Interlude II: Preliminary Search

"...Report."

"The search on the desert of Sabasa, including underground tunnels dug by monsters, is mostly completed. No traces of Hero Luka has been found."

"...I see. You can slow down the search."

"Understood, Your Majesty."

The succubus bowed, and walked out of the throne room.

Demon Lord Alisfiez stood in front of the throne, face completely still as she listened to the report from the vassal.

But that did not last. The instant the succubus turned the corner, the throne room shook with a loud striking sound.

"Your Majesty, please don't wreck the floor more than it already has been. Have some mercy on the people who have to fix it."

Tamamo stood just beside the steps ascending to throne, speaking with Alice who turned away after hitting her tail on the floor.

Alice did not answer. From outsiders' perspective, it would look like the Demon Lord displayed her temper from the undesirable result of the search. Tamamo knew better.

On the first day the unsuccessful search around the proximity of Grand Noah was reported, Alice listened with patience. On the third day, when news from San Ilias arrived, Alice showed her displeasure for the first time. On the fifth day, when Luka had not been found even in secluded places such as remote villages, forests, or even under the ocean, Alice went on a small rampage, scaring the messenger. After that, the display gradually died down, until not ever a swear was heard.

The fire used keep away the fear was fizzling out.

'Hm...I had thought those two were a bit too dependent on each other, but never that that something like this would happen.'

In the years the cultural reform had been spreading throughout the land, moving the world toward the age of coexistence, there had been many instances the Hero and the Demon Lord were needed in separate locations, some more than a month long.

The effect of being separated for a long time showed physically and mentally, especially on the Demon Lord who would occasionally had a faraway look and was more temperamental in general. It got to the point that the agreement was made that allow the two along with their children to meet at least once a week, or at the very least once every two weeks, to not let the work be affected.

One of the reasons, which only people close to them knew, was that aside from their two children who were still too young to be taken along, they had no other family. Moreover, the circumstances surrounding the loss of each of their beloved family member were traumatic enough to set them on the path of self-destruction. That loss had weighed heavily on their mind all their life, until that fateful meeting.

The Four Heavenly Knights were close friends, but only that. Both of them had been each other only supporting pillar in their danger-fraught, self-imposed mission. They pulled each other from the grave they each dug for themselves. That one of them would live on without the other would be greatly difficult.

Precisely at the moment, one of them was experiencing agony as though one of her limbs had been cut off. The time apart was one cause, but more than that was the questions: when would they be able to meet? Would they even be able to meet ever again? The uncertainty made every passing second filled with anxiety and fear.

Aside from Alice, Neris had not been able to focus on her lessons, even her favorite sword training from Granberia. Nero tried to be strong for Neris, but he was still but a four years old child, and could not keep his own worry from his mind either. Tamamo and the monsters in the castle had been taking care of the two to their best ability, to help lessen the burden on the Demon Lord's mind; but occasionally the mother was the only one that could calm her children.

'If this goes on, these three are going to break down at some point. Luka, don't worry your family so much.'

One of the only hope at present was Granberia that had gone out to recruit the help from the Spirits of Nature. The most recent news was that she would arrive today.

And but a moment after the succubus had left, the female dragonkin swordswoman entered the room.

"I have arrived. My apologize for the lateness."

Garuda girl who was the fastest transportation at the moment was also the only mean of traveling from Hellgondo and Sentora, and so could not be pulled to help with the search without arousing suspicion. Granberia had had to travel using normal means and her own teleportation magic.

"Granberia...Have you learned something that could be of help?" Alice steeled herself and asked for report.

"It was hard for them to tell from faraway, thus the four Spirits had elected to come back with me."

As Granberia finished, four other figures emerged. A girl so small she could fit in a palm floated with transparent wings; a girl in brown clothes holding a small mud doll; a woman whose body and fish-like tail consisted entirely of water; and a woman whose body was surrounded by flames.

The Four Spirits of Nature.

"Demon Lord, we have come." Undine, the Spirit of Water.

"That anomaly, we had also felt it." Salamander, the Spirit of Fire.

"..." Gnome, the Spirit of Earth.

"Yeah! Everyone's here. Let's go help Luka together!~" Sylph, the Spirit of Wind.

