In front of her stood a boy, who frantically tried to get her to stop.
…This was something Labrys remembered from when she was a child.
A dream from when she got lost in the woods and was attacked by a monster.
Labrys had been praised as a prodigy with the sword from a very young age, but when a monster appeared in front of her, all she could do was tremble before it.
And the person who came to her rescue was none other than the weak Chrom.
“Labrys, it’s all right. I’m here.”
He was weaker than anyone, and more scared than anyone, but he had the same kind smile on his face he always had.
He stood against the monster with no hope of winning, just to protect Labrys.
“…I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
He lost a lot of blood.
When it looked like he could die, it was scarier than the monster.
In the end, although his body was left covered with wounds, he managed to drive away the monster.
But Labrys was still crying.
“L-Labrys… The monster’s gone…! See? I’m fine. Stop crying…”
“Sniff… Big brother Chrom… Dying…”
“H-hum… What do I do…”
The boy looked at Labrys, but could do nothing but panic.
“I-I know.”
He placed his hand on her head.
“…Eh?”
“Mister Sirius does this a lot when I cry.”
He pat her head.
It fell nice and warm, and for some reason his hand made her feel calmer.
“…I’m sorry, I worried you because I’m so weak. It was scary uh? If I was stronger… Then you wouldn’t have to cry like this…”
‘No, I’m weak’, is what Labrys wanted to say, but it got muffled by her sobbing.
“…I don’t think I can stay with you forever because I’m so weak. I’ll probably be too weak to even protect people anyway. But still, I promise.”
“…P-promise?”
“Yes.”
The boy nodded and raised his little finger.
“When you cry, I’ll be there to save you. And one day I’ll be so strong that you don’t even have to cry.”
The boy smiled, with his ragged, wounded face.
“So… Smile, Labrys.”
Labrys put her little finger around the boy’s.
Surely he didn’t remember this promise anymore, but to Labrys, it was still something she held close to her heart…
“…Uu…”
It was then that Labrys woke up.
Her mind felt very hazy.
She felt chilly, and there was a damp, chemical smell in the air.
She tried to move, but found her wrists were bound above her head.
(That’s right… I was kidnapped.)
She remembered the attack of the first-class mages, but had no idea how much time passed since then.
She figured they hadn’t done anything to her yet, since there weren’t really any wounds on her body.
But since they took away her sword, which she also used to cast spells, she couldn’t really use magic.
(What… Are they after?)
She squinted and looked around.
It was dark, but her eyes were getting used to it.
(This is…)
The stone walls without windows, the chemical smell, the bubbling sounds…
She reached the conclusion that she was probably in some sort of underground laboratory of the Sorcerer Association.
She wondered if she was actually inside a dungeon, since this underground place was so spacious, but what really caught her eye in this room were the many pale blue lights.
…No…
(W-what is this…?)
She almost yelled, but managed to hold it back.
It was something she definitely was not supposed to see.
(Are all these… Cultivation tanks?)
The lights were coming from the lines of cylindrical cultivation tanks.
She couldn’t tell how many there were, but she could tell there were probably hundreds or thousands.
In these tanks was luminous pale blue cultivation fluid, and as for what was being cultivated…
(…Monsters!)
They seemed to be infant monsters, curled like embryos.
The tubes coming out of these cultivation tanks extended to a giant magic stone in the middle of the room, that appeared to be almost like a heart.
That magic stone was most likely the nucleus of this dungeon. The energy source of the dungeon, which absorbed magic energy from magic veins underground.
(Are they… Using this dungeon’s magic energy to make monsters?)
That kind of research was very clearly taboo.
What would happen if all these monsters were released?
…Stampede…”
That word crossed Labrys’ mind.
(Wait, was yesterday’s stampede…)
That was when she heard multiple footsteps coming from between the cultivation tanks.
“…!”
It was the same group of first-class mages that attacked her.
They wore the same robes, hid their faces with the same masks, and held the same staves.
But there were fewer of them this time, and she didn’t see the crest of the twelve sages.
As long as they were around, escape would be impossible.
“Now, ‘vessels’…”
It was with these words that Labrys noticed some people to her right.
They appeared to also be people from the Sorcerer Association. They wore the same robes as the first-class mages and masks, and were lined in a row.
But unlike Labrys, they weren’t restrained. It was as though they were there voluntarily.
“Rejoice, for you are very fortunate. You may be able to become the second demon king.”
One of the first-class mages stepped forward, and spoke pretentiously.
“Surely you all know. A demon king appears once every few centuries, and is a calamity that becomes a turning point in history. Our plan is to create man-made demon kings, and to carry on with our ‘demon king transformation project’, we use…”
The mage shook a syringe in his hand.
“These demon king cells.”
Rolling inside this syringe was a pale blue liquid, like the one in the cultivation tanks.
It was like a tiny cultivation tank.
A chill ran down Labrys’ spine as she imagined what it could be used for.
“In this syringe, we have ‘demon king cells’ taken from the fossilized original demon king, Ancestral Dragon Verboros. The ancestral dragon had a special function as demon king, 《Level Up》… Basically, a being that takes in these cells evolves, and the ones compatible with them have the potential to even become demon kings.”
Labrys could hear the ecstatic breathing coming from the people lined-up next to her.
(W-what’s with these people…?)
It was like she wandered into a meeting of an evil cult.
She couldn’t understand, and it was all very off-putting.
“Eliminate inferior beings who cannot use magic well, and let the world be ruled by evolved humans and demon kings. That is our ideal new world. Well then everyone, shall we begin the evolution of this world?”
Said the mage, before injecting the mage furthest to the right on the neck.