros?"
"...."
Kido's eyes went slightly crossed.
"No, we're going to jump to Kazra using the teleportation magic circle."
Shirone explained while climbing the Gejo Mountains, and only then did Rian understand.
"I see. So we're kind of acting as spies?"
"If we get caught, yeah."
The coordinates Aria had given led to a dense forest.
Parting trees that looked deliberately planted, they found a secret passage descending underground.
It was hard to enter—the stairs were thick with dust after a year of no foot traffic.
"Maybe we shouldn't step on them?"
Shirone agreed with Kido.
"Magic that manipulates convection tends to leave traces. We'll teleport."
Shirone grabbed Kido and Rian, turned into a flash, and skipped the stairs.
He navigated the narrow, winding tunnels without a single mistake and arrived at a large chamber on the third underground level.
A massive magic circle covered the floor, and alchemical devices that controlled it were set into the walls.
Generators hummed and complex circuits glowed.
"Can you do it?"
"Yeah. I'll try."
He cautiously probed the circuitry and saw the code weaving into rotating spheres.
'This is the firewall.'
Using the Ultima system he dismantled it piece by piece, and where all the circuits intersected a single starlight flared up.
'This is the core code.'
The moment he activated it, a majestic sound filled the great chamber and a cylindrical column of light rose from the magic circle on the floor.
"It's done."
It was done, but no one could predict what lay on the other side.
"Kazra's border could be tightly guarded. It's not like Tormia."
With worst-case scenarios in mind, he led the way; Kido and Rian followed.
"Then…"
Before he could finish, a white flash shot up and transported them to the far side of the magic circle.
"...."
It was instantaneous, and Rian muted the thought and looked around.
It was as dark underground as Tormia had been, the difference being it was a cave rather than an artificial structure.
"There don't seem to be any guards nearby."
Kido glanced around.
"Is this really Kazra? I can't believe it."
"More precisely, this is the border area. Tormia probably co-manages it. As proof, there's no device controlling the magic circle. They must gather here and then head to the meeting chamber. Let's move out."
The cave was a natural maze, with magical and physical traps set everywhere.
"…Feels like we've gone quite a distance."
Even though the coordinates showed they hadn't strayed, the cave had stretched on for over an hour.
"Shh—someone's here."
At Kido's whisper they crouched and crept forward, and ten meters below they found a vast chamber.
Twenty people in identical robes were bowing and pleading to a man on an altar.
"Great Tera-Force god, deliver your oracle and guide our path!"
'Heretics…'
This was the Tera-Force cult, a sect worshipped as an evil god.
"The god delivers prophecy through me."
The man on the altar, an elderly man in his sixties, raised both hands and blinked to reveal the whites of his eyes.
"Karomaropha, Erodaimer, Udiraknaom."
'Is that a prophecy? Shirone could interpret it.'
Rian glanced at him, but Shirone frowned.
"What's wrong? Is it serious?"
"That's not a prophecy. He's spouting nonsense."
"Nonsense?"
Through the Ultima system the man's words were being analyzed.
"Ah, I'm bored. That new recruit's fine. Tonight it'll be that woman. He's thinking about things completely unrelated to prophecy."
They were a cult even among heretics.