Chapter 121  : The Message from the Hero

Naofumi: “IT’s good that we jumped on the Turtle, but…”

The ground is shaking. More specifically, the Spirit Turtle’s whole body is shaking.

But its head can’t stretch far enough to look at its back. I don’t think it can concentrate on its shell.

I check my surroundings.

The place we landed is quite close to the ruined city.

The buildings give off a Chinese sort of feeling. Possible because of the Chinese legend that the Spirit Turtle carried the city of immortals on its back.

Naofumi: “Firo, can you sense where the army is?”

Firo: “nn… Probably… that way?”

Firo points to the mountain range outside of the city.

That direction is towards the back of the Turtle, so she’s probably correct.

Naofumi: “For now, let’s leave the city and meet up.”

Firo: “Yes!”

I get on Firo, and she runs towards the mountains.

… There are quite a few corpses littered around the ruined city. It seems the cause of death is attacks from the Spirit Turtle’s familiars.

The cause of all of this is those three idiotic heroes.

Why would they do such a thing…

The putrid smell of rotting bodies is making me feel sick.

Firo: “Master, please hold Firo tightly.”

Naofumi: “Sure.”

Firo runs while kicking Familiars that look like Gorillas and Yetis.

Along the way, a familiars that looked like floating eyeballs and bats also appeared. These ones seem to be more powerful than the others.

But none of them are a match for the speeding blur that is Firo.

We still have yet to get out of the city.

… For a while, I have been seeing nothing but carcasses.

As I think this, I see the shadow of a person.

I wonder if it is one of the Army Soldiers…

But it is definitely a corpse. The dead bodies on the turtle’s back have begun to move.

Naofumi: “Even after death, his body is being controlled by something… Something like that?”

I’ve only ever seen Zombies in games. In reality, fighting them while looking at their decrepit faces is quite mortifying.

The only undead I have ever encountered before was Skeletons. Apparently, finding undead monsters that still had flesh is quite rare.

There’s no way I can fight these.

A child zombie appears and Firo is unable to kick.

Naofumi: “Let’s avoid it.”

Even though Firo will happily eat most humanoid monsters, even she cannot bring herself to fight a child.

Firo: “I’m sorry master…”

With amazing leg power, Firo jumps out of the swarm of Zombies that had begun to form.

If they were doomed to have such a fate after death, it would have been better if they had been hit by the Turtle’s lightning and been obliterated without leaving a trace.

But I’m just stating my opinion here.

Firo: “That girl… looked a bit like Melty”

Melty is in the castle, but Firo’s imagination is running wild.

I couldn’t see anything in that child that looked like Melty.

Firo: “Why would this Turtle make that child do such a thing?”

Firo looks down at the ground.

That’s right. I can’t seem to see the turtle’s goal.

It’s not eating anything, it’s just going around and killing as many things as it can.

As if killing in itself was its goal.

Firo: “We need to hurry to Oneechan.”

Naofumi: “Yeah…?”

I see a building that looks like a temple.

The architecture is not of eastern origin. It looks like a Greek temple from my world.

In a game, a building like this would usually contain a useful clue or key item.

Naofumi: “Please stop by that building.”

Firo: “Yes~”

I carefully peer inside.

Perhaps due to the Turtle’s walking, the temple is half collapsed.

Is this the statue that the other heroes supposedly destroyed in here?

I search the temple but cannot find any artifact with a relation to the Turtle.

I should have probably gotten more information from the queen.

It seems that I am wasting my time.

Naofumi: “This is…!?”

On a mural on the wall, I see some writing.

… It’s in Japanese.

Naofumi: “What is this…”

If anyone is once again summoned here from japan… if you are reading this, please… this.

Th…Monster was se… but the… Seven Eye seal will probably… ek someday.

From what we learned, his purpose is………… and to protect this world’s……………..

I pray that the blue sand…… and the seal never breaks.

Though having more victims may benefit this world.

