"Oh? What's up, teacher?"
"Wow!?"
The name she called out unconsciously was actually responded to, and Aiko couldn't help but let out a strange cry.
She looked around the room but saw no one except herself, and couldn't help but think she was hallucinating.
As if to prove to Aiko that this wasn't an illusion, the voice called out again:
"I'm here, Sensei."
"what?"
Aiko's body trembled, and she thought to herself, "It's not an auditory hallucination!" She turned her gaze to the direction where the sound came from - a small window with iron bars.
Then he saw Hajime looking inside from the window.
"Eh? Eh? Is that Nagumo-san? Eh? This is the top floor... or is it Honsan... Eh?"
"Ah~ Well, anyway, calm down, Sensei. I'll check for traps. It'll be done soon..."
Ignoring his confused Aiko, Hajime used the Magic Eye Stone to confirm that there were no traps. He then emitted a red electric light and refined it, opening a hole in the wall large enough for one person to pass through and invade the room.
The room Aiko was in was nearly a hundred meters above ground level, yet Hajime entered through the entrance above ground level as if it were normal. Aiko was stunned when she saw Hajime crawling in through the hole in the wall.
Hajime smiled at Aiko and walked towards her.
"What's so surprising? Sensei already noticed me coming, didn't he? I was completely concealing my presence... I'm starting to lose confidence."
"Huh? Found out? Huh?"
"Didn't the teacher call my name? Did you sense my presence?"
Of course, Aiko couldn't have noticed Hajime using 『Aura Concealment』, she just thought of Hajime and blurted out naturally...
But of course Aiko couldn't say, "I just called out unconsciously because I was thinking about you." She looked panicked and tried to change the subject.
"B-Compared to this, why did you come here..."
"Of course I'm here to save the teacher."
"For me? Did Nagumo-san come here specifically to save me?"
Aiko's face flushed, she was at a loss, and since she hadn't been able to calm down since a while ago, Hajime frowned and thought, "Could she have been brainwashed?" With a serious look in his eyes, he prepared to use the Magic Eye Stone to check if Aiko had any signs of being cast under a spell.
He walked over to the front of Aizi, who was sitting on the bed, and observed her closely. Aizi's face became redder and her heartbeat faster and faster.
After all, the boy who just appeared in my mind the moment before appeared in front of me the next moment to save me from crisis, and even stared at me with a serious expression beside my bed late at night.
If they were just an ordinary student and teacher, there wouldn't be any problems, and Aiko would probably ask, "What's wrong?" However... Aiko, unable to confirm their relationship, just froze and stared into Hajime's eyes.
Even with the Magic Eye Stone, he couldn't find any signs of Aiko being under a spell, so Hajime concluded that there should be no problem. So he took Aiko's hand and wanted to help her remove the artifact that blocked her magic.
Aiko, whose hand was suddenly held, screamed in surprise, shrinking her body and shouting, "No! No! Nanyun-san! This is too sudden! I'm a teacher!"
"No, isn't it inconvenient for you to have your magic sealed? Or what will happen if you remove it? It seems there shouldn't be any traps..."
"Huh? Ah, so that's what's going on..."
"...What else do you think it is?"
“Ahaha, ahahahaha… I’m sorry, it’s nothing…”
The look in Hajime's eyes when he looked at Aiko was not just confusion, but even pity. Aiko laughed it off.
She then asked Hajime why he knew she was imprisoned here, using this as an excuse to cover up the past.
"I heard it from the princess."
"Princess? Princess Liliana?"
"Yes, she saw the teacher being abducted, and guessing the palace might be under surveillance, she concluded she couldn't escape surveillance and informed Tian Zhihe and the others. She fled the capital alone to seek help from us."
"Princess Lily asked you for help... Did you agree, Nagumo-san?"
"Yes, because I have responsibilities as well... Although the teacher probably doesn't want to see me, I have to ask for your patience until you meet up with the others."
Hajime smiled wryly, released the artifact that was blocking Aiko's magic power, and stood up.
Aiko realized that Hajime's last words were referring to him shooting Shimizu, and she couldn't help but hold Hajime's hand tightly.
Then he looked directly at the confused Hajime and spoke his true feelings:
"I definitely don't want to see you. I'm truly glad you came to save me. I haven't completely gotten over what happened to Shimizu-san yet, and I probably won't be able to... Even so, I understand why you pulled the trigger, and I neither hate nor dislike you."
"teacher……"
Hajime opened his eyes wide in surprise, and Aiko smiled a mixture of sadness and tenderness.
"I didn't say it clearly back then, so I have to say it to you now... Thank you for saving me, and I'm sorry for making you pull the trigger."
"..."
