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C184: Running / Yuki
After defeating the giant beast, Valiente and I continued on our route up and tried to get back to the ride carrier. However, the ride carrier was no longer there.
“Are you losing allies?”
“Yeah……”
I didn’t feel anxious or worried about the ride carrier being gone, but I was worried about leaving Mary alone with the Messiah clan and Rafishal.
“They fought someone other than the guardians.”
“Is that so?”
“There are traces of a battle. Probably ran away from that fight, or moved on to some other purpose.”
I can see remnants of the Elysian Empire’s magicrafts, and Valiente’s prediction doesn’t seem to be too far off. There are not that many entities in the continent that can overwhelm the elite riders of the Elysian Empire.
“What do we do now, Yuki?”
“Valiente, do you know where the seal of the giant beasts is?”
“Of course I know where it is.”
“Perhaps the ride carrier went there. Show me the way.”
“Okay. We’ll take the shortcut.”
I’m still worried about Mary so I decided to follow the ride carrier.
As Valiente led me down a narrow road, he said,
“Yuki, your magicraft is too slow, you can ride on my back.”
“Are you sure?”
“No problem.”
I did as Valiente asked and climbed onto his back.
“Hold on tight!”
As soon as he said that, Valiente accelerated. The quadrupedal speed of the Valiente is quite fast, surprisingly fast.
While we were moving, I was a little curious about Valiente’s thoughts, so I asked him.
“Valiente, how do you feel when you see the wreckage of your fellow Guardians? I have defeated many of your people, but you don’t get angry or feel offended?”
“Fellows……I’m sorry, but I don’t recognize the other Guardians as my friends. They don’t have minds or emotions, they’re just tools. Sure, we look like each other, but I consider them to be completely different from me.”
“I see, but you’re a Guardian too, aren’t you programmed to protect the ruins?”
“The other Guardians have a compulsory Ruins Defense Program, but all I have is a request to defend the Ruins. I kept my old promise and protected the ruins for 10,000 years, but that request expired recently, so I’m free now.”
“I wonder why whoever created you set such a deadline, they could have made you guard the ruins forever.”
“I guess they took pity on me. They knew that I think like a person and have a heart like a person, so maybe they felt sorry for me that I would only be guarding the ruins forever.”
“I see…….So the one who built Valiente was a kind person.”
“Hmm, I don’t know, I think it’s outrageous enough that they let a human mind guard the ruins for 10,000 years.”
I thought that might be true, but I didn’t dare say it.
We came closer to the location of the last seal faster than I had imagined. There, we spotted a ride carrier waiting for us.
“Looks like we’re catching up.”
I quickly made my way back to the ride carrier. In the hangar, Mary’s magicraft was being repaired. The double Highlander Mary had been beaten to this extent…….It seems that her opponent was a very tough opponent. In addition, surprisingly, it was Rafishal who was repairing it.
“Wow, you’re an interesting woman, taming the Leader Guardian……”
Rafishal said happily as he looked at Valiente.
“He’s Valiente. More importantly, is Mary all right?”
“It’s just an arm, the rider is unharmed. It seems that the hatch of your magicraft is broken, we’ll repair it as soon as possible.”
“What’s the matter? You seem to be in a hurry to repair it.”
“There is an unidentified enemy in the ruins of the last seal, and I have a feeling they will try to interfere with us.”
“The ones who broke Mary’s arm?”
“It’s probably one of them. You can see that they’re no ordinary opponents. So, I welcome the Leader Guardian to join the fight.”
“What if I say we won’t cooperate?”
“Huh, then the Leader Guardian’s presence will only be a hindrance, and I will deactivate it.”
“Damn it, that’s…….”
“You think I can’t? In exchange for giving the Leader Guardian a powerful body and intelligence, it has a built-in core for emergency destruction in case it goes out of control. I know how to activate it.”
I thought for a moment that he was bluffing, but to my surprise, Valiente confirmed it.
“What he’s saying is true. I have a self-destruct core built into me.”
Now we have no choice but to cooperate with Rafishal…