Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

Chapter 297 That Night...

"Eon... care to tell me what is going on with you?

You are acting a bit weird since we were in the market…

Even at dinner. Everyone was worried about you, you know?

Even with your spectacular acting, your mom and I could easily tell something is worrying you.

Everything was alright till we went out of the adventurer association and even till the time we were seeing the garden.

I know you don't want to worry any of us like that and try your best but, at least tell me...

I don't like seeing that look in my darling friend's eyes…"

She was genuinely worried, and I could feel her hesitation in those words that were normal sounding.

I knew she was worried as well as the fact that I was not being myself since we crossed paths with those rakshasas on the food street.

They weren't even the ones that had killed those innocent weak people in the morning that Celes had started following.

They were a different group, but with the same attire as the previous ones.

The two of them had teleported to some distance away from the place we were and I knew the two of them were stronger than the ones that had killed those people.

Actually, the bunch that had killed countless people since the morning were now at some kind of base, with many different people in the same attire as them.

But the two we passed by and were stronger than those gathered at this place had just gone out of the capital and into the wilderness outside the capital city.

Celes's clones were following those two but, some other clones that were surveying this base had witnessed something I wasn't expecting at all.

There were around fifteen mages who had killed hundreds of people just today, with no one noticing.

Even after a whole day, no one actually had any idea of these deaths, as the barriers they had set in the area were still there.

I didn't think they would gather like this anytime soon but, the fifteen of them weren't the only ones here.

There was another person in a red hood with them who was almost as strong as the ones I had seen on the streets.

And from the looks of the things, they had already found the thing they were stretching like mad men…

I had seen everything and right now; they were just gathered in that place and were preparing for some kind of ritual.

All these people were excellent mages.

Most were (tier-3) black mages, and the one leading this thing was a strong (tier-4) black mage.

This base of theirs was on almost the outskirts of the capital and it was naturally an underground place.

These people, I at least knew they were the so-called cultic Rakshasas but, the thing they were doing right now was no normal thing.

It was genuinely concerning and I didn't know if I should tell others about this or not.

I had read about many things in our tower library and these demonic people and their ancient practices, tools, magic, and artifacts were one of them.

And right now, the sixteen people were preparing for the… ritual of summoning.

The thing they had been finding in the normal houses of the commoner houses was a peculiar-looking small statue.

A small decorative statue of some weird humanoid creature with three hands, each holding a different colored marble.

This was peculiar, but there wasn't anything special about this statue in general.

I could only see all this with Celes's clone's eyes, but I knew about what this statue was, so I could tell there wouldn't be any Mana fluctuation or even an energy reading of this thing.

Even the high-level appraisals would just show it as a normal, old statue.

And there was no way some inferior skill could ever apprise an ancient artifact.

And more than that, this ancient artifact was some of the forbidden creations of ancient times.

[Inferior Demon swarm] was the name the thing was known as.

Its primary use was to summon many low-level demons after a very long ritual that takes around a month just in preparation.

I thankfully knew this fact, so I wasn't much worried as I wouldn't have immediate action to take.

There was some time before they could actually do the summoning but, thankfully, there was time.

They had killed many people to get this thing, which was most definitely just sitting around in one of these common houses, and no one could do anything about this now.

Not that I much cared about the lives that were already lost but, there was a bigger situation at hand now.

They found this thing sooner than I had expected, and though we were strong enough to take the lower mages down on our own, there was no guarantee we would be fine while fighting them alone.

I wanted to kill them for doing something so unsightly before Celes, but telling others was also a choice.

I can just tell them about this thing and they would all just take care of these people.

I was in deep thought about what to do all this time about this and in the process, even after trying my best to hide this, I couldn't hide it from this girl sitting beside me, holding my hand.

Our date was overall fun, and we had done many fun things before coming back.

She was an amazing person, already seeing through my white lies.

We have already had dinner, and this was night already.