Just as Yue had predicted, Aiko had finally figured it out. Hajime smiled bitterly inwardly, but it was also true that he had done something that had deeply saddened Aiko, so he didn't show it on his face.
"I only did what I wanted to do. I accept the teacher's thanks, but no apology is needed. Let's not talk about that. Let's go. The princess and the others should be looking for Tianzhihe and others. After we meet up with them, we can discuss what to do next."
"I understand... Nagumo-kun, you have to be careful. The church is determined to label you a heretic, and since they've captured my people, they might do something to you..."
"I know. Regardless, after getting the teacher to a safe place, I have things to attend to, and I'll probably have to confront those people from the church. I've been prepared for all of this."
Hajime nodded to his son with a strong will in his eyes.
Aiko felt her cheeks heat up again at the look in his eyes, but she still wanted to say something thoughtful.
At this moment, the sound of something breaking was heard faintly in the distance, and the atmosphere seemed to vibrate slightly.
Aiko, not knowing what was happening, her body stiff with tension, looked towards Hajime, who was staring off into the distance, seemingly concentrating on something.
Hajime realized that the cause of the abnormality was on the ground, and was listening to the information transmitted by Yue and the others through telepathy.
"Ah, what an unfortunate coincidence... But in a sense, this might actually be beneficial to us."
After a moment, Hajime clicked his tongue and returned his gaze to Aiko.
Aiko didn't know that Hajime could use telepathy, but because she had seen many artifacts beyond common sense, she guessed that Hajime was getting some information through the artifact and asked Hajime to explain with her eyes.
"Teacher, the demons are attacking. That sound just now seemed like the great barrier covering the royal capital was broken."
"A demon is invading!? Doesn't that mean..."
"Yes, the Kingdom of Heilig is currently under attack. My companions informed me via telepathy that the enemy is a massive army of demons and monsters, taking them completely by surprise."
After hearing Hajime's explanation, Aiko's face turned pale, and she murmured "Impossible" and shook her head vigorously.
This was no wonder. Unbeknownst to them, it was impossible to deploy enough forces to invade the capital without their knowledge. Furthermore, the barrier surrounding the capital was incredibly strong, impervious to ordinary attacks. The fact that they had easily overcome these two obstacles was truly unbelievable.
"Teacher, anyway, let's meet up with Tian Zhihe and the others first, and we'll talk later."
"Okay, okay."
Aiko was nervous and anxious, her expression tense. Hajime let her sit on his arm and picked her up with one hand. Aiko let out another strange "Ah!" and immediately grabbed Hajime's neck.
The next moment—a strong light suddenly shone outside.
「!?」
It was a silvery light that seemed to enhance the moonlight streaming into the room. As soon as Hajime saw it, his instincts immediately sounded the alarm.
Hajime jumped out of the hole in the wall without looking back.
The sudden action made Aiko scream in her ear and hugged Hajime tightly, but now was not the time to worry about such things.
After Hajime jumped out from the top floor of the isolation tower, the silver light destroyed the entire room where Aiko was previously imprisoned.
A strange sound suddenly rang out.
It wasn't the sound of something shattering, nor did the tower vanish from the immense heat; it simply shattered into scattered particles. The steel roof, used to imprison people, dissolved into particles finer than sand, carried by the night wind, drifting into the air and disappearing.
Faced with such a bizarre sight, Hajime used his aerodynamics to stay in the air, eyes wide open, muttering to himself.
"...Could it be...that it was disintegrated?"
"That's right, odd number!"
Although I was mumbling to myself without expecting a response, a voice as beautiful as a bell, yet cold, answered me.
Hajime turned his sharp eyes towards the direction of the sound. A silver-haired, blue-eyed woman was staring at Hajime and Aiko from the roof of a nearby spire. Hajime guessed that she was the woman who kidnapped Aiko.
However, unlike what Liliana described, she was not wearing a nun's uniform, but a dress armor mainly in white.
It was a strapless dress that reached below the knees, and she wore metal armor on her hands, feet, and head, with metal swords dangling from either side of her waist. It looked like combat gear, like a Valkyrie from Norse mythology.
The silver-haired woman jumped up on the spot, so light that she seemed to have no weight.
She turned her back to the dazzling moon in the sky, flipped in the air, and spread a pair of wings emitting silver light from her back.
The pair of wings looked like magical wings formed by silver light.
With the moon as her backdrop, her shiny silver hair fluttering in the wind, she looks both mysterious and sacred, radiating a beauty and charm that transcends the world.
However, what is regrettable is her eyes.
Despite the dazzling beauty of everything, only her eyes were cold as ice. That coldness wasn't disgust, but sheer, emotionless, like a machine or a puppet.