These four had been an important force helping Hero Luka in his travel, supporting him as he overcame difficulties after difficulties. Alice had never been as close to them as Luka the contractor, but having the four here with her was slightly reassuring.

"Thank you all for coming. Sorry for rushing, but can we hear what you know?"

"No problem." Salamander answered first.

"But the only thing we could tell was that an anomaly did indeed happened at the exact date, time, and direction as we had been told. If we are to say more we would need to investigate the place it happened. Though one week have passed, there might be some clues left."

"Understood. Tamamo, prepare for the trip." Alice nodded and turned to speak with her aide.

"I had anticipated that a return to the place of incident might be necessary, and had prepared transportation beforehand. We can go as soon as Your Majesty is ready."

Alice was a bit surprised. Not of Tamamo's intelligence, but that she had not noticed it, and sighed.

"I must be more stressed out than I thought, to not noticed that you had been up to something behind my back."

"Kuku. Please more careful, or there might be a rebellion from behind your throne."

"Try it, and I will eat all the fried tofu in the world."

"..."

After telling Neris and Nero to behave while they were gone, Alice, Tamamo, and Granberia rode the Giganto Weapon until they reached the edge of the Hellgondo continent. From there, they used teleportation spell to cross the ocean to Gold Port, and rode on horses toward Grangold's royal palace, explaining the circumstances to the King of Grangold.

It was evening when they entered the courtyard.

Granberia who was the closest eyewitness brought the four Spirits to the spot where Luka had disappeared.

For a long time, the four stared at what seemed to be empty air with contemplating expression. Alice had to hold herself back from rushing them.

Finally, they turned around.

"This is the first time I get to investigate this up close, but I think this is the phenomenon that rarely happened." Salamander spoke up first.

"So there had been similar occurrences before?"

"Whether there had been ones where living beings were taken or not, we don't know. But the feeling that a gap in dimension was opened had occurred to us many times in the past. There was no order in time and place. Sometimes they happened decades apart, sometimes centuries." Undine continued.

"A gap in dimension?" Tamamo sounded surprised, but there was also a hint of recognition.

"Yeah! Like, suddenly there was a hole in the dimension. The Wind that had been there was suddenly not there anymore!"

"Of course, the Water was the same. And the Fire and the Earth should be no different."

Alice looked from Sylph to Undine, and asked the question that she had to prepared herself mentally for.

"...And, what happens to a person that get stuck in it?"

"No one knows. They might be sent off somewhere, got stuck, or cease to exist entirely."

Alice took deep breaths, and asked again.

"Is there a way to bring them back?"

"Maybe. If we know the state and the location of the person, there could be a way to do that."

"That's the thing: we don't know where Luka is." Salamander added. "He was once our contractor. We should be able to find him if he is anywhere within this world's nature, given the time we've been trying to."

"The Wind can't find him at all!"

"Nor can the Water."

"...So you are saying he is somewhere neither Fire, Earth, Water, nor Wind exist?"

"That's what we believe." Undine concluded.

Once she knew that was as much as she was going to get from the Spirits, Alice turned to Tamamo.

"Hypotheses about different dimensions, along with some supporting evidences, had been recorded. But as far as I know, there had never been any experiment on the subject."

The 'as far as Tamamo knew' was very close to 'as far as anyone in the world knew'.

"If we need Luka's location, there might be a way."

"There's a way?" Granberia raised her eyebrows.

"...Why have you been keeping that from us?" Alice crossed her arms.

"There are several conditions for it, and I'm not sure if it will really succeed; I don't want to give anyone a false hope."

"What are the conditions?"

"Time, place, and tools. The closest time is in four days. There are many suitable places, but taking several circumstances into consideration, Undine's Spring would be the best pick. Tools are objects closely link to the fate of the target. They have to be objects; living creatures won't work."

Each of them started to think.

"The object most closely linked to that guy...The keepsake ring from his mother; but it's gone..."

"His personal belongings had also been replaced just recently as well."

"...Why would you know that about Luka's belongings—this isn't the time to ask that, so I shall let it go for the time being. But don't think for a second I would forget."

"C'mon! Stop playing around and be serious!" Sylph scrunched up her face and scolded Alice and Tamamo.

