Chapter 4
Satou here . Although not to the point of like a bolt out of the blue, I remember feeling absolutely stumped waking up at unknown places after a night out drinking away with friends many times over .
Waking up to a Death Valley-like scenery only happened that one time though .
◇
"Over there, Earl Pendragon . "
Heim-shi of Shiga Eight Swords points at something that looks like a purple mound .
The morning after Bridal Knights formation, he suddenly dropped by my mansion and brought me to capital's outskirts .
We headed to an area barricaded by the capital soldiers to find the aforementioned purple mound .
"This thing?"
Crisis Perception isn't reacting, it doesn't seem that dangerous .
AR reading says, a [Soil Structure] .
I got off my horse, handed over the rein to a knight who led us here, and walked toward the purple mound .
A purple mound is standing at the center of a field that has been fully harvested .
It looks like ruins from Lalakie era somewhat .
"Indeed . This was found when a farmer was making his rounds in this area . "
"You mean this wasn't here before?"
"Yes, according to testimonies of harvesters, this mound was not present up to sunset the day before . "
Fumu, not a Mystery Circle, but a Mystery Monument huh .
I noticed that the maker's name is blank when I check its detailed info . Either this was made by someone with a blank name like I could do, or the name was erased with some kind of mean .
Well, you'd normally think it's the latter, no doubt .
"Perhaps someone created this with earth magic in the middle of the night?"
"I would not have called for Earl Pendragon so early in the morning if it did . "
Heim-shi dismounted, picked up a pebble on the ground and threw it at the purple mound .
"--It passed through the mound?"
The stone Heim-shi threw disappeared into the purple mound, and came out on the other side .
"Is this an illusion?"
I knew it was not despite me asking .
I would have immediately seen through the illusion if it really were .
"It's not . "
Heim-shi grabbed and stopped my arm that was going to reach out to the mound .
Heim-shi turned around and made a signal to a group of people that was already in the area around the mound .
One of the people, a magician wearing a blue sash on top of his robe--Blue Sash of Shiga 33 Wands stepped forward and began to chant a spell . Judging from the chant, it's a summoning magic .
The magician summoned a pigeon and released it toward the mound .
The pigeon nested on one of the bumps on the Purple Mound .
Stones pass through it but it appears that living things can touch it just fine .
"Magic passes through it as well, but not living creatures . "
According to Heim-shi, his light magic and one of the magicians' force magic just went through the mound .
"Watch closely, Earl Pendragon . "
Heim points at the pigeon .
The pigeon started to cry out in pain, so I checked the AR and saw its HP gradually decreasing .
--It's Drain .
Looks like the mound will start draining life force from living things after they come into contact with it for a certain period of time .
However, I didn't saw such a dangerous bit when I checked the mound's detailed info on the AR .
I stare at the purple mound once again .
There's a complex mana flow inside the purple mound . I can't read its effect, not sure if it's because it's not magic .
At the very least, it doesn't seem to be a spell formula for Life Drain nor Mana Drain .
"As you can see . This mound snatches vitality and strength of living beings . "
The pigeon fell on the ground before Heim-shi .
Looks like it's only fainted .
The summoner picked the pigeon up and unsummoned it .
"I was wondering, Earl Pendragon who has traveled all over the world would know about this mound, no?"
Looks like that was the reason why he picked me .
"I think it kinds of resemble ruins left by Lalakie Civilization, I suppose?"
"Fumu . A relic of an ancient civilization huh . . . Even if it has only enough power to kill insects, for something like this to appear suddenly--"
A scholar standing next to the summoning magician nodded, like 'I know what you mean' .
Looks like he's a researcher from the Royal Research Institute .
Numerous dead bodies of small insects are lying on the ground around the purple mound indeed .
"--In my humble opinion, this is some kind of blight . "
"Why not just say it straight? Like, this is the demons' doing . "
The summoner snapped at the scholar .
Ignoring their feud, I walk around the mound, pretending to check it out, then I tested magic edge and holy dagger on it, but they all passed through the mound all the same .
I probably could intervene with the torrent of mana inside the mound if I just put some strength into it, but since it's dangerous as I have no idea what the formula is about, I refrained myself .
"Usasa, lookf at thatf woof . "
--Woof?
"It's likef the thingf at the villagef's squaref!"
"It even gotf the samef colorf too . "
I turn around at the source of accented words and found the dogkin boy, Gaugaru, a graduate of the labyrinth city's Explorer School, [Pendora] .
