Manowa - Chapter 385

After Kazane finished making the stone wall, Kazane fell asleep to use『Mana Absorption』. With the 520 Magic Power from the Crimson Saint Coffin and White Magic Accumulators (Revised) added to Kazane's original maximum Magic Power of 363, she had 883 total Magic Power. This was about six times more than the amount an average magician in this world had.

Basically, in Zexiaharts, fully recovering Magic Power took half a day, but since that was only for her own personal portion, when the Crimson Saint Coffin and White Magic Accumulators (Revised) were included, it normally took one and a half days.

Currently, with the ability『Mana Absorption』from her Skill『Magic Power Absorption』combined with Yuuko-nee's『Photosynthesis』, it only took half a day for her to fully recover. Though there was the requirement that she had to sleep for that to happen, but if there were no battles, that shouldn't be a problem.

『Odo Aborption』, the other ability from her Skill『Magic Power Absorption』, allowed her to steal an opponent's Magic Power by grabbing them with her hand. If the opponent was strong, she couldn't carelessly approach, and if they were weak, striking and kicking them was faster than using magic, so it wasn't easy to use against an enemy in battle. And even if she did use it in battle, absorbing from her companions seemed much more reliable.

「Uryaaa」

「Kuhyuu?」

Kazane made a strange noise as that voice woke her up. With her field of view now open, she could see the sky. The sun was probably starting to set, as the sky had become slightly red.

「Nyaa」

『Good morning, Mother.』

Yuuko-nee and Tatuso in front of her (since Kazane had been sleeping on Yuuko-nee's stomach) addressed her, and Kazane replied「Good morning」as she wiped away her drool and blinked her eyes.

When her befuddled mind finally began returning to normal, she looked around and saw Naoki and Kimberly fighting each other with swords.

「Hah, as expected, hoh. You're talented.」

「Not at all!!」

It seemed the two were practicing together.

Naoki challenged Kimberly with his two sword style, but Kimberly's sword deftly handled Naoki's attacks one after the other. Kimberly was currently rank B, the same as Naoki, but it was said that his ability with the sword reached rank A. Although Naoki was rank B, he was able to complete the quests to become rank B thanks to the power and versatility of his magic swords, so his swordsmanship didn't match his rank.

Therefore, while it may have been different in a battle using his magic swords' powers, it seemed his pure sword skill alone couldn't reach Kimberly.

「Are the two in the middle of intensive training?」

『Yes. They've already been doing it for about 30 minutes.』

Tatsuo answered Kazane's question. Kazane said「I see」while opening the Window to check the time. The current time was 15:56. It was around the time the sun began to set. Her Magic Power had recovered to around 400, which was only half, but if she waited any longer, it would become nighttime.

「Well, before it gets dark, shall I do one final push?」

So saying, she stretched「Unnn」and stood, then decided to open another Window and contact Makka. Since Town Development Mode activated when she became a feudal lord, Makka was designated as her subordinate, so she became able to contact her.

◎ Kazane Magic Hot Spring Town, Feudal Lord Mansion

「I, I'm not used to this.」

As Makka was confronting the papers on her desk, a noise suddenly rang out, and a square board appeared before her eyes with a message sent by Kazane written on it.

Currently, Makka was doing paperwork in the feudal lord mansion, which was adjacent to the large communal bath called The Crystal Palace.

At the present point, she had just confirmed the number and allocation of immigrants; 91 houses for families and 7 houses for workers were necessary. That was larger than the expected per capita division, but the additional people and Outer family members that came were included in that number.

Also, when they were in the carriage, Makka saw the blueprints for the houses Kazane planned to build and pointed out that it would be best to lower the grade more than she hypothesized.

Giving everything for free would discourage labor and cause feelings of unfairness for those who planned to relocate from the start. During their conversation, Kazane agreed that it would be best to make the current houses rental houses. Then, the people could buy their own houses someday in the future. To do that, people would need a way to make money, which made job placement essential, but the city had just started being built, so there was plenty of work to go around.

Also, now that the city itself had a wall, they were planning to make a village in a location lower down. From the start, the passage between Minshiana and Lindo got a good amount of traffic. It was also a suitable place for transporting agricultural products.

The development of this area hadn't progressed very far due to problems like damage from Mortal Monkeys, but now, it was already at the point of no return. There was a sense that the scale of the hot spring town had become much larger than originally planned, so they also needed to think about reorganizing the project.

In any case, while Makka was integrating the additional people from Uumin into the calculations of the current plan, Kazane contacted her with the Window.

「Ah, now that she's made the wall, she's going to build houses next? Putting it simply.」

While saying that, Makka wrote a reply of acknowledgement and asked where she was going to build them on a piece of paper, then brought that paper close to the square board floating in the air. Thereupon, the letters written by Makka were projected on the board.

「So, I push this, right?」

A Yes and No button appeared to Makka, so she pushed the Yes button.

Thereupon, she heard a ding dong sound, and the square box closed. It seemed that with this, her message would reach Kazane, but Makka had never seen such magic. If she was pushed to say, it resembled the Adventurers Guild's communication bulletin board, but it seemed the distance was unlimited and that the message would reliably reach the other party, so the convenience was incomparable.

