The Wall of Myth Obstructing Running Away

I'm moving at a furious pace, sometimes pushing through and sometimes hopping over a sea of grass that reaches as high as I am.

I feel like that woman is screaming something behind me, but ignore, ignore.

I hate that woman now!

I've come to hate her!

I'm running away from home!

So I run, I dash, I leap!

Before that woman regains her composure and starts chasing me in earnest, I'll vanish and escape for good!

The flat ground beneath my feet gradually begins to slope, and large black boulders start appearing around me.

I've arrived at the hills that surround that woman's mansion.

I run up those hills in one breath, the incline becoming steeper as I approach the summit!

Ta, ta, tan!

Kicking, kicking, kicking off the large boulders that peek out from the grass!

Having climbed the slope in the blink of an eye, I put all my strength into my legs atop the final boulder and activate 【Grasshopper】.

I tried to leap over the ridge of this hill in a single bound.

Don!!

I leap high, high into the air, crushing the boulder beneath my feet.

The scenery on the other side, which had been hidden by the hills until now, spreads out before my eyes.

At the sight, in spite of myself, I.

“......Huh?”

Let out a dumb little noise.

<Wh, what!?>

Omake-sama is also panicking.

No wonder.

The sight spreading across my entire field of vision is...... a vast ocean with white crashing waves.

The ground, which I'd assumed went on past the hills, suddenly drops away into a sheer cliff where seabirds nest.

That cliff stretches away to the left and right as far as I can see, and, uh, what, so.

This place was an island!?

The mansion is so far from here that the sea breeze doesn't reach it, so I didn't notice!

<Th, this is bad, Emi! At this rate, you'll plunge headfirst into the sea! Knowing you, falling from that height won't hurt you, but after that, swimming on and on with no idea where land might be would be reckless, even for you!>

L, let's get down!

For now, let's land!

As I'm about to be thrown toward the sea by the momentum of my leap, I flail about in mid-air, wondering what to do.

That's right, 【Black Arms】!

I'll extend 【Black Arms】, grab the ground, and pull myself in!

I hurriedly unwind 【Black Arms】, which I'd been wearing around my neck as a scarf, and try to stretch it toward a boulder sitting near the edge of the cliff.

But then!

“Nbe!!?”

That didn't work.

Because before I could extend 【Black Arms】.

I collided in midair with some kind of “invisible wall” I couldn't see, lost my momentum and fell toward the edge of the cliff.

“Ba......!!”

I slide down along the “invisible wall,” slowly at first, then finally fall headfirst onto a boulder at the cliff's edge.

“Gugu......”

Having ended up splayed out and embedded in the boulder, I forcibly peel my face and then my body away from it, then hop up to regain my footing.

Then I pat at the “invisible wall” that must be towering in front of me.

There is certainly a wall there.

A wall with a strange feel to it, neither warm nor cold.

It's invisible, yet for some reason, it's a wall I cannot pass through.

But since the scent of the tide reaches me from the sea, the wind seems to pass through it just fine.

This is......

“It's a barrier, you knooow”

At the voice suddenly coming from behind me, I click my tongue and turn around.

Standing there is, naturally, Lairine.

She's wearing a troubled expression and giving a wry smile.

“And on top of that, it's a masterpiece created in the age of myth...... by the source of the saintesses...... a barrier mage of a kind seen once in an age. It's so elaborate that you can't even feel any magic power, riiight?”

Told that, I try activating 【Magic Perception】...... and it's exactly as she says.

Before, I could see the barrier at Sara-chan's place with 【Magic Perception】, but this “invisible wall” is different.

I can't see anything.

All I can see is the vast ocean, stretching on forever.

“......Why, a barrier? To protect, the mansion?”

“Ufufu, nooo, that's not iiit? It's the opposite, the opposite”

To the question that slipped out of me before I could stop it, Lairine answers with a wag of her finger.

She looks very happy.

Is it because she can have a conversation with me?

Gross.

“......What opposite. What do you mean?”

“It means just what it saaays...... This barrier, you seee? It was made to lock in a certain being sealed deep under the ground of this island, so it can't get oooout!”

Lairine said this while putting her hands on her hips, puffing out her chest, and snorting haughtily.

Sealed deep underground?

A certain existence?

Locked in so it can't get out?

What is this woman talking about?

In other words, what does it mean?

“This island, what exactly......?”

When I asked, tilting my head slightly, Lairine gave her answer with a playful wink.

“......This is the ‘Sealed Island’...... Sealed Island Vera Kenu.”

Byuu!

An especially strong sea breeze blows up from below the cliff, swaying our hair.

Lairine waited for the wind to die down, then went on, slowly and clearly.

“The island where an ancient...... ‘Calamity’ sleeps.”