The next day, he called an emergency meeting of the representatives of the East-West Alliance and told them everything that had happened in the capital of Astal. The content of the destruction of the capital was also a problem, but what was most problematic was the cause of the destruction.
　Flora's examination of the three Kunoichi girls had detected nothing in them. In the end, we still don't know what caused the human to become a frase.
　The king and the others expressed disappointment at that report. What would happen next in their country? It could happen again in their country.
　The fact that 'soul-eaten' people have been turning into undead for a long time is not too surprising in itself, they say. The problem is the scale of the problem, and it seems that it's hard to determine whether this is the work of a demon or a trick of the Frazeez.
　However, I thought it was Frase's doing, nine times out of ten. Otherwise, there's no explanation for that crystal skeleton.
　The only saving grace (though not so much) is that the skeletal flay itself can be dealt with by ordinary knights and adventurers.
　However, I think that was probably just a byproduct. I can't help but think that their goal was to eat human souls.
　Is a subordinate god involved after all? Maybe they are trying to give birth to the evil gods that Morohana and the others say they are.
　It's not possible for the king and his sisters to talk about a dependent god. Maybe His Holiness the Pope will understand, though.
　In the meantime, there is nothing we can do for now. At best, we can't overlook small changes.
　In the meantime, I've decided to inform the guild master of the Adventurer's Guild of this information only through Relisha-san.

■ That there is something that 'exists' that is a 'soul eater (soul eater)'.

The fact that a 'soul-eater' turns into a skeletal flay.

Also, this is just my own speculation, but I think it appears in a place filled with so-called 'negative emotions'.

　The "soul-eating" demons such as Wraith and Spectre, who are originally attracted to negative emotions, and the evil gods who are born after taking in the negative emotions of humans. I can't bring myself to go through this commonality.
　It is said that the capital of Astal was called the 'slave city', so much so that the number of slaves was so large that there was a lot of trade.
　The desire of those who bought and sold slaves, the despair of those who were enslaved, the grief of those who were oppressed, and the arrogance of those who oppressed the slaves may have been the catalyst for such 'negative feelings'.
　It's just a theory, but I don't think I'm wrong.
　If I'm right, then Euron and his friends might be in trouble, I thought. But the area is now sparsely populated, and I don't think it's as crowded as it used to be. I don't know if there are dead souls wandering the earth today.
　Well, this is just my guess, so it's not absolute, and I don't really know. It may just be that the capital happens to be the target.
　For now, I've decided to put off the reconnaissance to Sandra for a while. If my prediction was correct, there was a chance that Sandra, who was swirling with negative emotions, would become a victim of the soul-eaters again. I was able to save her this time, but I don't want those three to get involved.
　I don't want an evil god to be born........ As long as they aren't perfect gods, my sisters can't interfere greatly as gods. And if that's the case, it's definitely me to deal with.
　.........I wish a legendary hero would appear from somewhere.





　After the meeting, I transitioned to Babylon, where the doctor was in the second lab of the Institute, projecting a map of this world on a monitor and twisting his head.
　The desk was littered with papers, books and pens, as well as a cup of coffee and some half-eaten biscuits. Clean it up," he said. I'm getting bugs.

What are you doing, man?
Hm? Ah, Fuyao-kun. You know, I've noticed something strange.
Strange?

　With the console at hand, the Doctor projects the same world map on the right side of the world map on the monitor. Hmm? Hey, is this the wrong map? It's similar, but the details are different...

This is a map of the world from 5,000 years ago, when I was alive. It's a map of the world when I was alive 5,000 years ago, before the Battle of the Flames. You can see that it's changed a lot compared to today due to the massive magic and tectonic shifts that changed the terrain.

　Then he overlays the world map on either side. Yes, indeed. There are places where the coastline has been scraped away and places where the land is connected to each other. Oh, so Reefleys and Linie were connected to each other 5,000 years ago? The great river of Gau does not extend to Lamish.
　I wonder if the terrain has been blown away by magic? It's not like the space colony fell.

The Freys weren't directly affected by magic. The Flames didn't have any direct magical effects, and some countries were stupid enough to detonate the ground with a "grand break".

　It's a magic that explodes the ground and deals damage with the rocks. Well, maybe they had to do that or else they wouldn't be able to cross over with a higher species, but that's changing the terrain too.
　There are a lot of powerful ancient magic, and I guess they knew it was dangerous. It is said that there are some high level earth attributes that can make large areas of terrain rise and cave in.
　In fact, I don't think they were able to stand by and let it happen. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to get away with it.

