The Mysterious Child: An Adventure Tale Beginning with Numerology

 [The following is a testimony from a guard stationed at the north gate of Shaboom city]

I rushed to the guardhouse as soon as I heard it was under attack by demons.

The attack magic used was of earth and fire attributes. The facility was half-destroyed, and everyone had managed to escape, but my colleagues and seniors seemed to have been injured.

I heard that the attack was indiscriminate and merciless. One of my seniors said that a hooded man had come, suddenly unleashed multiple attack spells, and left. As he was leaving, his hood came off, revealing that he was a demon with red eyes.

Fortunately, there were no fatalities, but one of my seniors suffered severe burns to his face and was rushed to the church... but it seems that the red-eyed demon had already attacked the church as well. In the end, I heard that all major facilities like the Adventurers' Guild and the church were attacked, resulting in numerous injuries. There were even rumors of deaths at the church.

I went around instructing panicking citizens to stay calm and hide in their homes to quell the chaos in the city.

Yes, those were orders from my superior. Even though the guard captain was injured in the leg, his judgment wasn't impaired, and he gave us precise instructions.

Some citizens were trying to leave the city. As I was assigned to duty near the gate, I occasionally urged those recklessly trying to flee outside the city to remain calm.

Even if there were indiscriminate attacks within the city, ordinary people venturing outside without escorts would only become prey for monsters.

It was then that it happened.

An unbelievably large earth golem appeared outside the city.

Yes, a golem. You know, those puppet soldiers often seen in places like the Kingdom of Restamia.

But this golem wasn't of normal size - it was gigantic, taller even than the city's outer walls, appearing out of nowhere.

This golem wasn't there to attack the city. It was fighting what looked like two adventurers. A small magician and someone who looked like a regular adventurer.

I couldn't make out exactly who these two were because they were quite far away.

The battle ended in an instant. Believe it or not, a single strike from that small magician towards the golem made it disappear.

That strike is the cause of the massive destruction in the northern part of the city. You see that trace that looks like a meteorite hit? Anyone who was conscious at that time must have clearly felt the thunderous sound and impact. And to think, it was caused by just one magician!

You doubt me?

Well, I understand how you feel.

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it either.

But I saw it.

I also saw how those adventurer-like figures who unleashed such godlike magic vanished in the blink of an eye.

Who could they have been? And what was that golem?

All I know is that something beyond our understanding was happening.

 □　□　□　□　□

The chaos in the city was beginning to settle.

It seemed there were many injured people, and rescue operations were being conducted all over the city. Since the facilities that should have been opened as shelters in case of emergency were all attacked, people were huddled together in open squares, looking anxious.

From what I heard, the culprit who attacked the city was indeed the red-eyed demon we had just blown away. Although we had defeated the attacker, we had no way to prove it, so we couldn't ease people's fears.

Besides, we didn't want to publicly claim that we were the ones who cast the "Explosion" magic.

We still couldn't understand why the red-eyed demon had attacked the city in the first place. He attacked large facilities indiscriminately without any apparent goal, moving on to attack another location without confirming the damage. We couldn't fathom the reason for such behavior. If we had to come up with a plausible reason, it might have been a diversion to hide something else.

Hmm, we lacked information.

As I was thinking this, Roze-san approached.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. That big explosion earlier was Elenora, wasn't it? Who were you fighting?"

We moved to a less conspicuous place and explained what had happened.

Roze-san put her index finger to her cheek and said, "We had a white-armed demon here too. It seemed to be going around the nobles' mansions, but I couldn't find out its purpose."

"Did it escape?"

"No. When I cornered it and tried to question it, another demon killed it. I recovered the body though."

"And that demon?"

"It disappeared. It had a skill to move by blending into shadows."

"The red-eyed demon seemed to have the ability to merge with earth too. Are these unique skills?"

"Demons' racial skills are 'attribute granting' type skills related to their favored attributes. Broadly speaking, they're skills that can grant attributes to any target and change it. Since only demons possess these skills, they're difficult to counter. If they grant an attribute to themselves, they could indeed become one with the earth. That's probably what happened. Of course, it could be a different skill too."

A racial skill, huh? That's troublesome.

But from what Roze-san said, it seems the red-eyed demon might have indeed been a diversion. The white-armed one was probably the executor, and the shadow-blending demon the observer.

In any case, we still lacked information.

"Elen, can you check if there are still demons in this city?"

"Mm... 'Full Scan'."

Elen immediately began searching the city.

Roze-san, also curious, silently waited for the answer.

"Mm, they're gone. No monsters hiding either."

"As expected of Elen. Thanks."

I thanked her and turned to Roze-san.

"It seems okay for now, but do you think there will be more attacks?"

"I think so. They came all this way to cause trouble. I don't think they'll give up easily just because they lost two subordinates."

"...So it was indeed an organized action?"

"To begin with, demons rarely act alone. They usually serve under someone. Unlike other races, instead of openly creating settlements or cities, they typically seek protection under stronger beings. Those guys from earlier were probably subordinates of a higher-ranking demon specializing in earth attribute magic."

As expected of the living encyclopedia. My master was knowledgeable even about demons, whom she rarely interacts with.

"Come to think of it, they did mention a name... Saturnus, wasn't it?"

"Yes. That's the name of the higher-ranking demon. He's cunning and meticulous, so he never shows himself on the front lines."

So it was a known entity.

Given Roze-san's troubled expression, it seems this Saturnus is someone to be wary of. However, she didn't say anything more, so it seems we don't have any additional information for now.

"By the way, Master, when Elen used 'Full Scan' earlier, a Demi-Goblin who seemed to be a subordinate of the red-eyed demon reacted. It was saying something about 'God's magic', wasn't it? Do you know anything about that?"

"They're probably referring to the demon god - the Evil God. In terms of rank, 'Full Scan' is an extreme-level magic, but lower-level monsters probably can't distinguish between that and divine-level magic. Divine-level magic is, as the name suggests, a realm used even by Evil Gods, so they might have mistaken it for that. ...Is that all your questions?"

"Yes. Thank you, Master."

Well, I'm more curious about demon ecology, but that's not really relevant right now.

What's more concerning is the matter of the white-armed demon that was attacking the nobles.

"I'd like to go check on the Schreine household. Is that alright?"

"That place wasn't attacked, but are you worried about Saaya?"

"Why are you grinning?"

"Well, I want to know which little girl Ruruk prefers. So, which one is your true love?"

"Seriously, stop joking around. Let's go."

I started walking, ignoring her.

This master of mine is always thinking about unnecessary things.

I whispered secretly to Elen beside me.

"Living for thousands of years must make you crave entertainment, because she lacks seriousness. I wish she'd learn a bit from me. Don't you think so too, Elen?"

"Mm. I want her to learn from me."

"...Elen-san?"

"Mm. Ruruk should learn from me too."

"Huh?"

The little girl was glaring at me with narrowed eyes.