「Even though I don’t understand what you guys are talking about, I’m in as long as I get to fight!」
Stella agreed to go with them as she cast an envious gaze toward Tama and Aria.
It seemed she still had a hard time understanding the jargon in the conversation, but, at least, she understood that they were going to fight a strong opponent.
「We’re going too!」
「We want to help Aria-san agai~n!」
Lily and Faeri also expressed their willingness to go with Aria.
「Uhm, may I ask one last thing, Ciel-sama?」
「Is something the matter, Aria?」
「If my memories serve me right, Usalda Pekura kingdom should be located at a distance of several weeks’ worth of journey from this city. That demon king from the future… wouldn’t it become stronger during this time?」
Aria’s question was quite natural. Usalda Pekura kingdom was a small foreign nation located on a certain small island. One would need to take a long journey by boat to arrive at that place.
Hearing that question, Ciel replied to Aria.
「Ah, no problem! I have a 〝Special Transportation Method? of my own… I’ll give you the details after we arrive at the port. For now, you should start the preparations.」
Ciel looked at Tama while she spoke.
「…? Is something the matter with Tama, Ciel-sama?」
「Aria, I heard that you defeated one of the Four Demon Dukes with the help of this kitten. It’s so unexpected that this adorable kitten hides such formidable power.」
Ciel stretched her hand toward Tama, who was curled up on top of the table, and patted his head.
The moment she touched his hand, Ciel’s serious expression from before vanished as if it were a lie. A blush appeared on her cheeks.
Despite her cold, beautiful appearance, she was an animal lover.
「NYA~~?」
Tama tilted his head as he raised an adorable cry in response to Ciel’s actions.
「Fuu~h! Tama-chan is so cute! May wants to pat him too!」
Not wanting to lose, May also stretched her hand and patted Tama’s back.
◆
One hour later―
「Well then, it seems everyone has assembled.」
Everyone had arrived at the harbor located in the outskirts of Labyrinth city. Cedric looked at the group one last time.
After confirming that everyone was fully prepared, he sent an eye signal to Ciel.
「Well, let’s take it out.」
Ciel took out a silver oval object from her overcoat as she spoke.
Magic letters were engraved on the surface of that object.
「Now, it’s your turn, my friend from the spirit world!」
Ciel threw the object in her hand toward the sea as she spoke.
The moment that object landed on the surface of the sea, it shone with a blinding blue light.
And then—
「…T-This is!?」
Aria couldn’t help but raise her voice upon seeing what had appeared in front of her.
Tama, Stella, and the others also opened their eyes wide as they gazed at 〝THAT?.
「Is that a… squid? The shape is a little bit unusual though.」
Vulcan, who stood beside Aria, asked.
Yes, what had appeared from inside the light was a squid.
However, it was anything but a normal squid. Aria estimated that it was more than thirty meters tall. Its entire body was covered with a layer that seemed like armor that exuded pale blue light. Moreover, it was floating on the surface of the sea.
「This child’s name is 〝King Kraken?.」
「King… Kraken?」
「Yes, I tamed this 〝Spirit World’s Monster? a long time ago.」
Ciel spread her arms to the sea as she replied to Aria’s question.
And then, it― no, the King Kraken stretched one of its ten feet toward Ciel as if it were frolicking with her.
「Spirit World’s… Monster. I’ve heard the rumor about them before. There’s a story about a female hero hailing from Usalda Pekura who was summoned to a spirit world so that she could save it. It seems the story about that female hero is true!」
「Indeed, Aria. In the past, I was summoned to the spirit world, 〝Arc?. Well, it’s an old story though.」
Ciel replied to Aria with a prudent smile.
Such cases happened fairly often where passages to the spirit world opened by themselves.
Arc was the name of one of those spirit worlds.
Ciel was the hero who had saved the world called Arc, and the being in front of them right now, the Kraken, was the monster she had tamed back in that world.
「I’ll rely on you again today, King.」
【GUOOOOOOOOOOOO!】
Upon hearing its name from Ciel, the King Kraken, nicknamed King by Ciel, raised a warcry resembling a roa.
After nodding with a satisfied look on her face, Ciel took out another oval object from her overcoat.
「What’s that, Ciel-sama?」
「Vulcan, this is the storage magic tool made with the technology from the spirit world, the 〝Arc Ball?. According to what they told me, it can absorb and then rebuild any object it swallows.」
Ciel threw the arc ball as she replied to the curious Vulcan.
The arc ball cast another blinding light and transformed into another object on King’s back.
「Woow… they not only made one for a living creature, but also made one for a storage device.」
Cedric unintentionally let out a surprised voice.
His line of sight was fixed on King’s side.
Floating right beside King was a huge ship.
He was still looking when King’s legs, which had countless suckers, wrapped themselves around the sides of the ship.
At this point, Tama finally realized.
(I see now! We’ll travel by that ship, and this monster would pull it!)
「If we travel by a normal ship, it would take us a whole week to reach our destination. But with King here, we can arrive at my homeland in one day. Well then, please get on board, everyone.」
The miraculous spirit world’s technology aside, Ciel had announced that she had tamed a S-rank monster of a spirit world, and boarded the ship as if both were trivial matters.
Aria and Tama, whose brains couldn’t catch up with the shocks that hit them one after another, displayed cramped smiles on their faces.
On the contrary, Lily and Faeri happily frolicked upon seeing those shocking scenes.
As for the rest, Vulcan, Cedric, and May just obediently boarded the ship with wry smiles.