第４８５堀：女神の力、及ばぬ土地 (Part1)
**Chapter 485: A Land Beyond the Goddess’s Reach**
**Side: Seraria**
……Ah, I’m furious.
I couldn’t suppress the turmoil in my heart.
And how could I?
"Those bastards. To kidnap people's husbands, daughters, and friends..."
Yes, my beloved husband, Yuki, along with our daughters Sakura and Schans, Autumn, the pregnant Milly, and even the young Aslin, were summoned away from Weed just yesterday evening.
At the time, I was in Betan, dealing with my father, Gartz, and the Chief of Litea. But upon receiving the emergency news—an unprecedented transfer of all command authority—I rushed back to Weed immediately.
For the record, Jessica, who delivered the report, was weeping uncontrollably as she apologized. Ria was in a state of catatonic shock, and Kirue had fainted, currently being tended to by Sasari. The others who had been with me in Betan returned one after another, but Ratz, who had her husband and daughter kidnapped just like me, was screaming and wailing like someone who had snapped, so I had to knock her unconscious.
Actually, everyone else, even if not to the same extent as Ratz, was in a state of severe shock. It was at the level where I feared there might be suicides by the next day.
However, the situation took a turn when a message arrived from Labyris.
There was strange static on the call, but she confirmed that everyone was safe, that the scumbags who had summoned them had already been captured, and that their safety was, for the time being, secured. Everyone let out a sigh of relief.
"This is a declaration of war against Weed!! We must send Steve and the others immediately..."
"Please calm down, Eris-san. Even if we wanted to send them, we don't have a Gate..."
Eris shouted, but as Taiki said, the Gate isn't open. We can't go to rescue my husband, let alone go to kill those bastards.
"Then we should use DP to deploy airplanes!! We’ll go and save my husband and the others!"
"Rurua-dono. That is also impossible. We have no knowledge of the air currents, and Yuki-kun’s location is unknown. We wouldn't know where or how to fly. Furthermore, just like the sea, there is no guarantee that there aren't large monsters in the sky. Moving without proper reconnaissance would be extremely dangerous."
I understand Rurua’s feelings painfully well, but Taizo’s point is also valid. We cannot risk exposing other nations to danger by recklessly provoking threats in the sky. Besides, airplanes themselves consume a massive amount of DP, and we couldn't possibly prepare the maintenance or runways to move quickly anyway.
……But my husband and the others are still struggling over there, giving it their all.
We cannot just stand by and watch.
If I am the one entrusted with full authority, should I make the decision to use airplanes or something similar to search from the air?
"Eris, Rurua, calm down. ...I am just as incensed as you are, but now that we have confirmed Yuki and the others are safe, don't let your anger cause you to lose sight of what is truly important."
"Deryu..."
Those words, though not directed at me, reached me clearly. Words from Deryu, who had once lost everything.
"Well, it’s not for me, who failed, to say, but I don't want everyone else to lose their way. The children were looking anxious, and if Yuki knew we were acting like this, he’d be angry. I want to avoid being hated by Yuki because we were too worried about him."
"That’s... true."
"…Yes. If I neglected the children, even I would be angry."
"…Deryu is right. We’ve confirmed that my husband and everyone else are safe, so we must cherish our families and everything we’ve built up until now. I don't want to be hated by my husband."
I need to calm down.
I took a deep breath...
"Haa... Phew... Alright. Eris, Rurua, I understand how you feel, but first, let’s calm down, organize the situation, and think about what we can actually do."
"Yes."
Both of them replied in a calmer tone.
Ah, I see. We hadn't been calm at all until now.
You can't rely on judgments made in that state of mind.
"…Right. First, according to what I heard from Jessica, my husband told me to speak with Taiki and Taizo. Do you have any ideas?"
Yes, even while crying, Jessica had faithfully carried out the orders entrusted to her by my husband before she collapsed.
...Right. Half of us have been kidnapped, and our combat strength is halved. That is exactly why the instruction was to gather the other experts first. If it weren't for Taiki and Taizo, I can't deny the possibility that we might have already tried to force our way out by deploying planes. That’s how furious we were.
"Well, I don't know the details."
"Indeed. As we cannot verify it, it’s hard to say."
"Details, verification, huh... So, you have some degree of a guess, then?"
"It’s still only in the realm of speculation."
"That’s fine. I want to grasp the situation of my husband and the others as much as possible."
"Taiki-kun. It’s not necessarily bad news. For the sake of Seraria-dono and the others' peace of mind, it should be fine to talk."
"Understood. Uh, the summoning condition was that they were Japanese and could break the status quo, right?"
"If Jessica didn't mishear, yes."
"You know that Luna-san placed restrictions to prevent summoning from other worlds, right?"
"Yes. To prevent strange things like Autumn from flowing in, and to avoid increasing the number of summoning victims like you all. That’s why I know my husband and the others must be somewhere in this world. If another world is impossible, it has to be the same world."
But not only my husband, everyone was kidnapped by the summoning. Was Luna actually doing her job? She hasn't arrived yet, and this time, I will have to question her severely. This has gone beyond the level of a joke.
"Yes. That is exactly why I think a large number of people were summoned."
"Summoning from other worlds is stopped. That leaves only the same world. If you use the output originally intended to pull from another world to summon from within the same world, the scale becomes much larger."
"Ah, I see. But why were my husband and everyone else the targets? I don't know how much 'Japanese' and 'breaking the status quo' matters, but in terms of power and ability, Taiki and Taizo aren't inferior, are they?"
"No, this is also just a guess, but I think it’s because Yuki-san was the most suitable candidate."
"What do you mean?"
"In other words, it’s not that Yuki-kun was chosen for his individual ability, but rather the point that a large number of people were summoned. Seeing that we weren't summoned, it means that even though the output increased, they could only manage to pull in people who were gathered in one place."
"Ah, I see. So, because Yuki and Milly were together, they were recognized as Japanese people with the power to break the status quo?"
"Most likely."
I see.
Indeed, I don't think there are two groups in this world with more combat power than our family, all gathered in one place. If there were others like that, the world would already be at peace.
"I understand why my husband and everyone else were called. Now, for the next part, why do you think the DP efficiency at the destination is 5,000 times higher?"
Yes, this is the most important part.
Because of that, we can't go to rescue them.
It was my husband's mistake, but who could have predicted such an absurd multiplier?
I didn't think I’d get an answer here, but I felt it was necessary to ask. However, the answer came from an unexpected source.
"That is because, for some reason, my power is severely restricted on that continent."
"Luna!?"