NOVEL NEXT Episode 11: Goodbye Alteria
Episode 11: Goodbye Alteria
Original knowledge is such a cheat. There’s malicious intent everywhere if you don’t know about it.
The woman in front of me is the same. She would add a dish to my meal, send me to school, or come alone to see me off. The original Mine-kun, who has been exposed to malice, was easily deceived by such kindness. He might have thought that she could be an ally, without realizing the malice hidden behind it. And then, he was captured, modified, used, and killed.
She’s the one who leaked information about the “Sword Saint” to Hartelia. She’s the one who invited the troops of the original Mine-kun and the others to the capital. I remember her well. She was an enemy in the original story. She was boasting proudly while being cornered by Cain.
For both the original Mine-kun and Cain, she was the true enemy.
However, if she hadn’t caused any trouble, I would have let her go, you know? Because it’s a fact that I’ve been indebted to her. So it’s a shame.
“[Bullet]”
“W-What are you…”
I shoot down the guys surrounding me. The woman in front of me probably has no idea what’s going on.
An ignorant kid who could be easily deceived, a weak kid who would shut up if threatened, or a feeble kid who would calm down after being punched a few times. But now, here they are, clad in armor from head to toe, emitting clear murderous intent.
“W-Wait—”
“[Bullet]”
The upper body of the middle-aged maid gets blown away. Along with the house behind her.
“Oh no…”
I block the alley with [Earth Wall] to prevent anyone from getting closer and use magic to bury the bodies underground. I also fix anything that got broken. While doing so, the other side of the [Earth Wall] starts getting noisy. Even though I chose a place with few people around, it doesn’t mean there’s no one here.
Anyway, I’ve finished everything I needed to do, so let’s just leave the capital through the tunnel. Goodbye, capital.
Heading towards the border with the Melnie Kingdom, I walk westward along the highway. I couldn’t ride a carriage with the remaining farewell gift from the Marquis’ family. What a stingy family. If I use [Body Enhancement] and run at full speed, I could significantly shorten the travel time, but the western part of the capital is a plain, so I’d stand out.
At night, if I create a hut with magic, I don’t have to worry about monsters or bandits. Earth attribute magic is quite versatile. I provided a magical hut several times to people I met at campsites and managed to earn half of the farewell gift from the Marquis’ family, equivalent to five small silver coins, in four days. Way to go. Mine-kun seems happy with his first earnings too.
“???”
It’s the fifth day since leaving the capital, but for some reason, people passing by have been staring at me a lot. At first, I thought it was because I was a child traveling alone, but there wasn’t this much attention until yesterday. There were even travelers of similar age. I was a bit smaller though.
“…Could it be they found out about the middle-aged maid’s murder?”
I intended to hide everything, including the body, underground as evidence, but it might have been a bad idea that I left home on the same day the middle-aged maid went missing. Still, it would have been suspicious if they had disappeared suddenly. I’m just “incompetent” while they are supposedly professionals.
Anyway, let’s approach the next town carefully. There might be wanted posters out for me.
“Oh, this is bad.”
I’ve been observing the entrance and exit of the town from a distance for a while, but it’s clear that someone is searching for someone. And they seem to be looking for someone with a similar appearance to mine.
I messed up. With the numerous eyewitness reports by now, it’s only a matter of time before they find out that I’m heading towards the Melnie Kingdom. No, it’s better to assume they already know.
“Huh? This doesn’t look good, huh?”
Melnie is an allied country with Alteria, so there’s a possibility that wanted posters will be circulated there too. For the same reason, the Eastern Mishinela Federation is out. The relationship between the three northern countries is good because the southern Hartelia and the eastern Miltia Theocracy are troublesome in various ways. By the way, the north is the sea, so that’s not even an option. Even if I sneak in, I’d have to choose between west or east as my destination. There’s also the option of quietly living in the countryside, but I’d rather not live in fear of being found out.
“The only option left is south to Hartelia…”
In the original story, Hartelia was a barbaric nation that used many people, including Mine-kun, for human experiments. I think the Hartelia route disappeared after repelling the middle-aged maid, though.
“Trying to leave from Harterlia to the west… Ah, no good.”
There should be a duchy to the west of Hartelia. However, it’s supposed to be destroyed midway through the school arc. It’s like, “Seems like that duchy got destroyed in a sloppy way.” Of course, it was Hartelia’s doing. They really don’t do anything right.
By the way, the south of Hartelia is also the sea. There are only this many countries on this continent.
“Maybe I should just kill Gargaine?”
—Earl Gargaine, the most prominent warmongering noble in Hartelia, whose machinations led to the moderates losing influence and the warmongers pushing for war. Well, maybe it would only be a stalling tactic since the king himself is also a war enthusiast, but in terms of changing the flow of the original story, it’s not a bad idea, right? After all, the original Mine-kun was with this guy. …Yeah, it sounds plausible. Let’s give it a shot. If it doesn’t work out, I can just head to the duchy and live a leisurely life in the countryside.
“Alright, let’s head to Hartelia for now.”
I’ve also created magic for assassination, or rather, for attacking from a distance. I’ll just aim it at Gargaine and then make a quick getaway. As long as I don’t mess up, I should be safe. Finally, my explosion magic gets to shine.
“Come to think of it, I wonder if Lumina is in Hartelia now?”
One of the heroines in the original story, a saint candidate enrolled in the Miltia Church. She was supposed to be an orphan from a Hartelia orphanage. She was a handy character who could be a healer, buffer, or even a wall-tank depending on her build, mastering light attribute magic at a high level. If I remember correctly, she betrayed the Miltia Church and sided with the protagonist’s group after learning about the cruel experiments conducted by the church.
I don’t plan on staying in Hartelia long enough to meet her, but still, since I reincarnated into the world of “Alteria Chronicles,” I’d like to see at least one heroine’s face, you know? I couldn’t see the protagonist during the entrance exam, after all. Ah, I’m fine with the protagonist.
Now that I’ve decided on a plan, I’ll head towards the Arlight territory first. Well, I don’t really want to go there either. But the border between the southwestern Hertia territory and Hartelia is a vast plain with forts. I can’t pass through there while being wanted. In that case, I have to pass through the forest from the Arlight territory. If I’m in the forest, I can run at full speed without being noticed by anyone.
Or rather, if I don’t do that, I’ll run out of food. I can’t replenish in Alteria Kingdom, so I don’t have much leeway. I guess it’ll be another foraging life until I get there.
“Well then, shall we go?”