Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume11 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 1===

Kamito opened his eyes&mdash;

Only to find himself in a space enclosed by walls of stone.

(This place is...?)

After one revolution of looking at the surroundings, he suddenly noticed.

He had recollections of this place.

(...Could this be the Elemental Lords' sanctuary!?)

Kamito suddenly gasped. The flames flickered slightly on the candlesticks on the wall.

Before his eyes, a door stood open, leading to a long passage whose end was nowhere in sight.

It was the endless corridor that led to the True Sanctuary. Let alone ordinary princess maidens, even the continent's five Queens were forbidden from stepping inside.

The only exception was&mdash;

(...The Blade Dance's winner, right?)

Muttering to himself in his mind, Kamito looked down to check out his appearance.

Gorgeous, waist-length black hair. A foreign dress with a fairly long hem, resembling ritual attire. His left hand was holding a dark and sleek longsword.

This appearance belonged to the Strongest Blade Dancer three years ago&mdash;Ren Ashbell.

(...A dream. Furthermore, it's the memories of three years ago.)

These were the memories he could not recall no matter how hard he tried.

(...In other words, I will proceed to&mdash;)

The sound of a door slowly opening behind him could be heard.

Turning his head back, he saw four princess maidens emerge, dressed in top ritual attire.

Naturally, those appearing here could not possibly be ordinary princess maidens.

They stood at the pinnacle of all princess maidens. Four Queens.

Back then, Rubia's successor had not been decided yet. Hence, the Fire Queen's position was still vacant.

The Queens bowed respectfully towards Kamito who was the winner. Then one of them took a step forward.

She was slightly older than Kamito. On her neck was a necklace weaved from silver threads. Kamito recalled that silver symbolized the Queen serving the Holy Lord.

"Ren Ashbell&mdash;"

At this moment, the girl spoke.

"Have you already decided on the Wish to ask of the Elemental Lords?"

"&mdash;Yes."

Ren Ashbell answered in a clear and pure voice.

Back then, Kamito's voice had not changed yet. Although Greyworth had reminded him to avoid speaking too much, he was still able to maintain a girl's voice if it were merely two or three sentences.

"&mdash;Is that so? Very well."

The Queen nodded and smiled.

Kamito had expected the possibility of being asked about his Wish's content and therefore thought up a different answer. However, that seemed to be unnecessary worrying after all.

(Right. The me back then&mdash;)

Did not have a Wish to fulfill.

The blade dancing that Kamito exhibited in the Blade Dance had greatly satisfied the Fire Elemental Lord. The anger incited by the Calamity Queen's betrayal was hence appeased.

This already counted as returning Greyworth's favor. The witch had made Kamito participate in the Blade Dance because she wanted to appease the Elemental Lord's anger towards the Ordesia Empire through Kamito's blade dance.

Greyworth did not hide this motive deliberately. Also, she did not say anything regarding Kamito's own Wish.

However, she had warned that a Wish beyond one's means will lead to one's own demise.

The miracle of the Elemental Lords was not of this world.
[[image:STnBD V11 093.PNG|thumb]]

Hence, the greater the Wish, the higher the price demanded.

Rumors often circulated about the elemental lords' miracle being able to grant all Wishes but never mentioned anything about a price. However, the Dusk Witch was the Blade Dance victor twenty-four years earlier after all. Her words naturally carried weight.

In any case, Kamito did not have any Wish motivated by self-interest at all.

From the beginning, he had entered this Blade Dance only to fulfill ''her'' Wish.

However, Restia had not told him her Wish yet.

She simply repeated that she would naturally tell him when the time came&mdash;

Hence, he finally arrived at this juncture.

Gripped in his left hand, the Vorpal Sword still remained silent.

"&mdash;Well then, please follow this endless corridor and keep going straight forward."

The Queen pointed to the other side of the door.

"The path onwards is a special place separated from normal space. Along the way, the corridor will have passages branching off to the side but absolutely do not step foot into them. In the past, a number of Blade Dance victors have vanished into the dimensional gap."

"...Got it."

Ren Ashbell gulped, nodded and stepped into the corridor that stretched ahead endlessly.

(...Not... good&mdash;Ahead of here...)

He felt a splitting headache. An ominous premonition.

Kamito knew clearly what the future result lay ahead.

(...No! If you continue forward, you will lose Restia&mdash;)

However, Kamito's consciousness could not interfere with Ren Ashbell.

This dream was simply reenacting memories of reality that had already happened.

"What an incredible space..."

Walking along the dimly lit corridor, the Kamito from three years ago muttered.

&mdash;Your hand is shaking, Kamito.

A girl's adorable voice sounded in his mind.

Kamito stopped walking and stared with displeasure at the demon sword of darkness in his hand.

"...Why didn't you speak earlier?"

&mdash;Sorry. Who knows if we might be monitored in the shrine, so there was no way to talk secretly. Furthermore, the Empire's intelligence agency is also investigating you.

"Couldn't you just speak in my mind like now?"

&mdash;Among high-ranking princess maidens, there exist those who can listen to mental speech. Do not be careless. On that point, this space is completely isolated from the outside world and is perfectly suited to secret conversations.

The demon sword of darkness dissipated into the air as particles of light.

Fluttering black feathers obscured Kamito's view as the adorable maiden in the pitch-black dress appeared.

"Stop sulking, Kamito. Next, let me tell you my Wish."

Restia smiled and drew her face close to Kamito's ear.

&mdash;I hope you can assassinate them. The five Elemental Lords.