Act 18 - The Earth's Beast

Seirei Gensouki 18 - Daichi no Kemono ( 精霊幻想記 18.大地の獣).

Synopsis
The earth shakes with the cheers on the saint-- The divine beast roars!!

The duke's daughter from the Galarc Kingdom, Liselotte Cretia, was kidnapped by the sixth hero that calls herself the Saint Erika. Rio gets the king's approaval for going on her rescue and accompanied by her chief servant Aria follows the saint's trace. On the other side the prisonner turned Liselotte sees the situation of the Saint Erika's Democratic Republic with the saint as its head "Who do you want to take revenge from?". The heat on the saint's eye eventually becomes fire and goes to swallow the world!!

聖女への喝采に大地は揺らぎ――神なる獣は咆哮す!!
聖女を名乗る六人目の勇者エリカの手によって、ガルアーク王国の公爵令嬢リーゼロッテ＝クレティアが拉致された. 国王の承認を得てリーゼロッテ奪還に乗り出したリオは、彼女の筆頭侍女であるアリアと共に聖女の追跡を開始する. 一方、囚われの身となったリーゼロッテは聖女を国家元首に戴く辺境の小国【神聖エリカ民主共和国】の現状を目にし――……「貴方は誰に復讐したいのですか？」聖女の瞳に灯る熱はやがて業火となり、世界を包み込んでいく!!

Prologue.
In front of Galarc’s royal castle gates, Aria is asking for Rio’s permission for accompanying him in Liselotte’s rescue with her head lowered at him, Looking at Aria’s combat outfit Rio concludes that even if he refuses Aria was fully prepared from the start for going to Liselotte’s rescue even without Rio doing nothing or the king’s permission. Rio thinks about the pros, like Aria being strong enough to be helpful for him if the need arises and that she has information about Erika that may be useful on their mission. Rio thinks about the cons like the need of revealing to her that Aisia is spirit and the spirit arts, Rio asks Aria if she will be fine with following his orders during their trip, Aria says that of course.

Aisia warns Rio telepathically that Erika raised her speed after leaving the castle and that she’s just about to leave the noble district, Rio tells Aisia to keep following her, Rio tells Aria that Erika raised her speed and to begin to move, Aria nods surprised while wondering about what Rio meant before about a having a way of tracking Erika while keeping a distance, Rio says that he will give a detailed explanation while they move and tells her to strengthen her body with her sword, Aria swallows her questions and feelings for the time being and obeys, Rio tells Aria to follow him and they begin to run toward the city’s gates.

Chapter 1: Persecution’s beginning.
Ten and several minutes later, three kilometers northeast of the capital, Rio and Aria hide behind a rock inside a forest next to a grain producing field, Rio tells Aria that Erika has just met a escort looking man in his twenties, Aria says she understands while wondering how in the hell! he’s able of seeing so far and with so many obstacles between them because she can’t see beyond some tenths of meters at all, Rio tells Aria that those two have two griffins with them and that he can’t see Liselotte so they must have left her elsewhere in advance, Rio tells that they seem to just about to leave on the griffins, Aria is worried because it will be almost impossible to follow them by earth if they fly, Rio says that they will also just fly too then, Aria is then worried about how long Rio will be able to follow the griffins like that, Rio says that Erika has just departed and that she’s flying northwest, Rio says that he needs to let some distance between them in case Erika can use her powers for seeing them, so for the time being he will just focus on gaining height and that he wants to take flight himself too already, Aria says yes with a worried face.

Aria apologizes to Rio in his arms for completely becoming luggage, the mood is really awkward among them, having to be that close to each other because neither of them consider the other to be a friend, Rio says he apologizes too, Aria asks why, Rio says that because it isn’t good for a single woman to be touched by a man who isn’t her fiançe, Aria asks if despite not being a noblewoman or anything and laughs lightly a little surprised, Rio says he thinks being a noble or not is unrelated, Aria says that such consideration is unneeded on the non noblewoman like her and says that it’s the opposite, that he himself may have troubles because the single nobleman like him is touching a single woman that isn’t his fiançee, Rio says he thinks that too is unrelated to being a noble, Aria says that the women close to him certainly won’t like it, and that she’s worried about her accompanying him upsetting the girls acquainted with Rio, that she forgot about it because she was just thinking about the saint and that she’s sorry about it.

