Unable to Identify

31 Unable to Identify

"Mmm, what a grand view～"

Mako said as she enjoyed the scenery visible from the carriage.

It was indeed a grand view. Steep mountains stretched one after another, their peaks capped with snow. The stone-paved road was uneven, putting strain on both the horses and the carriage.

"This is a dangerous area where monsters occasionally come down from the mountains. I once traveled this same road as a merchant's escort. Sei, I'm counting on you for detection."

"Detection… I'm doing it, but there are quite a lot of monsters…"

In response to Chaos's words, Sei spoke with an unreliable tone.

In fact, there were many monsters. But when she tried identifying one of them, they were often just small fry around level 5.

"These mountains form a natural barrier. Remdoria once waged an invasion war against the city-states to the east, but they ultimately failed to break through the fortresses and retreated."

"Ah, I know about that too. It was one of the few defeats of the Great King Ryukhorin. Well, his son Prince Shion did eventually conquer it, though."

That too had ultimately regained its independence. The history of invasions and independence was so extensive that Sei couldn't keep track of it all.

And then on the second day, Mako got bored.

"No monsters are even coming…"

Even a grand view becomes tiresome if it continues unchanged. And in this area, there were only small villages. There was nothing to sightsee.

"Hey, isn't that a good thing?"

Kukuri replied with exasperation. Mere battles with ordinary monsters wouldn't become material for his poetry. In that case, it would be better to avoid the hassle.

"The moment you let your guard down is the most dangerous. Sei, I'm counting on you."

"Mmm, roger… Actually, a little further ahead on the road… huh?"

Map-sensei was telling her something was there.

But when she tried to identify what it was, it displayed: Unable to Identify.

The things that came up as Unable to Identify were, if she recalled correctly, high-ranking dragons and gods. What else was there again?

"Emergency. Prepare for combat. There might be something extremely dangerous."

At Sei's words, the inside of the carriage became restless. Kukuri stopped the horses for the moment.

"Dangerous how? A monster? What level?"

"That's exactly why it's dangerous—I can't tell."

"Should we… take a detour?"

"This is the only road in this area. Taking a detour would cost us a week at minimum. Plus we wouldn't be able to use the carriage."

Everyone except Gantz voiced their opinions, but Gantz alone was lightly swinging his axe. Perhaps he couldn't suppress his tension.

"It's not confirmed to be an enemy, but… let's proceed cautiously."

The carriage slowly made its way along the road that curved up and down, left and right. Due to the forests on either side, they couldn't get a visual on the target.

Eventually, though, it came into view.

"A human?"

Kukuri murmured. With his sharp eyes, he could make out the figure.

"There's no way it's just a human. Continue maintaining vigilance."

Soon the figure was visible to everyone. And what they felt was… relief.

A stunningly beautiful girl in somewhat unusual clothing was sitting by the roadside.

Pure white long hair and red eyes. Even in this other world, it was a combination of colors rarely seen.

"Hey, what's wrong? Sitting in a place like this."

It was Sei who called out to her. She also tried identifying her again.

『Unable to Identify』

The same went for Kukuri, who possessed the Discernment skill, and the two exchanged glances.

The girl looked up at the two of them and spoke, her expression blank.

"I don't know where I should go."

At that answer, the two exchanged glances again.

"Are you lost? Your attire seems pretty extravagant for that, though…"

From Kukuri's perspective, the girl appeared to be of noble birth.

Her clothing resembled that of a shrine maiden, but with multiple layers of fabric and fine embroidery along the hem.

The dirt on it probably meant she hadn't changed clothes for several days. Had she come from the mountains? That would explain why she was sitting on the road.

"Um, do you know where you came from?"

Mako, having gotten off the carriage, asked the girl. She appeared to be about the same age, or perhaps slightly younger.

"Mephirna."

Whether that was the name of a region or a city was unknown, but neither Chaos nor Kukuri, to whom she had directed her gaze, had any knowledge of it.

Sei also checked her map, but there was no village or city by that name in this area.

