The Mysterious Child: An Adventure Tale Beginning with Numerology

Luna of the Angel Tribe.

21 years old. She acts as a free-spirited adventurer, a battle maniac who challenges strong opponents whenever she hears of them.

Her personality is straightforward, and she doesn't lie. Her honest character and appearance are truly angelic, and she's quite charming.

However, those who have opposed her unanimously say, "That's a demon." Given that she can torture enemies without hesitation, it's not hard to understand why they think her screws are loose.

And she's the second wife of my older brother, Lalahaine.

According to Luna, they're "Lovey-dovey!" and she apparently gets along well with the first wife too.

I really admire the Lalahaine couple for being able to control such a wild horse...

Anyway, Luna is my sister-in-law.

I'm already an S-rank adventurer myself. Due to discrimination against those with magic deficiency, I'd like to hide my background as much as possible, but there's no need to keep quiet about it to family.

"Hee~ So you're Darling's little brother! No wonder I thought you smelled the same~"

Luna smiles brightly.

We're in the massive basement of the mansion.

After having breakfast with everyone staying at the mansion, we gathered here. Besides my party members, Gavin and Maple are here too.

"...So, is Ruruk Gavin's brother?"

"'Unfortunately,'" we said in unison.

Don't harmonize with me.

As Gavin and I glared at each other,

"Nice to meet you, Luna-san."

"Of course! You're Saaya, right? You're going to be Ruruk's wife, aren't you~?"

"That depends on Ruruk. Hmm..."

Don't look at me like that.

"Mm, I'm first."

"I am the contractor..."

"Then I'll be a bride too!"

Don't compete.

And Punisuke, you're already in the hall of fame, so you don't need to compete. There, there.

"Sigh... Really, what's so good about this playboy?"

"You're one to talk, Nagi. When Ruruk's not around, you show off your ring and brag about being first in the hierarchy."

"T-That's just teasing!"

"Huh? So Nagi-chan is a tsundere after all."

"I'll kill you!"

"Gyaaah! My eyes!"

I'm against violence.

As we were playing around like this,

"Hey, hey, White Sheep-chan! Hurry up and fight with Luna!"

"Mm. Bring it on."

The two battle maniacs quietly spark.

This was the reason we were in the basement.

When Luna met Elen at breakfast, she challenged her to a match, saying she looked really strong. Of course, Elen wouldn't refuse, so we came down here after breakfast with the promise of a sparring match.

By the way, this basement is a space created by Radon, the fire-earth dragon said to be second only to the Dragon King, using his full power. It has enough durability to withstand Elen's magic being thrown at the walls and ceiling without budging.

We usually use it as Elen's magic research lab, but it's also perfect for mock battles.

Elen and Luna slowly walk towards each other for the match.

Watching their backs, Maple was excited.

"A duel? This is my first time seeing one!"

"Hmph, it's just child's play between lower species..."

"Hmm. Luna is very strong. Are you stronger than Luna?"

"Foolish question! My name is Shadow Darkness! I am the strongest species who has mastered the path of supremacy!"

"...Hey Gavin, this person is a bit strange."

Maple's eyebrows form an upside-down V.

It's not just a bit, it's extremely strange.

However, Gavin knows Seori's true identity. He answers with a troubled face.

"Actually, this person is the daughter of the Dragon King..."

"Eh? A dragon species?"

"Yes. I've heard she's the princess of Bargia."

"...Really?"

Maple doubts it.

Well, with pink hair in side tails, a gothic lolita-style dress, an eye patch, and bandages wrapped around her right arm, it's hard to believe. You'd have to be crazy to believe it.

Seori has a smug look on her face.

"Hmph, my father is the supreme king!"

"Hmm. I've heard that the Dragon King is indeed strong."

"Except for my master, he's the strongest!"

"But my father is smarter."

Maple boasts about her father, known as the Wise King.

"Ridiculous! My father's intellect is... intellect is... never mind."

Seori averts her eyes and shows a sad expression.

Well, it's admirable that she didn't lie.

Maple looks at Seori with lukewarm eyes.

"The princess of Bargia is quite an interesting person."

"It seems an ignorant species cannot understand my nobility..."