Everyone was almost fine, and they didn't actually know if I was actually not well or something.

They could definitely feel something was weird with me, but they just shook it off as their own imagination.

She, Anna, and mom might be the only ones who were genuinely worried, but mom left whatever I was worried about to Rein.

And now, we were here, sitting in the front garden, by the fountain, on that special bench I was looking at this morning.

This place was actually perfect…

The freshness of air here was like no other.

The flowers and plants, which were marvelously glowing on this calm night, looked amazing.

And... she also looked gorgeous in this simple purple nightgown.

It matched her beautiful short hair that I loved and these clothes didn't fail to show her alluring self.

She looked hooooot, and I don't want to go into the description of this one because... this was for me.

That aside, in this cool night's breeze, her hand felt warm.

It felt so warm, soothing, and calming that I couldn't help but forget about this bunch of lunatics and actually focus on her.

Focus on her pretty face, bathed in the gentle moonlight of this clear night.

Something unpleasant had happened in the middle of our fun outing and I worried her uselessly.

There was nothing to worry about for now and we can just go finish those bunch of black mages off after I settle down and get a bit stronger than now.

Taking them out one by one or in small groups would be the perfect thing as they had good synergy when working as a group or team.

And if many of them were connected with a single demon, then they can actually share their senses, becoming one being altogether.

So, even with all our prowess, skills, special magic, and strength, we can't just go against a large group of black mages.

I wanted to tell her these things after she got comfortable in my house, just like me, so I didn't want to worry her about these things just yet.

But now, when she had shown me the capital city, taken care of me in those streets filled with countless people, and eaten those weird things with me on my request, how can I worry her like this?

So... holding her hand, interlocking our fingers, and looking deep into her eyes with a helpless expression, creating a sound-blocking Solnova barrier, I started explaining the situation starting from the moment how Celes accidentally witnessed that gruesome scene.

She knew how I can talk with Celes through our mental link and how I can also see the things Celes's clones and she was seeing.

It was easy for her to understand those things from my excellent descriptions and she was smart enough to guess most of the things that I didn't talk about.

Most of the things I talk about angered her, and she was cussing loudly, shouting at those bastards.

It was devastating to hear about the countless deaths that would have happened in the search of a single dumb statue in a general sense... not that she cared one bit about lost lives.

I knew she would be the last one to care about some unknown weak person's life when it was already lost.

She had seen death, devastation, agony, and misery.

What's more, she was the one to cause those things in some cases.

She was different from normal humans and had different points of view about general things, and this personality of hers was even more charming in my eyes.

She was cussing because I was worried because of them and that her date experience could have been far better if they hadn't done such atrocious things.

Plus, she loathed these demon worshipers, dark mages, and all the Rakshasas in the world, not as much as me, but somewhere close.

She despised the demons even more than them, though, far more than I did.

She hated their mere existence, and they were the reason many lives had been lost on 'that' day.

She was enraged after I was finished with all the things I had to say, and she was in her own thoughts as she continued cussing so 'harshly' I couldn't even recite those things.

She was... good at cussing. I had to give her that much.

So good that maybe even I could learn a thing or two from her.

But, from all the things I told her just now, something I said caught her attention.

And I was thinking about that one for a while too.

It was a weird thing, from his appearance, high-level cape, that sword which I can tell definitely was a divine artifact just from the making, and that light in his sleeves.

As if some creature's eyes had shined in there, those two lights were definitely abnormal.

And the more weird thing was just how that person disappeared from Celes's clone's sight as if teleporting with a skill like hers.

It was sudden, and just from this much, I knew I won't be seeing him much even if Celes's clones follow him.

He was suspicious, and I knew I would see him again.

He was definitely following the two hooded black mages even before we crossed paths, so I knew one day for sure, we would also see each other.

One day...

But I didn't think I would 'see' him today once again. And in proper action, no less.

[[ Master. You... should see this. ]]