He's together with his friends, the bunnykin Usasa, Rabibi and the others .
They were among a crowd that had formed outside the soldiers' barricade without my knowledge .
"It's the young masfter!"
"""Young masfter!"""
The Pendora members waved at me .
With that as an impetus, the crowd who were here to look at the purple mound noticed me .
"Am I seeing things or is that--"
"It's the Demon Lord Slayer!"
"Hail Pendragon-sama!"
The crowd began to call out for my name .
"Oy! Don't push! Stop pushing!"
People at the end of the crowd began to push at the barricade to look at me better .
They're ignoring the soldiers telling them to stop, they're gonna crash here if this keeps up .
These people would go straight to the purple mound at this rate, not good .
" . . . ■ Clay Wall!"
Field soil rose up 30 meter tall before the crowd .
The one who cast the magic was a magician with pink blond hair . Since she's wearing a red colored sash which signifies her position in 33 Shiga Wands, she must be a subordinate of the blue sashed summoner earlier .
"Was that of use to you, lord Pendragon?"
The beautiful magician turned around and let out a smile .
"Why yes, thank you . "
When I frankly thanked her, the magician had a complicated look on her face .
Looks like my reaction didn't live up to her expectations .
I check her AR reading .
She's called Athena, with [Sakura Guardian] title, I kind of remember her .
She was the girl I met at the base of the huge sakura tree at the royal castle when I first visited the castle right after I became a Mithril explorer .
If I recall right, she had a little feud with Mia due to her sense of rivalry against Boruenan Forest elves .
Since it's a story long past and not like it's got anything to do with me, I nod at her to end the conversation and ask one of the soldiers to fetch Usasa and the others .
Not because I know them, but because I heard them saying something curious .
"""Young masfter! Congratulationsf for the formationf of your privatef knights!"""
I promptly say, "Thanks" to them and get to the point .
"Everyone, have you seen something like this before?"
"Un, we have . "
"No idea what is it, but that thing sprouted up in the village's square this morning . "
"It sprung up like nyoki-nyoki-nyoki woof . "
"It shone bright before it did, didn't it . "
"Right right . Was doing a night watch, then suddenly a magic circle-like something on the ground, that surprised me kuma . "
"Kubea's scream woke us up . "
"I didn't scream kuma! I was just a bit startled kuma . "
I ask them more questions while arranging their words and the content of their testimonies in my head .
"Did you hear a chant before the magic circle showed up?"
"I didn't kuma . "
"Neither did I . "
"Kinda felt like I heard a grating sound like 'kiiin' . "
Rabibi added more testimony to the two who were on night duty .
"The mound was at the center of the magic circle?"
"That's right kuma . "
"Was the mound already purple from the beginning?"
"Yup, I think it was . And since the magic circle also shined purple, so was the magic circle's color, I think . "
In the middle of the night, a purple magic circle manifested in the village's square, and then soil rose up to form a mound in the center of a magic circle shining purple .
"We tried to poke the mound with a stick and it just passed through . "
"Touching it made me lose strength, it felt yucky kuma . "
"So, we woke everyone, and ran here to inform young master . "
And then they met me by chance here when they took a shortcut through the field from the west gate .
Dryad might have a hand in leading them here indirectly .
"I see . I'm grateful for the valuable information . "
I convey their testimonies to Heim-shi of Shiga Eight Swords .
Information about the appearances of purple mounds in other place and that it was created by some kind of magic was a major one to Heim-shi and the researchers, he smiled broadly and clapped the kids' shoulders, "Well done!"
"Uwaah, it's a Shiga Eight Sword in the flesh . "
"Awesome"
"You guys, you're being rude . "
"Right right woof . "
The [Pendora] kids seemed to be fans of Shiga Eight Swords, they were elated to receive a thanks from Heim-shi .
"Everyone, you've done a good job . Since it'd be a struggle to reach my mansion, you should take some rest in one of my villas instead . "
I took a paper out, drew a map on it and handed it over to Usasa .
It's close to the market, so it's an ideal spot if they want to tour the capital .
"Oh right, this is for you, young master . "
Rabibi fetched a bundle of letters from his knapsack and handed it to me .
The topmost letter has the name Iruna and Jena of [Beautiful Wings], who are working as teachers at Explorer School, written on it . A letter from those two, that's rare .
"Teachers were wishing for more staff, they said . "
--I see .
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login