(But I was told that if I talk about this, Her Majesty the Queen Yuuko will punish me.)

Makka felt like this would revolutionize distribution for merchants, but since Kazane told her that it couldn't be used by other people and clearly explained that she might receive severe punishment from Queen Yuuko if she spread it, she didn't report it to Zenith Firm, even though it was the organization she belonged to. In the first place, with Makka's current position as acting feudal lord, there were quite tricky issues with belonging to an organization.

「Well, it doesn't change the fact that it's convenient, and considering it's something bestowed by the feudal lord, let's deem it acceptable.」

She was surprised by the matter at Uumin, and even now, she thought she had a lot on her shoulders, but when the stage had been set for her to such a degree, there was no way she wouldn't do it well. As might be expected now that her body wasn't young anymore, Makka said「Yoisho」as she struggled to her feet, then started walking toward the immigrant group currently camping in the town's public square.

Then, Kazane began building houses in the magic hot spring town.

Also, Yumika and the others were continuing their journey toward the royal capital, and they were currently taking a breather at Rock Hold Town.

It could be said that everything was going as planned without a hitch.

But at the same time, an incident occurred in Tsuvara's royal capital.

Since Tiara and the others were heading there, it probably wasn't unrelated to them.

In short, the Shelkin faction aristocrats had died mysterious deaths.

◎ Tsuvara Kingdom, Royal Capital Griffonia, Royal Castle Griffonias, Throne Room

「Shelkin. I don't mean that you did it by yourself.」

While sitting on the throne, Audin was holding his head as he inquired.

「Please stop, older brother... no, Your Majesty the King. Your Majesty should know best that I wouldn't do such a thing, right?」

And, in front of Audin, a middle-aged herbivorous man that was round and fat like a pig was standing. In other words, it was Shelkin, the younger brother of the current King Audin, a winner in life who had an understanding and beautiful wife as well as a daughter in her rebellious period.

「The nobles were suspected of hiring an assassin. It would be understandable if someone gave them the death penalty.」

Audin understood that Shelkin wasn't the culprit.

Audin's younger brother, Shelkin, was much smarter than Audin, and in terms of his abilities alone, Audin thought that he should be the king. But Shelkin was gentle, or if said badly, timid, so he didn't like to be in front of others and had no desire to stand above others.

However, while had a policy of not showing his face to others, he had amply demonstrated his abilities, so he had substantial influence. Simultaneously, he was also seen as easy to control due to his personality, and the aristocrats had been scheming to set him up as a puppet.

「But if it wasn't you, then who... that is the problem.」

Actually, ever since Tiara left this royal castle, one rumor had been spreading. The rumor was that Tiara was chosen as the next chosen successor of the Ruby Griffon, but Audin killed her, buried her body in a hidden place, and took the throne.

Of course, that rumor was nothing more than a rumor, but Tiara herself wasn't present, and since Tiara was hiding her identity, her movements were also unknown.

And it seemed there was a faction who planned to make that assassination a reality to overthrow Audin and put Shelkin on the throne... Audin had obtained such information.

But since that faction was created by the devil Diablo, Shelkin, the person himself, was kept out of the loop. As a matter of fact, until yesterday, they had learned almost nothing about them.

However, the situation had changed. All the nobles proceeding with the assassination had probably been killed. Their respective causes of death were being beheaded, crushed, poisoned, gouged, and having their blood drained. They were all abnormal manners of death.

「This means there was a quarrel with the hired assassins, don't you think?」

Reigel, the head of the Royal Knights, cut into the conversation. Audin tilted his head and replied.

「Maybe. If the danger to my daughter is over with this, that would be good.」

The situation was still unclear. I have to contact Mefirus through the Ruby Griffon again... Audin thought with a wrinkle in his brow.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Summoning Fighter

Title: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner, Rea King, Liberator, Guardian

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Draghorn Tonfa x2, Dragon Eating Ogre Army Armor (True), Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, White Magic Accumulator (Revised) ×2, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring, Angel Bracelet

Level : 39

Health: 155+20

Magic Power: 363+520

Strength: 78+45

Agility: 80+39

Endurance: 44+20

Wisdom : 75

Dexterity : 53

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror Shield』『Rabbit Speed』『Flare Mirage』

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Kick Decapitation Wave』『Warrior's Memory: Lv2』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog's Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv4』『Aegis Shield』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition: Lv2』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield: Lv2』『Information Link: Lv2』『Optical Camouflage』『High Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Hand Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『Sturdier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Devil King's Intimidation』『Stone Minotaur: Lv2』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『Space Expansion』『Pseudo-Silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』『Ingredient Connoisseur: Lv2』『Dragon Pheromone「Dragon」』『Boost』『Monkey's Strong Arm』『Two-sword Style』『Boobies Plus』『Living Armor』『Alarm』『Six-sword Style』『Mental Attack Complete Protection』『Spider Web』『Wire Cutter』『Flexible』『Magic Power Absorption』

Naoki: 「That person is quite strong.」

Kazane: 「Kimberly-san is quite the master. Well, fighting with your set of magic swords is your style, so if you challenged him using those, it would probably be different.」