"Why are you in a place like this?"

This time Sei asked. In response, the girl tilted her head.

"The evil god's army attacked. I escaped by teleportation. Then I ended up in this forest. So I came to the road and waited for people to pass by."

Being attacked by an evil god meant it was natural to assume this girl was a noble, royalty, or a shrine maiden from a faction opposing it.

Most likely, that town or city had been occupied by the evil god's army, and only this girl had been sent away via teleportation. It was strange that she had no escort, but there probably hadn't been time for that.

As for "Unable to Identify"—perhaps she had received divine protection from a god, or something along those lines.

"Hmm, are you hungry?"

At Mako's question, the girl nodded firmly despite her expressionless face.

"Very hungry."

And so they had a meal right there.

The girl's name was Laverna.

"Then you're Lavi!"

Mako immediately gave her a nickname, and Lavi had no complaints about it.

However, having only a given name with no family name suggested she was indeed some kind of shrine maiden. Shrine maidens are ostensibly unconnected to worldly power. But she was surely originally from a noble or royal family.

Even so, this girl really could eat.

It wasn't like Mako's endless, vigorous eating, but she quietly and steadily continued eating.

(Our Engel coefficient is going to be ridiculous.)

Just as Sei was secretly worrying, Lavi finished her meal.

"Done already?"

Mako asked while eating heartily, and Lavi nodded.

"For now, this is enough."

At her reserved way of speaking, even Mako stopped asking for more.

"Now then, about what comes next…"

Leaving the girl here wasn't an option. If they abandoned such a beautiful girl, there was no question about what fate would befall her.

"We're heading east. We have various things to do in the City Alliance. So we can take you that far, but… do you have any work you can do?"

"Work… I've never done any. I've never fought before, but I can fight, and I can use lots of magic."

Setting aside how she could fight without having fought before, if she could use magic, she would have plenty of career options.

But this girl was clearly sheltered. No matter what she did, she would probably be deceived and end up in a terrible situation.

"Ah well, we could take you along with us, but where we're going is pretty dangerous, you know."

The City Alliance was a conflict zone. Though in a state of cold war, local-level wars occurred frequently, and mercenary bands held considerable influence there.

"I don't mind. I would be grateful to receive protection from the Divine Dragon's Knight."

In that instant, Sei's wariness shot up to maximum level.

Sei's disguise concealment was done with high-level principle magic. Even now, she had hidden that title to avoid unnecessary friction.

And this girl had seen through it. She either possessed an incredibly high-level identification skill or had mastered principle magic at a high level.

"Who… are you?"

Even in the face of Sei's intimidating presence, the girl merely tilted her head.

Then she gazed toward the forest. Following her gaze, Sei noticed it too.

A group of monsters was displayed on the map.

(Damn it.)

If they gave off the smell of food, it wouldn't be unnatural for monsters to appear. She had been concentrating too much on the girl in front of her and had neglected detection of their surroundings.

"Everyone, prepare for combat. A group of monsters. Mako, protect that girl!"

Before she even finished speaking, wolf-type monsters emerged from the forest.

They weren't particularly strong. But the problem was protecting Lavi. If they targeted a girl with no combat ability, things would get quite bad.

Just as Sei was thinking about eliminating them with magic linked to her map, something unexpected happened.

The monsters were collapsing.

One after another. Without any warning, they were collapsing.

According to Identify, the monsters were dead. Sei knew of only one ability that could do this.

Instant Death Eyes.

It was a Gift the Hero had possessed, but it wasn't something given only to Heroes. There was a possibility that others in this world had it too.

And if someone here possessed such a thing, it could only be this girl.

After the monster attack—no, after the one-sided massacre ended, Sei turned to face the girl.

"Who… are you?"

The response was straightforward, and beyond Sei's expectations.

"I am a Divine Dragon."

An existence that protects this world. An absolute being that transcends even gods.

"Celestial Dragon Laverna."

The girl said matter-of-factly, without particularly changing her expression.