Two of the four Spirits had an incredulous expression. The other one did not change expression, but was likely thinking the same thing.

"...What about his sword?"

Everyone turned toward Granberia, who spoke up.

"Angel Halo. When I first met him he was still using an ordinary sword; but the second time he had already been wielding Angel Halo. It should have been with him for a long time."

Alice took Luka's personal sword out of invisible storage.

"This sword...I gave it to that guy after we took off from Iliasburg, because he always hesitated when fighting..."

It was the first item the Demon Lord gave to the Hero. The symbol of the desire to bring peace to humans and monsters. The sword that had cut down the greatest obstacle. The sword the Hero's mother created. The sword once wielded by the great man he admired.

Tamamo nodded.

"Hm. There's probably nothing more suitable than that. Well then; on the night four days from now, at the Undine's Spring, I will try to search for Luka's whereabouts. If he is anywhere at all in this world he will definitely be found. But if he is somewhere else...we won't know until we tried."

[...]

[...][...]

Undine's Spring, after being contaminated by mercury because of a certain traitorous slime, Erbetie had led her slime people to purify the spring's water without stopping. With the help of Alchemist Association, Undine's Spring had finally regained its purity a few months ago.

Tamamo stood before the surface of water stretched as far as the eye can see. The moon in the clear sky was reflected on the still water.

Alice, Granberia, Alma Elma, Erbetie, Four Spirits, and a number of curious slimes observed Tamamo from further up on the land.

Tamamo looked down on the surface of the spring in focus, and opened her mouth.

"Heed me, my eternal time. The chains that bind this body, formed by law of creations; in the name of the oath, release me. My true form, rise!"

Once the phrases that sounded like a spell finished, the small body dispelled unbelievably immense power. The body belonging to a girl was coated in aura, and suddenly change into that of a grown adult woman: the body of one of the Six Ancestors, the pregenitor of all beast monsters.

"So that's Tamamo-chan when she gets serious. This is the first time I've seen it." Alma Elma widened her eyes in pure surprise, a rare sight.

"I heard this form was used in the battle with Ilias, but I didn't get to see it. So this is Six Ancestor..." Granberia's warrior instinct briefly awakened as she was hit by the impact of the release.

"...Can the present day monsters ever reach such height..." Queen Slime Erbetie mumbled in her quiet whisper.

The wave of power, alien in its immensity, as though it had flown across time from another age, surged for only a moment, before it was pulled back into its origin; the lone figure.

Tamamo raised the sword created by the first fallen angel over her head; her body glow slightly, as if bathing in moonlight.

In a breath, Tamamo threw the sword into the water. From the spot where the sword disappeared, several waves spreaded out in circles, and along with them came an image.

Tamamo beckoned, and Alice and the rest approached.

"Tamamo-chan, did you have to change into this bombshell of a body just for the ritual~" Queen Succubus Alma Elma teased with a grin.

"I didn't use Word of Dispel for that nonsense. If Luka is really in another dimension, I would need as much power as possible."

The image on the spring's surface was getting clearer, but there were still some parts that were blurred, as if hidden behind an almost transparent curtain.

It was an image of Luka leaning on a railing of a balcony, looking up to the night sky.

"Luka!? So he's safe." Granberia said, letting out a little breath.

"What a relief, isn't it, Your Majesty. Luka-chan seems to still be full of spunk~"

"Hmph, that's obvious. That guy passed the conditions to marry a Demon Lord. Of course he wouldn't die to something so trivial."

"Really~? You're actually so relieve you couldn't even hide it, aren't you~"

Alice crossed her arms with a calm face, but everyone knew how much weight had been lifted from her chest with the revelation.

Tamamo stared at the slightly blurred image contemplatingly.

"Hmm...Even my full power on the full moon night couldn't get a clear picture. A barrier that could interfere with my power should not exist in the present world. Luka may really be another dimension."

"Right. That balcony looks to be of a building of considerable size. If it's somewhere in this world we should've found it already." Granberia spoke up in support.

"...But he's safe. It's a relief..."

It was at that moment there was a change in the image. Luka who was leaning against the railing suddenly turned around as if called. Before Luka appeared a new figure.