Looking back, we have paid a large price by sealing this monster

But… be… greed. If you… read these letters… for the… living in this world… defeat… Monster.

…way to defeat it is……………………….

… and then use the eight… courage… -Keiichi

… The writing is faded and scratched out, so it is difficult to read.

But I can pretty much guess what is written by context.

Something like the seal we placed will someday break.

The dragon hourglass will turn blue and display a warning.

However, the Turtle’s objective and the ever-so-important sealing procedure are illegible.

More victims may benefit the world? Even though this was left by a hero, I cannot make sense of it.

And this isn’t an Anime or a Manga. Why is only the most important information omitted?

This writing seems to be very old, so I can’t really complain to anyone.

The only piece of info I really got was the person’s name, Keiichi.

I don’t know his last name, but there was definitely a Hero of that name.

Apart from the cracks caused by the turtle’s walking, this was already an old piece of writing. There isn’t much else I can learn from this.

There’s a high possibility he comes from a different Japan than me.

I don’t know how long ago this Mural was painted, and I’m not sure that this world even records its history accurately.

But thinking about this won’t really help anything.

Is the number eight connected to something? I can’t read any of the text around it.

…

Firo: “Can Master read this?”

Naofumi: “Yeah, sort of.”

Firo: “hm… these letters are a little weird.”

Naofumi: “Yes, these are not letters used in Melromark.”

By the way, it seems that the countries around here all have different languages and writing systems.

The shield acts as a translator, so I can probably manage with the language barrier, but as for writing…

Naofumi: “There doesn’t seem to be anything else of interest, we should be on our way.”

Firo: “Yeah!”

We leave the temple and continue towards the mountain.

Naofumi: “It will be difficult to locate Rafatalia and the others.”

We enter the mountain range and continue heading towards the turtle’s rear.

It looked like a rocky mountain from afar, but the base of the mountains are surrounded by dense forests. It will be difficult to find the army squadron.

From what I know, the legends say that there is a cave that leads into the Turtle somewhere around here, so the army is probably searching for a cave as well.

There is also a possibility the entrance was somewhere in that village.

And where are the other heroes, anyways?

They could be inside the Turtle fighting, but they could just as easily be lost searching for the entrance on top.

Naofumi: “Firo, can you sense the others?”

Firo: “Over there I think.”

I leave navigations to Firo

Occasionally we find a soldier’s corpse lying around.

Naofumi: “We need to hurry.”

Firo: “Yes!”

Firo speeds up, and we find the army squadron locked in battle.

Since their forces are very large, it is difficult to miss them.

Rafatalia is on the front lines destroying the familiars one after the other. Those that can still move are aiding her in battle.

Rishia is frantically casting support magic from the rear.

There are also many who have deserted due to the onslaught of monsters.

Naofumi: “Alright Firo, We’re helping them!”

Firo: “Yes!”

Firo rushes in at the speed of sound and sends the familiars in front of Rafatalia flying with a kick.

Rafatalia: “Naofumi-sama!”

Naofumi: “Yep, we’ve finally met up. What’s the situation?”

Rafatalia: “We are in the middle of looking for the cave.”

Naofumi: “You still haven’t found it?”

Rafatalia: “According to the magic brigade, it is impossible to locate it with magic because the Turtle is constantly moving.”

Naofumi: “Fumu…”

So the troops have been manually searching for it whilst fending off attacks from these monsters.

The number of familiars seems to be infinite. That must have been difficult.

As I think this, an army recon squad comes running in.

Recon Person: “We have located a cave that seems to be the one we are looking for. Its appearance matches the one spoken of in legend.”

And the Reson squad leader points deeper into the mountains.

Naofumi: “That’s good. I’ll hold off the attacks, please lead us there.”

Recon Guy: “Understood”

Army person: “Everyone, Follow the Hero of the Shield’s lead!”

Entire army: “SIR YES SIR”

We continue to drive off the familiars and proceed to the cave the Recon Squad found.