34 Chapter 34: Getting Caught...

After a good breakfast, Shiro went out for a breath of fresh air - not. Surtr is still in a coma while Kal'tsit is busy on her makeshift clinic, so Shiro decided to...

Yes, to test pilot the Gundam Exia. It's been days since he'd wanted to pilot it, but they're in midst of travelling. When they got off, they had to be alert with that guy pulling off some unexpected moves, so he really couldn't go far that much.

"S-shiro!!"

A very loud shout took his attention for a second. Seeing that it's Tomimi, he knew that she would like an explanation regarding what happened yesterday.

Thinking that she would ask him many things, he replied as he ran away immediately.

"I'll explain later! See ya!"

"W-wait!"

With his enhanced stats, he reached Zumama's village within 5 minutes. Going straight to her workshop, he immediately saw her welding some robot parts. Shiro only stayed in the entrance before he greeted an acquaintance.

"Hello~!"

"Ah, Mr. Shiro, good morning."

(A/N: This is not Japan, so formalities such as -san and -sama will not be used here.)

One of the female Tiacuh greeted him. She is Sera, one of Zumama's assistants. Whenever he came here to exchange knowledge, he always goes through her first.

"Do you need Zumama? I'll call-"

"No, that's not it. I only want to ask something."

"What is it? If it's Zumama's preferences..."

"No, it's not her preferences. I want to ask about an open space that is rarely visited by people."

To summon his Gundam out, he first has to do it in an open space. It also has to be relatively abandoned as there's a possibility that people would see him take out such a big thing in an instant.

Even though it'll not affect him much if some people knows about it, he wanted to do it peacefully. After all, a contract scroll is needed just to silence them.

"An open space? Hm... There's this place where Zumama used to play. It's not that far here, only around ten minutes of walking. There's also not that much people going there since it's a 'cursed' place."

"Cursed place?"

"An originum mine collapsed and claimed more than a hundred lives."

'Ghosts?'

Knowing that such things exist on Fate World, Shiro became more expectant that they exist here. After all, it's the first time he'll see ghosts.

"It's alright."

"...Are you sure?"

"Yup."

After asking for directions, he swiftly left. Few minutes later, Zumama finished what she'd been doing. Sera also mentioned about what Shiro had asked her.

"An open area? Wait a minute... Is it that place?"

"Yes... I tried to prevent him from going but he said it is alright."

'The ghosts...' Zumama used to play in that place before, building her gadgets and then having fun using them. She stopped visiting that place, though. When she saw her gadgets shake and float by themselves, she ran back home, crying.

It was only until her parents told her that ghosts live there did she stop going.

"...I have to go there. The ghosts might-"

"Z-zumama!"

A petite figure shouted in front of her workshop as she gasped for breath while using her staff as a support. Her thick tail swayed, as if expressing her tiredness.

'I didn't think that he's this fast!' Tomimi thought. Originally, she'd only wanted to say thanks to him after hearing the general grasp of the situation from Kal'tsit. Of course, Shiro was still asleep that time.

"Tomimi? What brings you here?"

"Did... Did Shiro come... here?" Her sentences got interrupted in the middle as she tried to get more air in her system. Even she, someone who has a strong physique in the Tiacuhs, got tired after running at Shiro's half speed.

"Shiro? Yes, he did. In fact, I was about to follow him."

Zumama told her about him going to the infamous cursed place. Hearing that, she tensed up. Ghosts are... not her strong point.

"W-we d-don't need to s-save him. He's powerful, yes."

"Powerful? Shiro?"

She didn't know about Shiro's feats in the tomb, but Tomimi did. After all, she personally saw him fighting against dozens of people without losing.

"B-but I want to thank him..." She said as she added, "I-I will only wait for him after he comes back."

"But ghosts can't be hurt by usual means. We still need to warn him about them."

Tomimi took deep breaths to stop herself from trembling. Thinking about his achievements and how it saved the entirety of Acahualla, she finally steeled her resolve.

"You're right."

"Wait for a while. I need to get something first."

Zumama went inside her own storage before going out with an additional modified motorcycle. It has wheels designed for traversing surfaces with bumpy places like forests.

"Hop in"

"Ah-alright."

The two rode the motorcycle and went after Shiro.

*****

"Are you all fine with this?"

To others, Shiro would look like he's speaking with thin air, but that's far from the truth. With his strong mental power, he can see the appearances of these said ghosts. They look just like any other Tiacuhs, but transparent.

All of them nodded as a reply to him.

"...Rest in peace."

Dozens of magic circles, shining with golden light, surrounded the said silhouettes like a dome. These circles changed form as a light pillar replaced it, purifying the ghosts, or spiritual beings, and putting them out of their misery.

Just like a person stuck in a room, these ghosts got unintentionally anchored to this place. It made it so that these tired souls can't disappear.

After the light pillar faded, what was left are golden translucent particles, signifying that they are not bad spirits as they departed.

[+500 Soul Points]

[+344 Soul Points]

...

...

...

"...Why do I feel bitter?" Even though he earned Soul Points easily, he didn't celebrate as usual. "I don't like seeing innocents die..? Am I a cold-blooded assassin in my past life who targeted corrupt nobles? But... I don't know anymore."

Shiro tried moving on by summoning Exia from his [Dimensional Storage].

In an instant, a huge mecha with a humanoid stature appeared. It has a drill-like engine protruding its back and an overall color scheme of white and blue. It has a shield on its left arm while a folded blade is in its right arm.

In its shoulder armor and rear waist, four white cylinders are hidden. They are the GN beam sabers that can cut through many hard things easily in exchange for higher energy consumption.

There's also a physical sword and dagger present on its left and right waist, respectively.

Overall, it is very cool.

"Woah..."

After opening the hatch in the back, Shiro hopped in immediately before being greeted by many controls. Thankfully, he had read the manual of it days ago, so the first thing that he did is to turn it on and open the optic camouflage.

He also activated the radio jamming, just in case something scans this.

As he tinkered with the controls, the two had finally arrived.

"He's not here..." Tomimi said. As the person on the back seat, she got off first. "Where is he..."

She walked randomly, in this open area. Since this is a mine, its surroundings are cleared up. But then...

Clang-!

Tomimi bumped her forehead into something, knocking her back to the ground. A second later, she was about to tear up.

"G-g-g-ghost!"

She immmediately used her arts and fired projectile at the "thing" that she bumped into, but to no avail. Zumama came over with a mechanical knife and was about to pick up Tomimi when the optical camouflage of Exia went off, revealing its appearance to the two.

With his mental power, Shiro saw the two girls immediately. He used his mental power just to stop Tomimi from breaking his brand new mecha.

"Wait! Tomimi, stop firing!"

"...S-shiro?"

The two went in a daze, though for completely different reasons. Tomimi was shocked that Shiro is inside a huge thing while Zumama just gasped in admiration for the robot standing in front of her.