"...A girl..."

A girl looked to be in her early teens, with pretty face, pinkish hair, and in an evening gown, speaking with Luka.

"I can't hear what they say."

"This method only allow images. Voices are not transmitted." Tamamo replied to Granberia.

"Then can we contact him with telepathy?"

"If you mean through this image then no. Sending voices and messages is much more complex than simple images."

The image continued to play. As Luka and the pink-haired girl spoke, the monsters started to noticed some signs.

"Hm?"

"Ho?"

"Wow~"

"..."

"..."

The girl in the image slightly reached out her right hand. From what could be seen behind her, it could be inferred that there was a dance party going on, and that hand was an invitation.

But what the monsters truly paid attention to was the girl's expression. A blockhead like Luka likely did not notice, but everyone present on this side were women and instantly recognized the signs. The same thought ran through all their heads.

'Is this...'

Luka hurriedly bowed in an awkward manner as the girl curtsied, before taking her right hand with his left.

All the eyes were on the face beneath a mop of pink hair, as the cheeks reddened under the moonlight.

Granberia blinked twice.

"Oh my, my, my~ Luka-chan is such a bad boy~" Alma Elma grin from ear to ear, tail swiping left to right in a glee.

"Hohoh. He managed this in just over ten days. That's quite impressive" Tamamo placed the fan she was holding under her chin and chuckled.

"...So lucky..." Erbetie whispered.

"..."

Luka and the girl stepped on to the dance floor, holding one of each other's hand, while the other placed on each other's shoulder and back, dancing along with the unheard music.

Tamamo nodded after observing the image for a while.

"Hmm...He looks alright as far as we can see. I think—Uwa—!?"

Alice's body released deep black aura; the magically adept could pick up on it without looking, and the magically inept could see it with naked eyes. The pair of golden eyes glowed eerily. All the while both her arms were still crossed, her back still upright, mouth in a straight line, the only moving part was the tip of her tail which swayed slowly, and ominously.

"Wow! A dance! Fun! I wanna dance too! Spinning around, and round, and round and—glargh~!"

Only the Spirit of the Wind was excited and flew around in the air cheerfully; until she was trapped in a floating ball of water and switched to flailing about in agony.

The two in the image continue what they were doing without any suspicion that there might be 'outer' observers.

Luka stepped forward with his left foot, getting close to the pink-haired girl.

A deep hole formed on the ground at the end of Alice's tail.

They spun, pressing their bodies together as they changed direction.

An explosion: bright light and smoke came from the right side.

Luka's boot got caught on the carpet, his face leaning in, almost touching the girl's.

The flaming trees turned in to massive lumps of ice in an instant.

The image gradually blurred. Tamamo scrunched up her face.

"The time is up. Looks like my power really isn't enough unless I'm in this form..."

Tamamo's body turned back in to a small girl. The dancing image of Luka and the unknown girl quickly faded away.

Alice, still crossing her arms, glared at the reflection of a full moon. There was no more explosion or cold wave, but the black aura was still pouring out.

"Tamamo, did you get Luka's location?"

"This place and the other side isn't separated by conventional distance. Exact location is still unclear, but I did gain some insights."

"Hurry up and find a way to bring Luka back as soon as possible. Or a way to send me there. Or a way to send messages, or images, or whatever. I don't care how much resource we have to put in."

"...Understood, Your Majesty."

Tamamo slightly bowed. The rest of Heavenly Knight looked from the side.

"Heard that? Her Majesty who hated wasting money on luxuries that's not food said not to care how much we have to spend~" Even Ala Elma turned down her voice into whispers.

"This is the first time I've seen Her Majesty this enraged." Granberia said in surprise.

"A woman's scorn. Muscle-headed barbarian like Granberia-chan wouldn't understand a maiden's heart~"

"I—I am a woman as well!"

Erbetie did not participate in the conversation, simply diving into Undine's Spring to pick up Angel Halo still sunken at the bottom of the spring.

PBW: "This side is also slowly progressing forward. But it's still a long way to a proper contact."

Ilias: "Alas, when that time have come, the Hero Luka's heart will have already been swayed from the Demon Lord Alisfiez. Such a delight."

PBW: "Don't decide that by yourself."