"I never expected you to be the one to pick her up… No, that's a big help. We were planning to search for her on our end too."

On the other end of the communicator, Ria said this.

The city where Celestial Dragon Laverna lived had been attacked and destroyed by the evil god's forces just recently.

Since there was no way a Divine Dragon would die, and she hadn't sensed her existence vanishing from this world, Ria had apparently been about to dispatch Wind Dragon Teru to search for her.

"Still, what incredible odds that you encountered her. Between this and being chosen by the God of Earth, are you being guided by fate or something?"

"Well, I guess you could call it bad luck… So what should I do?"

"Ah, take her along with you. Divine Dragon though she may be, it's a good opportunity to see how common folk live."

"… Is that okay? She can use Instant Death Eyes, you know?"

"That's not Instant Death Eyes. It's Dragon Eyes."

According to Ria's explanation, dragons possess a Gift called Dragon Eyes that approaches even Omni-Identify.

For a Divine Dragon like Ria, its capabilities become even higher. Killing an opponent just by glaring at them, while it depends on level, isn't particularly difficult, she said.

"It's similar to intimidation. It's just so powerful that the opponent dies from shock."

At Sei and the others' levels, such effects apparently wouldn't reach that extent.

"Besides, the current Heroes are a trio, right? She'll be a good addition to your forces. Oh, but if they have any dangerous Gifts, don't let her participate in combat. Divine Dragon though she may be, she's still young, after all."

"Young? How young exactly?"

"About 800 years old. So if something like Instant Death Eyes were used on her, even a Divine Dragon might die."

So even Divine Dragons can die from Instant Death Eyes.

"Oh, and use disguise concealment to make her abilities seem reasonable. Being 'Unable to Identify' would be a problem."

Indeed, that would certainly be a problem when entering and exiting cities.

Having finished her communication with Ria, Sei returned to where the group was camping.

Lavi, having washed off the dirt in the bath Sei had created, had become even more beautiful. Having changed her clothes as well, she now gave off a bit of an ojou-sama vibe.

"Got word from Master. She says to take Lavi along. She can even participate in the fight against the Heroes, with certain conditions."

"Huh, is that so. Nice to meet you."

"If the Dark Dragon Reiana says so, I will comply."

Lavi nodded quietly. Perhaps this was just how dragons were, but she didn't show much emotion. Since Ria had originally been human, she was probably the exception.

"However, how strong are you specifically? We need to confirm this, otherwise we won't know how to utilize you in combat."

"That's true."

Lavi's movements were those of an amateur, and at the very least, she didn't seem to have any combat ability with weapons or hand-to-hand.

"Want to test it?"

Lavi said lightly and stood up.

Her opponent was Chaos. The reason being that he was the most skilled in armed combat among them.

Holding his curved sword, he slashed at the unarmed Lavi. In response, Lavi extended her hand.

She had caught the curved sword with her bare hand.

Chaos put his strength into it, but it apparently wouldn't budge at all. Eventually he gave up and released his grip on the handle.

"Is that enough?"

"Ah, I see. At the very least, you won't be a hindrance."

Receiving the curved sword that was handed back to him, he returned it to his waist. Chaos's gaze was filled with awe.

"As expected of a goddess. I wonder if my spear wouldn't work on you either?"

"Not a god. A Divine Dragon."

Because it was important, Lavi corrected Mako.

They prepared the camp and pitched the tents.

It happened to divide into exactly three males and three females. As usual, with her Map and Danger Sense turned on, Sei tried to sleep.

Lavi clung to her arm.

"Huh? Lavi?"

When she called out, Lavi was already asleep. And on her other arm, Mako latched on.

"Um, Mako-san?"

"Because you're mine."

Saying such things, Mako wouldn't let go of Sei's arm.

It was a wonderful situation. A love triangle between girls. But it was certainly hard to sleep like this.

Their fighting strength had been reinforced. But feeling that trouble had increased by about the same amount, Sei couldn't fall asleep easily.