Chapter 1240: The Grand Barrier

Ten days have passed since we defeated Potima.

We had returned to Alessa at the order of the Kranzel government.

This was likely the best decision all things considered.

Regarding the incident Potima and her mercenary brigade caused, the Kingdom of Kranzel took the matter very seriously, formally protesting the southern nations and the Fiend Hunters brigade.

Well, the negotiations will likely result in Kranzel receiving little more than a formal apology.

While the southern nations were funding the mercenaries, it’s not like they ordered the attack. After an apology and a bit of compensation, everything will be settled.

Perhaps Kranzel intends to make a few concessions and indebt the southern nations to them. Either way, I’m sure they’ll handle the situation well.

The bigger problem was regarding the mercenaries.

There’s a possibility that Potima’s followers will go off the rails once they learn of her death. The Red Knights buffed up the village’s defenses in response, but it’s best to avoid trouble in the first place.

As such, it wouldn’t hurt to distance Fran and Bisdra from the village. If anyone came to the village to avenge Potima, they could simply claim that her killers were already expelled.

If they attacked the village regardless, the southern nations would be forced to make even more concessions. We don’t have to worry about the villagers, since there’s no way the Red Knights would lose to the mercenaries now that Potima is gone.

With Fran outside of the village, the Fiend Hunters would turn their focus away as well. She was essentially being used as bait, but we also wanted to avoid getting the village caught up. This arrangement was fine by us.

The plan showed little concern for Fran’s safety, but that’s what it means to be Rank A.

As an individual capable of fighting on the same playing field as entire nations, any concern would be wasted on her.

Bisdra also left the village. Rather than coming with us, he accompanied Klikka and a few Red Knights to meet with Raydoss prisoners.

There were many ordinary citizens among the prisoners captured by Kranzel, and the nation asked for their assistance in persuading them.

Anyways, we left the village for Alessa, but there was a new request waiting for us here.

The Kranzel government wanted us to investigate the barrier.

Just what kind of barrier was surrounding the Kingdom of Raydoss? As a Rank A adventurer, they expected Fran to have some insight into it.

We headed to the Adventurer’s Guild in Alessa to hear the request details. Apparently, Alessa’s adventurers had participated in the previous investigation.

The barrier was clearly visible from the city. Well, it looked more like a mountain range towering above the clouds than a barrier. However, it turns out that they gleaned very little information despite being so close.

Klimt was currently the only other high-ranking adventurer in all of Alessa. As a result, there were few people capable of investigating in the first place.

「So attacking it didn’t work?」

「That’s right. Even with the power of the Great Spirit, I failed to destroy it.」

Much to our surprise, Klimt made an attempt to break the barrier. However, the barrier withstood a serious attack from him.

Also, he never mentioned anything about sensing a huge amount of evil energy on the level of the Evil God.

Was Potima mistaken about the evil in the northern lands? She definitely had a unique skill for sensing evil energy, and seemingly even the ability to identify which god divine energy came from.

I wouldn’t be surprised if what she said about the north ended up being true.

『I heard Kranzel tried a ritual spell, but that didn’t work either, right?』

「Yes, that’s right. They performed a simple concentrated magic bombardment, which may even exceed the Great Spirit in terms of penetrating power. Yet the barrier remained unscathed.」

『Hmm, I see.』

It seems any ordinary attacks aren’t enough to destroy the barrier. But what about evil energy? Perhaps its property of dispersing and canceling mana would work.

『Guess we can give it a try.』

「Nn.」

We headed to the knight division stationed in front of the barrier. After all, breaking the barrier would be meaningless if our allies weren’t ready to deploy.

As such, we were asked to pay them a visit before the investigation.

「We still have no clue what Raydoss is plotting. Please be careful.」

「Thanks.」

Fran waved to Klimt and reached for the doorknob to leave the office, but then…

「!」

『Whoa?』

「This is…!」

The entire building shook. This was followed by an intense roar of sound, and the shaking grew even more violent.

A thunderous rumbling reverberated throughout the town, so it was clear that the guild wasn’t the only building shaking.

An earthquake? I’d say it’s around a magnitude 5, the kind of tremor that would cause a stir even in Japan.

It took about 10 seconds for the shaking to finally stop, and the adventurers of the guild began to clamor.

I scanned the town through a window, and there were several collapsed buildings. That said, the damage was less than I expected.

They must be using construction methods that are unthinkable on Earth, such as reinforcing frames with magic. As such, even buildings in regions with few earthquakes are incredibly sturdy.

The outer wall surrounding the town was unharmed, so the damage was almost certainly minimal. I didn’t see any flames either.

Nevertheless, people were flooding the streets and causing a bit of commotion. I even heard some crying out in tears.

『Klimt, are earthquakes like that unusual around here?』

「I must say this is the first time I’ve experienced one since I came to Kranzel.」

『Damn.』

In that case, I can understand why everyone was more anxious than necessary. However, we soon realized that Alessa’s residents were pointing at the sky.

In the direction of Raydoss’s barrier, but…

「The barrier’s gone.」

『So that earthquake was the aftermath of the barrier’s disappearance?』

With such a huge barrier, I could easily imagine a huge impact.

「Master…!」

『Yeah, this is evil energy!』

We felt a large amount of evil energy getting carried in by the northern wind.