Chapter 141: The Past of The Ice Hero

Early morning of the next day―

「Where are you going, Ciel-sama?」

Aria called out to Ciel, who was about to leave the mansion on her own.

「I just want to visit a nostalgic place to have some reminiscences. If you don’t mind, how about tagging along with me?」

Ciel opened the door of the mansion as she spoke.

A nostalgic place for Ciel…

Aria couldn’t hold back her curiosity and immediately followed Ciel with Tama stowed in her cleavage.

A while had passed as they walked along the streets of Horo village when…

A ruin-like place appeared in front of them.

「It’s here.」

Ciel spoke as she entered the ruin.

Glowing ores of various colors illuminated the ruin, creating a fantastic scenery. The ruins’ wall had a picture of people and human-type dinosaurs living together in harmony.

It seemed to be a ruin of an ancient building.

They continued to walk inside the ruin.

After a while, they arrived in a spacious area.

This room contained sculptures of dinosaur-type monsters made of ore. These sculptures were positioned at fixed intervals with an altar placed right in the middle of the room.

Ciel walked up the stairs, which led toward the altar. Aria and Tama closely followed her.

Then, their eyes fell upon a geometrical pattern engraved right in the middle of the altar.

Is that… a magic circle of this world?

「Ciel-sama, this is…」

Aria asked Ciel, who just looked at the pattern in silence.

Hearing Aria’s voice, Ciel replied.

「Aria, this pattern is related to a certain ritual made with a special technology of this world called 〝Summon Gate?.」n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

「Summon… gate?」

「Yeah! When this world faces a danger, this altar is used to summon a hero from another world.」

「Eh… Does that mean…」

After hearing Ciel’s explanation, Aria could pretty much guess the flow of the story.

「Yeah, it’s just as you imagined. I was forcefully summed to this world, Arc, by this summon gate.」

Ciel told that shocking fact with a wry smile.

Aria and Tama were at loss for words.

Until that point, they had been under the impression that Ciel had gone to the spirit world of her own free will. And there, she had accomplished the feats of a hero.

They could’ve never expected that the reality would be completely different from their imagination.

Ciel had been forcibly summoned by the inhabitants of this world when this world called Arc was facing a dangerous situation.

「Ah, please don’t misunderstand! They did forcibly summon me to this world, but I’ve never hated the inhabitants of this world for that.」

When Ciel saw Aria’s reaction, she reminded her of that.

Rather than being angry, Ciel felt grateful to be summoned to this world.

The reason was that she had gained more power as a hero after forming a contract with Celcius, one of the six spirits of this world, to save this world.

And with that power, she and Prince Julius had managed to seal one of the Seven Great Demon Kings, Belphegor, during the Ragnarok that had happened years ago back in their homeworld.

（Uhm! As one would expect from a hero… She has a big vessel.）

When Tama heard Ciel’s story, he couldn’t help but admire her noble heart.

In a normal situation, if someone found out that they had to fight for an alien world due to being forcefully summoned, they would be consumed by rage.

Yet, Ciel let go of her hatred.

She did her best to bring peace to this world and had saved it in the end.

Even when she returned to her homeworld, she achieved the splendid feat of sealing a Great Demon King.

Later, she could’ve ignored Belphegor, who had fled to this world, but she decided to come to this world again.

「Aria, we can return to our homeworld anytime we want by using this altar.」

Ciel calmly explained.

There was no guarantee that all of them would survive in the next battle against Belphegor.

Her words meant that if they wanted to return to their world, it was their last chance. This was the last warning Ciel gave them.

「Ciel-sama, the reason I became an adventurer is that I… yearn to become like Alisha-sama. And just a while ago, I finally gained her recognition as a warrior.」

Aria replied to Ciel.

For her, Sword Saint Alisha was a strong yet noble warrior, the finest example of a warrior.

Having received her idol’s recognition, Aria would never prioritize her safety when there was someone else she had to protect.

「I see, you are a noble warrior, through and through.」

Ciel crushed Aria’s hair while flashing a gentle smile at her. In the end, she even gave Aria a head pat.

「E-Eh…」

Such an unexpected development left Aria bewildered. However, when Ciel patted her head, for some reason, she felt safe and sound.

「Speaking of noble, you’re also a splendid knight, Tama-chan. Will you continue to protect Aria?」

Ciel spoke to Tama after she stopped patting Aria’s head.

「Nyan!」

Tama vigorously replied with a “Leave it to me!”.

In this way, one kitten and two girls deepened their bond.