Hajime hugged his beloved son tightly and glared at the silver-colored woman. She also looked at Hajime, slowly stretching her hands out horizontally to both sides.
Then, her arm armor flashed instantly, and the next moment, her hands were already holding the unguarded white sword.
The silver-colored woman wielded the nearly two-meter-long sword, wrapped in silver magic light, effortlessly. She spoke to Shi in a calm tone:
"My name is Noin. As the 'Apostle of God', I will remove unnecessary pieces from the Master's chessboard."
This sentence is undoubtedly a declaration of war.
The woman who calls herself Noin is probably the "Apostle of God" sent by God. Since this seems to be an obstacle, they decide to exclude Hajime from "God's Game".
The silver magic power emitted by Noin caused the surrounding space to vibrate.
The immense pressure, like the force of a waterfall, came crashing down upon Hajime and Aiko.
Aizi gritted his teeth and endured it, but his face turned pale and his body trembled violently.
However, just as she was about to lose consciousness, a wave of red magic enveloped her. As if protecting her beloved son, the red magic gradually grew brighter, completely blocking the silver pressure released by Noin.
Aiko opened her eyes wide in surprise and turned her gaze towards Hajime, who was supposed to be the source of the magic power.
Even under immense pressure, Hajime remained unwavering, his eyes blazing and his teeth bared fiercely.
Aiko seemed fascinated and captivated, unable to look away. Hajime, standing beside him, gave Noin a provocative smile and similarly issued a declaration of war:
"Come on, God's puppet, if you dare."
With these words as a signal, a fierce clash ensued between the "Apostles of God" and the "Monsters" that had risen from the abyss, high above the "Sacred Mountain" at an altitude of over 8,000 meters.
Shortly before Hajime was attacked by Noin, Yue, Shia, Kaori, and Liliana took advantage of the night to advance through the secret passage of the palace in order to send Liliana to Kouki and the others.
Yue and the others' original goal was to rescue Aizi and find the Great Labyrinth and Age of Gods magic somewhere in the "Kamiyama." As for resolving the kingdom's anomaly or helping Liliana reunite with Guanghui and the others, that was irrelevant.
However, in order to ensure Aizi's safety, he must first confirm whether Guanghui and the others have been brainwashed. Only after confirming that there is no problem can he hand Aizi over to them for care.
Furthermore, "Kamiyama," as its name suggests, is the base of the Holy Church. They hope to avoid causing a disturbance before rescuing Aiko. In order to find Aiko's captivity and rescue her without being discovered, it would be easier for Hajime to act alone.
Therefore, Yue and the others stayed in the capital. Furthermore, Kaori insisted on accompanying Liliana, and since it wouldn't take much time, Yue and the others decided to go together.
In addition, Tio was on standby somewhere in the capital just in case. Judging by the situation, it would be better to have at least one person who could oversee the overall situation.
Yue and the others walked out of the secret passage and came to a room. When they looked back, the antique ornaments had returned to their original places, as if nothing had happened.
"Everyone should be in their rooms by now... Anyway, let's go to Shizuku's room first."
Liliana whispered in the darkness. It seemed her first target was Shizuku's room. Kouki was clearly a hero, but Liliana didn't rely on him, which showed how she felt about the two of them.
Everyone agreed with Liliana's opinion and walked out of the room, led by Shia, who had the highest reconnaissance ability.
The summoning team's residence, including Shizuku, was located in another building, and they walked quickly along the moonlit corridor.
After moving forward for a while, something strange happened.
There was only a loud boom like a cannonball, followed by the sound of shattering glass that echoed throughout the capital.
The impact caused the atmosphere to vibrate, and the windows in the corridor where Yue and the others were could not withstand the vibration and shattered.
“Waaaa, whaaaa, what the hell just happened!?”
“This is… could this be!?”
Shia, who had stretched out her rabbit ears for reconnaissance, couldn't help but bend them down and pressed them with her hands, making a sound that was almost like a wail.
You'll Also Like
-
An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest
Chapter 860 29 minute ago -
Equipment Printing School Mage
Chapter 478 29 minute ago -
1932: Playing with the Japanese Communist Party with a doll
Chapter 711 29 minute ago -
Ikari Shinji's Harem Comedy Daily Life
Chapter 122 29 minute ago -
Connect to Yuan Tiejue's chat group
Chapter 69 29 minute ago -
As a commander, I will never meet a heavy female ship girl
Chapter 290 29 minute ago -
Why wasn't I the one who got the male lead's script?
Chapter 189 29 minute ago -
This second dimension is too immortal
Chapter 580 29 minute ago -
Terra Succubus Development System, but calm office workers
Chapter 101 29 minute ago -
I'm collecting in the Pokémon world
Chapter 377 29 minute ago