Rio says that Aria’s premise is wrong, that she isn’t a stranger and that having her with him is reassuring for him, he tells her to please not to apologize, Aria thanks his words and feelings and asks him why he’s doing all of this, Rio asks her meaning, Aria asks why did he take action for rescuing Liselotte doubtlessly and faster than anyone despite having just arrived to the castle and not knowing anything of the situation yet, Rio says that Liselotte being kidnapped is everything he needed to know, that she’s a very important friend for him and for the people around him, Aria doesn’t know what to say, Rio says that because there’s something he can do for helping that Liselotte he’s just doing it, Aria thanks him for doing that for her lord, Rio tells her to not thank him, Rio says that Aria also is doing this because she feels a connection with Liselotte different from the master-servant one, that then she has the same reason for acting like this as him and to make sure they rescue Liselotte together, Aria agrees with resolution.

Rio now asks Aria to tell as much as he can about Erika, Aria tells Rio about how Erika caused a revolt on small kingdom on the northwest and created a country more or less at the same time he left the castle before his return, Rio is impressed and rises in his head Erika’s danger level, Aria tells now that the cause for her revolution was the same as she told François, to save the populace from the nobles’ tyranny, Rio says that she has a lot of acting power, that he thinks  something like rising a revolt and opposing the nobles can’t be done with half-baked thought, Rio wonders on his head while someone come from earth decided to go down such a way and even declared war on a big country, Rio wonders about how she rose the revolt because it isn’t something that someone can do alone or without enough mental strength, that if being unsatisfied with the nobles is enough for a revolution to occur there would be revolts everywhere, that real resolve and will to change the world are needed, and with just that it’s still something complicated.

Rio thinks due to his memories as Haruto he understands well all the problems the nobility has, but even like that he never ever thought of revolting on the Beltram Kingdom due to the discrimination against him on the royal academy, that if he tries to understand about Erika by comparing with himself the only similitude he finds is his wish of revenge against Lucius, no one takes revenge just because they have a grudge, but he still did it because he couldn’t forgive, that he took revenge because there was something he couldn’t forgive, just because he had that kind of strong feeling he took revenge, Rio wonders if Erika caused the revolt because on her there was an emotion as strong as his wish for revenge, Rio wonders if something happened to her after being summoned so she caused the revolt in retaliation or if she’s just that stronghearted, Rio tries to guess about Erika’s reason for revolting but he can’t reach an answer because what she’s doing is too far of his image of what lengths a Japanese would or not like to go to.

Rio asks Aria why Erika kidnapped Liselotte, Aria tells him that she came to Amande with reason of asking Liselotte to move to her country and using her influence for its sake, Rio asks if she refused and then the talk got complicated, Aria says it was exactly like that, Rio asks how it was their conversation, Aria tells that at the beginning she began to try to scout Liselotte criticizing the monarchical system and … Aria pauses, Rio asks her to continue, Aria tells that she didn’t tell that to the king but Erika realized Liselotte’s secret and explains to Rio their exchange of questions after that, about how Erika’s way of talking changed during it, about how she talked about her other way of talking as the one from before becoming the saint, and that creating a world where the weak ones doesn’t exist and a country completely igualitary for the people would be her greatest revenge.

Rio begins to wonder if Erika’s reason is a grudge against the people on power, Rio thinks about the conflict inside of him when deciding to take revenge due to his memories as Haruto, he thinks he knows about how the lightness of life on the other world can change the japanese values, Rio keeps wondering about what happened that turned Erika into an avenger but decides that there isn’t any meaning on thinking about it, Rio thinks that even if he wants to make a mental image of his opponent for the sake of rescuing Liselotte it would be a bad idea to continue thinking like that.

