Apocalypse Witch: To the Strongests of an Age of Plenty
Episode 17's

After he came out of the RV, Utagai Karuta felt a chill piercing all over his body.

His breath came out white and snow crackled under his feet.

Not in the city, they were in a clean, white mountain range protected by coniferous trees, so the road and slope were almost indistinguishable.

"It's hard to believe that there was this much snow in April" said the strawberry-haired Marika as she blew a breath into her palm.

They know where Problem Solver's base is, but they can't just drive the RV straight there. They had to walk a few kilometers away. Kyouka's wheelchair couldn't get through the heavy snow, so she was forced to stay inside the RV. If the magic of Susannia or Anastasia is the same as the spear of light, flying would be suicidal. Attracting attention to themselves would make them shot down.

“But actually, what's left?”

“?”

Karuta frowned at the strange phrase, so his childhood friend explained while walking beside him.

"They are all the strongest in the world, so they should stand at the top of different categories, right? For example, the lower dinosaurs of Elicia had no place in that group." He thought for a moment. "Dinosaur, spear of light, and giant sword. If you get rid of it all, what kind of 'strongest' power is left? All too crazy that it's easy to focus too much on a certain force and lose sight of an existing genre."

Karuta never considered seeing it that way.

Those five strongest people had a type of magic that was recognized by all as the strongest in some way. After thinking for a while, he decided to take note of any random idea that came to his mind.

"What about mind control?"

"We haven't seen anything like it. Maybe they can pick a target and weaken it?”

“Or travel through time. Like going back before their target was born and changing history."

“You're starting to be a little out of bounds now. So what about creating a parallel world?”

"The super-adaptive life that keeps growing from one second to the next must be very scary."

They initially joke around with each other, but the weight is gradually felt in their stomachs and they start talking less. If any of their guesses happened to be true, that was the enemy they had to face. This is not the most fun topic of discussion.

After walking for a while, they saw what looked like a log cabin next to a frozen lake.

If the information found by the Student Council President, Omotesandou Kyouka, was accurate, it would be the hiding place of the Problem Solvers. No other buildings were seen in the zone.

The first three people of Problem Solver have provided landfills, electricity, and production, but they also seem to know how to use low-tech solutions. When global infrastructure collapses, these isolated log homes seem to be doing just fine.

It may be similar to the Karuta group in their RV which is not registered in any city or country.

"..."

Returning to Ocean Crystal Magic Academy Grimnoah, she brought blankets, a music player, and a cooler to the space under the flat heliport to ditch the class and have some fun. Marika often reprimands him for such behavior, so the place becomes a secret base that she shares with Gekiha and Aine. He recalled the strange feeling of feeling disconnected from the flow of time when everyone was in the classroom as they should.

What did that log cabin mean to those five people?

How comfortable are they living in a white villa isolated from the outside world?

"There's a parking car next to him," he quietly commented as he looked at it from a distance. "And the snow piled on the windshield. At least about 3 cm thick."

“I took the latest weather data,” Kyouka said from inside the camper car. “Some time lately there has been a lot of snow falling, but nothing very heavy. I doubt the car has been parked there for a whole day.”

Karuta and Marika looked at each other.

If the car does not belong to a building maintenance company that makes periodic visits for maintenance, then they are already holding one of the two cards they want. Is Susannia Evans or Anastasia Blast coming? Or maybe they are both here?

To be careful, they checked the license plate of the car and sent the information to Kyouka, but he did not manage to find any search results.

"There is no conformity. I think that's the Problem Solvers. They must have had considerable influence in world governments to keep their information confidential."

The tension is growing because it is clearly not an ordinary car.

They still did not get a definite answer because they had to go blindly to the possibility of death.

"Feel."

Crystal Girl Aine comes out from behind Karuta.

He quietly tilted his head with a special crystal sword in his hand.

"Sacri-sama, if you want to obtain information to increase the chances of success, you can always send me first."