"Is that nobility made of muscle too?"

"Hmph. A species that's just about numbers."

"That's an interesting joke."

"Fufufufu"

"Ohohoho"

Get along, you two princesses.

Besides, Seori, are you really enjoying seriously competing with an eight-year-old?

While we were fooling around like this, it seems Elen and Luna were ready.

Since it's just a playful match, there's no referee.

"Alright, here I come~!"

"Mm, come."

Luna takes a fighting stance with her fists raised.

Elen taps her staff with a clack.

The next moment, Luna swings her fist.

What's released from it is a laser beam. Although it's not as compressed or powerful as Seori's, its activation speed is incredibly fast. Of course, the bullet speed is too.

But Elen doesn't flinch.

"'Shadow Ball'"

She immediately floats a ball that absorbs light, neutralizing the beam.

Luna quickly claps her hands together, creating a flash like a stun grenade. But Elen's eyes were already half-closed as if sleepy. It doesn't have much effect.

"Not bad! How about this!"

She points her fingertips at Elen, shooting out pure light.

Needless to say, it's preparation for "Line Pulsar." Once activated, it's the fastest movement magic that reaches its destination at the speed of light.

Even Elen can't prevent its activation itself.

The activation is...

"'Water Ball'"

Surprisingly, what Elen chanted was a beginner-level water magic.

Just before Luna activated her magic, Elen floated a water ball in the middle of the light path. That's all she did.

But the next moment,

"Bleh!?"

Luna had crashed into the ground at Elen's feet.

If you can see magic particles, you can tell the moment magic is activated. But that doesn't mean you can prevent the movement itself. Even Zaft of the Shadow Demon Tribe had to turn around to stop the punch.

But Elen prevented it instantly.

"...I see, refraction."

Light refracts when it passes through water.

Elen manipulated the density of the water to change the path of light at will. "Line Pulsar," in exchange for its high-performance speed, is limited to appearing along the path of light. Like Saturn's skill "Instant Step," it's so fast that the appearance distance must be decided before activation.

Of course, after activation, the refracted light can't be returned or stopped.

Luna, who crashed into the ground out of control, lost consciousness.

However, Elen was splashing High Potion on her. Luna soon regains consciousness.

"Puwa! Eh, did Luna lose?"

"Mm."

"Eeh! One more time! Hey, one more time!"

She looks dissatisfied. Well, of course, she self-destructed with beginner-level magic.

Elen seems unsatisfied too, so they immediately have a rematch.

"Hey White Sheep-chan, this time you come at me!"

"Understood."

She must have been frustrated at being so perfectly intercepted.

Luna takes a fighting stance and watches for Elen's move.

Elen slightly waves her staff.

"'Lead Shine'"

What was released from the staff was a line of light with zero attack power.

It was clearly a light trail for "Line Pulsar."

But unlike Luna's, it wasn't just a single straight line, but dozens of branching, intricately intertwined light showers like capillaries, too numerous to count.

"Huh?"

"'Line Pulsar'"

A perfect copy at first sight, and even arranged.

Elen had spread her magic power evenly across all branches, making it impossible to pinpoint the landing spot. Luna guessed and turned to her left rear.

But Elen wasn't there. Instead of getting behind Luna, she deliberately appeared midway.

And in front of her was Luna, facing backward and completely open.

"'Tornado'"

"Bweh!"

Luna was blown away in a spiral and crashed into the wall. She must have spun about ten times.

Elen handles Luna, who is considered the strongest in the Mataisa Kingdom, as if she's playing her in the palm of her hand.

Our sheep is seriously cheating, isn't she?

To Luna, who had fallen with her butt sticking up and her eyes spinning, Elen says one thing:

"You rely too much on techniques."

"I... I give up~..."

As Luna declares her complete defeat, Elen returns, looking satisfied.

"Gavin, I want to become a magician!"

"I... I see."

Maple's eyes sparkled as she watched the duel, which was more like a training session.

Although Elen's level might be impossible, if she starts at that age and works hard, she could develop quite well. Being royalty, she probably has abundant talent too.

"Hey, Ruruk."

"What?"

"Isn't your party too strong?"

"Elen is special."

