Chapter 166: Was there some incident?

Mid-July, already a season that could be called summer, so daytime was fairly hot, but early morning not so much.

Breathing refreshing and cool air, feeling a refreshing feel as if body and heart washed, Kazui walked the main street of the East District.

Still time seven in the morning, Aquila’s town had just started moving, and foot traffic was few.

Kazui who left Lumia’s apartment was in the middle of heading to his own apartment.

Kazui a little while ago woke with Lumia and Monica.

Recommended by Lumia to eat breakfast together, but thinking it bad to be taken care of even for breakfast, Kazui took the way home.

Kazui’s clothing was jeans and white T-shirt, simple but overflowing with cleanliness.

When visiting Lumia’s apartment it was often not martial arts uniform.

A mobile sales vendor’s small truck came into view in the direction of progress. ℴ

In residential areas with few shops and such, breakfast foods and drinks and newspapers and such, loaded on the truck bed, mobile sales vendors did business.

On the green small truck mobile sales vehicle, Kazui also had recognition.

When staying at Lumia or Monica’s room and becoming morning return, he had stopped by and bought breakfast several times.

(Breakfast, shall I buy something and go back. For form’s sake Yuri’s share too.)

To the mobile sales vehicle several customers gathered, Kazui walked close.

(More customers than usual.)

Normally customers were many, but this morning more than before, Kazui thought.

Especially customers holding newspapers and reading near the storefront were many.

(Was there some incident?)

Seeing customers reading just-bought newspapers as if unable to wait, while speculating the reason, Kazui arrived at the mobile sales vehicle.

To the truck bed Kazui looked.

Various goods lined in wooden cases, looking at the truck bed.

Inside the wooden cases side dishes bread such as meat pie lined, bottled milk and tea sold.

Separated from food and drink, newspapers also sold.

Unlike Japan’s station shops and convenience stores, no newspaper-dedicated racks, piled flat like magazines inside wooden cases.

Because of customers around the mobile sales vehicle who were reading newspapers, Kazui was more concerned about newspapers than food and drink.

That was why first toward the newspapers Kazui looked.

Seeing the headline of the newspaper’s top article, Kazui received a shock to the degree of his heart about to stop and unintentionally doubted his own eyes.

Averting his gaze from the newspaper, looking at the newspaper again, the headline printed in large letters, Kazui confirmed again.

("Hell Gate opens in Virgo! Iron Maiden annihilated?" it says?)

The content of the headline was as first seen, not a mis-see.

In Kazui’s head Ebony and Ivory’s faces flashbacked.

"Daily Aquila please!"

Kazui immediately called out to the mobile sales vendor of a middle-aged woman who seemed forties in work clothes riding the bed of the mobile sales vehicle.

While thrusting his right hand in the pocket and preparing small change of the price.

"One hundred dale."

Kazui handed a one hundred dale coin, and the woman while handing out one copy of the newspaper called Daily Aquila continued words worriedly.

"It became a terrible thing, Iron Maiden everyone. Hope they’re safe."

Kazui hurriedly took the newspaper and same as other customers immediately started reading the newspaper.

The article of the headline "Hell Gate opens in Virgo! Iron Maiden annihilated?" decorating the top news.

The content of the article was conveying a major incident that happened outside Virgo’s castle wall on the night of July 11th.

Hell Gate that was a heritage of the Demon King was used against Iron Maiden’s Black Maiden.

The place for long-term mooring terrestrial ships was called anchorage.

Black Maiden long-term moored at Virgo’s ninth anchorage, together with almost all belonging members, inside the opened Hell Gate... a closed space called hell, was confined.

Hell itself was only a vast space to the degree of several autonomous cities fitting.

But unless the mage who used Hell Gate died or the supply of ether to Hell Gate by the mage stopped, one could never go outside.

Water and oxygen existed, so not dying immediately.

But no food, so those captured by Hell Gate unless the mage who used Hell Gate died would eventually starve to death.

Not killing immediately, after making captured ones suffer with hunger, starving to death, that was Hell Gate.

When the Demon King was using, that the Demon King dying was not thought, so if captured sure to starve to death, a terrifying magic item.

A thing for starving to death, so if captured in a state of possessing food, for a while could continue surviving.

And in Black Maiden’s case it seemed to have loaded food enough for the crew to survive one month.

Iron Maiden was captured by Hell Gate and confined in hell, but the possibility of still surviving was high.

That was why the headline was "Hell Gate opens in Virgo! Iron Maiden annihilated?" in question form.

Even if possessing food and such survivable for more than one month, at the point one month passed the confined ones would surely die.

In some form different from starving to death, killed without leaving corpses.

Actually not only the purpose of starving to death, Hell Gate itself had some other function, and for the preparation to use that function one month preparation period needed, that theory also existed.

Anyway before one month passed after captured by Hell Gate, if the mage who used Hell Gate did not die, Iron Maiden would truly be annihilated.

Virgo’s autonomous police and adventurer guild cooperated and the investigation of the culprit already started.

Further by Virgo autonomous government it was announced a huge bounty put on the culprit, so many adventurers also participating in searching for the culprit was sure.

Even so finding and killing the mage who was the culprit who used Hell Gate could be called difficult.

The possibility of avoiding the death of Iron Maiden’s members captured by Hell Gate was fairly low in reality.

Unlike the Demon King, when humans used Hell Gate restrictions existed.

The mage called Demon King used inexhaustible Energitè said to exist in another world and could use Hell Gate without restriction.

But to modern human mages that was impossible, so substitute energy was needed.

This becoming the substitute energy was life energy of the same kind as Energitè... ether.

When human mages used Hell Gate, vast ether needed to be used.

That was why at places large amounts of ether gathered such as ether points or quasi-ether points, the mage had to continue staying.

Before all humans captured by Hell Gate died, if the supply of ether by the mage stopped, Hell Gate would open.

If so not only the captured humans escaping, but failing control of Hell Gate, all Energitè sucked dry, and the mage would die.

If all captured humans died, Hell Gate stopped function, so the mage no longer needed to send ether.

If so the mage could regain freedom of action and also not die.

And with human mages the maximum distance able to supply ether to Hell Gate was at most ten kilometers.

In other words the mage who used Hell Gate could not separate more than ten kilometers from Hell Gate.

Because of this kind of restriction, the culprit mage who used Hell Gate would be lurking at an ether point or quasi-ether point existing within ten kilometers radius of Hell Gate.

As long as Hell Gate was activating, that was sure.

Within the ten kilometers radius range centered on Hell Gate no ether points existed, but only one quasi-ether point existed.

Actually the labyrinth city Virgo itself was the quasi-ether point.

Quasi-ether point was a point where despite large amounts of ether gathering, ether grass did not grow, so ether could not be collected.

Unless using special magic items such as Hell Gate ether could not be used, so called quasi-ether point.