"No, I can't. Did you forget that we caught the Problem Solvers by accident? They only gathered here because this was a safe hiding place. If we do any attack and they become more cautious, they will never come back. Then they could hide anywhere in the world and we would be forced to search for them among the world's 5.5 billion inhabitants. That obviously won't work even if we have 100 years to work. So..."

So what does that mean?

They had to end it with this first attack. They had to kill whoever it was with their own hands.

Is that what he wants to say? Proudly and with your head held high?

"..."

“After all, we have to do this, right?” said.

“Ya, we have to.”

They walked cautiously towards the wooden hut by the lake.

There was nobody in the car. They surrounded the building, but they could not look inside as all the windows were covered in curtains. In addition to the cars, they found some firewood and cement materials that were stacked randomly.

“See.”

But Marika pointed to one window.

“The window was foggy and there was smoke coming out of the chimney. Inside warm.”

It never happened in an empty wooden hut. It's like a more ancient version of determining if anyone lives there by looking at whether an electric meter rotates.

So there's someone there.

At least one member of Problem Solver is inside. A great pressure felt on his stomach. Is that fellow still watching them from the gap of the curtain now? Is there any chance they could cut through that round wooden wall to attack? Or was his group already caught up in some sort of spell? There was speculation in his head.

"Kh."

He shook his head.

It was like the poison of his own creation. He would exhaust himself before the fight even started.

"Let's compare the fog on the window. That will tell us which part of the cabin is warmest. If someone is here, that's where they are. Whether they use firewood in the fireplace or an AC that uses a generator, they won't want to waste fuel in a very deep place in these mountains."

"Yes, Sacri-sama. I can break through a window or a door here."

"It's nice to know." She smiles. "But if we do this, let's try to be more ingenious. Everyone will be careful with what they consider to be the entrance, so if we break through the wall, we might be able to catch them at the psychological blind spot."

Marika activated her Crystal Flower armor and teamed up with the Crystal Aine Girl to pierce through the outer wall.

They no longer needed to be careful about footprints and hide their whereabouts. In fact, everything only depended on what they could accomplish in these few seconds of confusion and uncertainty. The three stormed inside.

This is a large space that looks like a combination of a dining room and a kitchen. The pieces of walls and windows were scattered all over the wooden floor, but it should have been very clean from the start. The fire danced in the fireplace on the wall, but that was it. Television and audio systems were turned off and silence had surrounded the place as if it were in class at night. They do not see, hear, smell, or realize the existence of a person there.

" They're not here?"

"We just need to keep looking!"

They are facing one of the Problem Solving. Every second was precious, but separating here would be foolishness. They remained together while moving carefully through the cabin. They open a lot of doors.

They found a bathroom with a bathtub, a large drying room for clothes wet with snow, and a food storage room filled with cardboard boxes. There are no stairs and this round wooden house does not have individual bedrooms. More villa-like for the rich is better than the tent version of the mountain climber. And although it was tense, there was none there.

Marika kept her Flower Crystal armor and gently twisted the rapier sword in her hand.

He also frowned.

“Did they realize our arrival and run? There are no footprints in the snow when we surround the cabin, but maybe they can fly like I can,”.

“You think one of the Trouble Solving escaped without firing? I admit it's hard to say because we don't know what kind of strongest power in the world they have, but it's hard to think about.”.

“However, Sacri-sama, there is a car parked outside and there is a fire in the fireplace. Plus, this cabin is too primitive to be controlled from afar,” said another.

There was obviously someone who had been here before.

But the previous meeting was not just an ordinary meeting to reach a consensus.

So why isn't anyone here now?

And why did they leave signs of their existence like cars and campfires in the fireplace?

“Oh, no.”

“Karuta?”

"Oh, no!!"

Finally he lifted his face and ran towards the nearest window while ignoring his confused looking childhood friend and the crystal girl. He pulled the curtain and checked outside.

There should be a frozen lake.

But when he saw something filling his gaze, he spontaneously cursed.

"Dogs!"