After all, it wouldn't be surprising if she became a Demon Lord at any time.

I'm looking forward to her awakening too.

"Well, now that the battle maniacs have worked up an appetite, it's about time we head back to Mataisa. Is that alright with you, Princess Maple?"

"Yes, it is."

"Luna, you're coming too~"

"Okay!"

Luna was in high spirits, seeming to have enjoyed the match even though she was thoroughly beaten. Unlike my party members, she's a battle maniac but not a sore loser.

"Hey Saaya, you look strong too!"

"Me? Compared to Elenora, I'm just a mob character, a mob."

"No way~ Luna wants to fight you next~"

Luna clings to Saaya, who's making an obviously displeased face.

At this rate, she's likely to challenge all the party members. Well, whatever.

"Alright, everyone's here. 'Spatial Transfer.'"

I take my party members, Luna, Gavin, and Maple back to the royal capital of Mataisa.

 ■　■　■　■　■ 

"It seems Princess Maple was safely brought back by Lord Luney," said one of the three girls in the innermost room—Monon's laboratory—at the Luney Trading Company headquarters in the royal capital of the Mataisa Kingdom.

Seated at the head was the "Empress" Monon, whose real name was Lilith Muuteru. The one addressing her was Trin, the organization's number three and "Sales Manager," whose real name was Mindina. She was the daughter of a renowned merchant.

The short-haired girl sitting next to Trin casually remarked, "Ruruk is really amazing, isn't he? His opponent was a max-level higher species, right?"

"Of course. Levels are mere trifles to Big Brother Ruru," Lilith responded.

"It's not fair that Ruruk is Lilith's favorite. I'm jealous~" said the girl, whose words could be either a joke or serious. She was Gin, the "Vice President," whose real name was Konel Patzucol. She was the daughter of a margrave from a neighboring territory and Lilith's childhood friend, almost like a best friend. She was also one of the key figures who had turned Luney Trading Company into such a massive organization.

Mindina, fidgeting a little, asked, "Konel, you've met Lord Luney before, haven't you?"

"A few times when I was little. I used to go to the Muuteru house with Papa every year, and we met a few times. Come to think of it, he even saved me from monsters once~"

"I'm so envious," Mindina said.

"But I never imagined we were from the same world," Konel added.

These three girls were the original founding members of Luney Trading Company. They had been friends even before entering the ladies' academy.

That's why they knew about Konel's previous life, and that Ruruk had been her classmate.

"What was Lord Luney like in his previous life?" Mindina asked.

"He was plain. I barely remember him. Always reading books."

"That's unexpected."

"Oh, but," Konel said, as if remembering something.

"There was one time I felt he was unfathomable. When I went to the library looking for a book I wanted to read, he happened to be on library duty. When I told him the title, he brought it to me in tens of seconds. Without even using the search function."

"Is that impressive? Even veteran librarians at the Royal Library can do the same..."

"The library there was huge. Our high school was enormous, so the library probably had over 100,000 books."

"100,000 books? Where did they get so much paper from? Was there some kind of requisition order?"

"I've told you many times, but the scale of culture in the previous world was different. Our country alone easily had a population of over 100 million. And that was just a small island nation said to be at the edge of the world."

"...No matter how many times I hear it, I can't believe it," Mindina said.

"In exchange, it was a world without magic or mystical arts. They only had science—what they called science there. There were no levels or stats. As a result, there were no monsters either," Konel explained, seeming a bit nostalgic.

Lilith, who had been listening silently, nodded in understanding.

"I see. In such a world, it makes sense that the population would increase."

"How so? Without magic, wouldn't it be difficult to protect oneself?" Mindina asked.

"If individuals' power doesn't increase, it would become a civilization where tools keep developing, right? The advantage of science devices is that anyone can use them, correct? In Ruru's world, what was valued was probably not physical strength, but information power and connections. As a result, there were likely many small-scale wars happening?"

"As expected of Lilith. You're so smart," Konel whistled.

Mindina tilted her head. "What do you mean? If there were lots of conflicts, wouldn't the population decrease?"