"This is my home in the Holy Empire of Parthenos. It was a large empire that reached from what is now Belfast to Regulus, Brunhild, Lamish, Rhodomea, Felsen, and parts of the Kingdom of Restia and the Horns, occupying almost a third of the continent.

　Look at the area of Partheno's control displayed. Holy shit. Look at that. That is definitely an empire. That's almost everything from west to east. In the original world, it would have been everything from Europe to China.

In our time, the Freys invaded from around Xenopus, and the countries around what is now Euron, Nokia, and Hannock were the first to be destroyed. So there's a lot of terrain change around here.

　It's true that there are many lakes in Xenoas and Euron, but are those the remnants of such battles?
　The ancient kingdom must have done its best to resist Freys, and the battle must have been fierce. I can't even imagine what kind of battle it was.

'So? What's the mystery?
Yes. It's this ... island north of Elfrau, as it's called now.

　5,000 years ago, there was an island as large as the Lamish Kingdom in the waters north of what would be the Kingdom of Elfrau, but the current map does not show the island. But the present map does not show the island. Has it sunk?

The island was called the Devil's Island in those days. There were Sirens in the surrounding waters, which kept ships at bay, and even if you approached the island with an amphibian, they would crash due to an unknown problem. No one ever came back for that island, which was shrouded in deep fog and clouds. It became known as the Island of No Return," he said.

　It was a very disturbing island, wasn't it? Even the technology of an ancient civilization can't understand it, that's quite something.... Could it be that there was some kind of spirit power at work here, just like the great tree spirits of the Great Sea of Trees and the dark spirits of Lamish?

For some reason the island doesn't exist in modern times. I thought it might have sunk, but I was just curious. I've tried to detect the magic in this area. And this is the result.

　In the northern waters of Elfrau projected on the monitor, something like a red haze that showed a magical reaction was spreading. Is this........a ward?
　In terms of location, it matched the Demon Island that existed 5000 years ago. Don't tell me they've been hiding its existence with wards until now!

'My Babylon is similar, though it's been floating in the sky for 5,000 years. I don't think it's impossible. But the questions of 'who' and 'why' remain, though.
'....I wonder if some wizard or magical engineer from some country escaped from the Frays and crossed over to the Island of No Return and set up wards to prevent anyone from finding them?
''There's a possibility of that, but.... The only person who could set up a ward on this scale would have to be an expert. At the time, the only person other than me who was likely to be able to do such a thing was the legendary mage known as the 'Sage of Time', but he died of old age before Freys' invasion....

　The doctor crosses his arms and leans back in his chair. It's hard to tell, since Nari is a little girl.

"The Wise Man of Time?
Exactly as it should be. He can manipulate space-time magic. Seeing the future, shifting, stopping time, going backwards in time, cutting space.... He was a hell of an old man. Well, even though he could manipulate it, he didn't have the freedom to do so, he had to prepare for all kinds of conditions and preparations, all of which were extremely short.
'Time stoppage........that's a hell of a lot of space-time magic.......'
What are you talking about? Your use of 'gates' and 'teleportation' and 'storage' is a form of spacetime magic. It's a good thing that he was able to put them into a single system, but it wasn't something that anyone could master. As a result, though, it fell into disuse.

　I see. Instead of saying that only individuals can use it like no-attribute magic, it was made to be used by more people like other attribute magic? That's certainly a ridiculous old man........
　An old man who can control space-time magic like that, it's not difficult to create wards on that scale, right? The essence of the ward, which is to cut off relations with the outside world, also has something in common with spacetime magic.

''Maybe it was set up by that old man's apprentice or something.
Disciple........disciple, huh? Well, if you go to this island, you might be able to figure that out. Even if I flew over in the Gun Gun Gunil, I was afraid of crashing it due to equipment failure, so I was wondering what I could do.

　You're right, that's a problem. Even if we flew over in the Fly, if it was a magic blocking ward like the Goldian Society, it would fall off....
　Should I just take a vehicle that doesn't use magic power?

'Would it be okay if I rode Ruri or Red Ball to get there?'
'Oh, that's the way it works. Yes, I don't think a summoned beast would have to worry about being dropped. However, if this ward is the type of thing that would lead an intruder astray, though, there's a risk of being led to a place that's misplaced from the island.

　I had a feeling that we could go there for now, so I was going to get on the island, but the doctor stopped me.
　We didn't know what was out there, and he said it would be better to send a scout first, so we decided to release the birds under Kohaku's command to the island.
　As long as the warding is in place, the possibility of someone living on the island is high. However, even in the age of ancient civilization, this island was inhospitable. The Galapagos Islands are not Galapagos, but they have been completely cut off from the outside world, and there is a possibility that they have evolved in their own way that we can't even imagine.
　What is in that island?