Rio tells Aria that looking at Erika’s actions there seems to be a grudge against the people on power, that it seems that that emotion isn’t pointed at Liselotte so she shouldn’t be on danger for the time being but that he’s worried about the Erika that seems to have a side that won’t choose her means for achieving her goal, Aria says that she has a calculative side too, that even if she acts stupid she’s thinking things through and does always as planned, Rio says that if her plan was the war with Galarc Kingdom then it’s likely that she kidnapped Liselotte for the sake of causing it, that she didn’t seem to have any intention of negotiating, Aria says that she thought of that possibility too because in Amande she didn’t look like having any intention of negotiating either, Rio says he doesn’t understand why Erika wants a fight, that even if she has a grudge against the people on power picking a fight with a great kingdom like Galarc is calling for self destruction.

Rio begins to asks himself if precisely that is Erika’s wish, if precisely going down that way of destruction is Erika’s revenge, Rio decides to let go of that thought due to its absurdity, he thinks that she doesn’t has a reason for going that far away from the ideals she says to have or destroying the country that she has just made, Rio wonders if Erika has a way of winning, if she’s picking the fight because she’s confident on winning, Rio can’t understand what the way of winning against a big country is, Rio sights trying to calm his anxieties and asks Aria if Erika visited Liselotte alone, Aria says she came alone like she did on the castle, Rio says that Liselotte must have been left with another team acting separately from her then, that she may hate to have dead weight around her.

Rio thinks on his head that way she can fabricate too whatever story she wishes about what happened on the negotiations, that if she wants to be revered as a saint there can’t be people that doubts of her actions, that if she wants a war she can do as she pleases, Rio concludes that the only thing he can think of that is that the Erika wants a war with the Galarc kingdom and his look at the distant Erika becomes a severe one thinking about the future war, Aria realizes the change on Rio and asks him if something happened, Rio tells her that it’s nothing, that it’s possible that he’s overthinking it and his analysis going on wrong direction, Rio fakes a smile and changes the topic, he asks Aria if there’s anything else she’s curious about.

Aria tells Rio that she doesn’t know why but that Erika said that she still needed to keep a secret she was a hero and the moment Liselotte asked if she was hero and she admitted it she attacked Liselotte, Rio says that it may be an excuse she made on the spot or she really meant it and wanted to choose another timing more convenient for her for making it known, Rio decides to asks about Erika’s skills now, Rio looks worriedly at Aria because she must have been defeated by Erika for her to be able of kidnapping Liselotte, Aria says with a frustrated face that there wasn’t anything remarkable about her martial arts, that her way of moving her body and weapon were that of rookie and just relying on the power of her weapon, Rio asks if she was strong enough for beating Aria despite of that, Aria denies it and tells Rio about her attempt of incapacitating Erika, Rio asks if she is someone the average one can’t knock out, Aria explains about the hits she connected on Erika and how she thought she had collapsed, Rio describes Erika as someone that seems capable of taking few damage despite being hit by a heavily strengthened opponent, Aria explains now about how Erika took advantage of her opening for taking them by surprise, and how she seemed to have barely taken any damage, that her toughness aside her speed and strength were considerable too, she tells Rio to also be careful about the earth attacks of Erika’s weapon.

Also in the sky, following Rio and Aria from behind, Reis that has been following after Erika knows about Liselotte’s kidnapping and Erika’s plan of visiting the castle, but he doesn’t know what happened there yet, Reis thinks that if Rio is following Erika then the relationship between the Galarc kingdom and her must be broken, Reis thinks that Aisia’s sing disappeared from the castle at the same time that Erika left so she the two must be following after Erika now, Reis sends his consciousness  back to Galarc’s capital wondering if this may be his last chance of taking hostage someone important for Rio, Reis decides that for the time being it depends on how good at using her hero powers the saint is, that if she’s someone able of standing against Rio and Aisia his future actions will change greatly, that it would be ideal if two opponents that seem troublesome take each other out, that it would be the most thankful and he wouldn’t lose nothing, that he wants to keep his cards hidden longer too, Reis thinks that the current one is a good chance so he needs to keep his eyes on Rio’s group, he thinks that it won’t be interesting if he makes everyone cautious of the Proxia Empire if they perceive he’s moving, Reis thinks Rio’s perception radius of terrifyingly wide so it will be bad if he isn’t cautious and he continued the double tailing.

* TLN: The rest of the volume will be posted between the 10th and the 20th of December depending on how much free time my job lets me, please patience until then.