"I think it's a matter of scale. As the world's population increases, the number of people born each year also increases. Since individual power is small, creating tools that could significantly reduce the population would require considerable resources. Economically speaking, it's likely that a population explosion occurred after a certain era," Lilith explained.

"That's exactly right. We were born in the era after that. The population had increased so much that a declining birthrate was beginning to occur worldwide," Konel added.

"By the way, how many people were there in the world?" Mindina asked.

"About 8 billion," Konel replied.

"Wow, that really is another world~"

Konel laughed, saying it was indeed another world. She wanted to see Mindina's surprised face a bit longer, as she was honest and couldn't lie, but that wasn't the main topic.

Lilith cleared her throat and brought the conversation back on track.

"We've confirmed Princess Maple's safety. The remaining ones are Prince Grill and Princess Hani, but Princess Hani is on a route where Big Brother Lalahaine is waiting, so there shouldn't be any problems."

"What about Prince Grill?"

"That's the troubling part. We've lost track of him," Lilith said, closing one eye.

"He might have changed his route in the middle of the night. I've been checking the main roads leading to the northwest part of the kingdom, but he's nowhere to be seen. There's a possibility he's hiding his presence."

"No way. Even your cheat skill can't find him?" Konel asked, her voice cracking.

"Yes. There's a possibility that Prince Grill has discarded the 'Mini Phalanx' magic device that would have allowed us to track him for certain. Or it might have been taken from him."

Konel's voice turned over.

Lilith's eye skill was special. If someone was carrying something Lilith had marked, they couldn't escape. Of course, it had weaknesses, but it was specialized for this kind of tracking.

Half of Luney Trading Company's information sources came from what Lilith's eyes had seen. Moreover, this skill was active even when Lilith was asleep.

Mindina stood up, picked up a book from the table, and flipped through it.

"It's true. There's no mention of Prince Grill in the [Book of Sephirot] at all."

"Could some concealment magic have been cast? The possibility is low since Lilith's skill is royal-class, but..."

"If that's the case, the opponent must have a skill of royal-class or higher," Lilith concluded.

If that was true, it would be quite troublesome.

"What should we do? At this rate, Prince Grill will be taken out of the country," Konel said.

"...I suppose we have no choice. I'm sorry to rely on [Rozewill] again, but we can't afford to be picky. Let's consult with the Guildmaster about getting Lady Elenora's assistance."

"That's right. Even though it's protected by barrier magic, we don't know what might happen if he's taken out of the country."

"The enemy is the Maguu Empire. We can't let them examine the barrier magic devices!" Mindina exclaimed, disliking the idea of Lilith's inventions' information leaking more than anyone else.

Indeed, for Lilith, barrier magic was one of the means to protect herself. It would be dangerous if nullification magic was developed. Although the barrier formula itself was probably something no one could imitate.

The meeting about the royal kidnapping incident ended there.

Mindina immediately started giving instructions to her subordinates using the communication stone. Lilith, who had taken a breath after drinking some tea, noticed that Konel had a difficult expression on her face.

"Konel, what's wrong?"

"I'm just a bit concerned."

"About what?"

"It's just an intuition without any basis, but..."

Konel had a good nose for things other than management theory. Her intuition at times like this couldn't be ignored.

"I wonder if the Maguu Empire's real goal this time is really the royals?"

"...What do you mean?"

"From the attack to the escape, they've been using sacred relics without restraint, right? It's clear they're even prepared for war. But at this point, what benefit would the Maguu Empire gain from a war between nations?"

"That's true. Even if they seized territory, it would become a complete enclave due to the mountain range. The empire can't manage anywhere in the southern part of the continent."

"Then there might be a different objective. The bad relationship between Maguu and Mataisa has been going on for over a thousand years, so it's not about old grudges either. I think there must be a real aim... Yes, I'm sure of it."

As if she had gained some certainty from her thoughts, she turned to face Lilith and said seriously:

"Lilith, can I ask you a favor? I want you to track the movements of people involved in this incident as closely as possible. Not just large-scale movements, but... especially movements within the royal capital, particularly inside the castle."

"Understood," Lilith nodded without asking for a reason.

Although her friend usually had a frivolous attitude and was always joking around, Lilith knew that when it really mattered, she was the most reliable.