The Crystal Creature

The next day, we headed over to Zanac's store to finish up the request we

accepted from him. Initially, he was surprised by our quick return, but he

quickly accepted it once I explained the [Gate] spell to him. Teleporters were

certainly rare, but not unheard of, after all.

"This is a letter with the viscount's response." I handed the letter over to

Zanac. He inspected the seal and confirmed it was genuine before opening the

letter up and briefly skimming through it.

"Indeed it is. Thank you for a job well done."

"Oh right, Mr. Zanac. You should take this. Since we only used half of the

traveling fees, I figured we should return the rest," I said, as I handed him the

bag with the remaining travel money in it.

"You're an honest lad, aren't you? Had you not mentioned your use of that

[Gate] spell in returning, you could easily have kept that money for yourself."

"I figure having you trust me is worth more than some quick cash. As a

merchant, I'm sure you understand."

"...Very true indeed. A merchant is only worth as much as the faith people

have in him. Not many people would've been willing to trade with someone

with a reputation for being a cheat. Making light of that fact can never lead to

good things." As he spoke, Zanac took the money back.

After that, he handed me a card from the guild with a number printed on it, to

serve as proof that we'd completed the request. All we had to do was hand that

card in to the guild office to claim our reward.

We gave Zanac our thanks, then left the store. From there, we walked straight

to the guild office.

As we entered the guild, we were greeted by the all-too-familiar sight of

request boards and people staring from all sides. We made our way over to the

receptionist's desk. Yae was fidgeting nervously all the while, since it was her

first time there and all.

I handed over the card I'd received from Zanac, and just like that, our quest

was complete.

"Please present your Guild Cards." Alongside a heavy sound of three thumps,

the receptionist pressed the magical stamp down on our cards.

"And here is your reward of seven silver coins. As always, thanks for your hard

work." I took our reward money, then called Yae over to the desk.

"While we're here, this girl wants to register with the guild."

"A new registration, then? Very well." While Yae received the explanation

about her guild registration, the rest of us split the reward. We each took two

silver coins and decided to spend the rest on food for all of us later on.

"Still, feels a bit weird, y'know? A reward of two silver suddenly seems like a

lot less money than it actually is..." Elze muttered.

"I know exactly what you mean. Suddenly having platinum coins thrown at

you does wonders for destroying your perception of value..." Linze replied.

I couldn't help but smile at Elze's bemused reaction. This was all quite silly,

honestly. The money we'd received from the duke was ultimately a bonus, and

nothing more. I had to make sure to be fiscally responsible, and not to rely on it

too much in my day-to-day life.

"I got registered, I did!" Yae waved her card around happily as she made her

way over to us.

Her card was the Beginner's Black, unlike the rest of ours. Seemed like she felt

slightly left out when she noticed that fact. Still, we were by no means a very

high level yet. I was sure the gap would be closed in no time as we kept doing

more quests together.

Since Yae was so eager to get started straight away, we all made our way over

to one of the request boards.

When people with different colored Guild Cards teamed up to accept a

request, their overall level would be judged by the color of card that was most

prevalent on their team. Since three of us had Purple cards and only one of us

had a Black card, we could accept Purple requests even with Yae at her current

level.

I read through the posted requests along with everyone else.

"Northern ruins... Hunt, Mega... Slimes? Hey, this one's still up. How about

we..."

"No way!" "Please stop." "I do not think so."

Responding in perfect sync again, are we? I see how it is. And you've even

brought a new recruit over to your side this time. Seems like Yae's not good with

sticky, slimy things either... Damn shame...

In the end, we went with a hunting request for some magical beast species

called Tiger Bears. With a name like that, I wondered which parts of them were

tiger and which parts bear... Their habitat was within walking distance if we

used a [Gate] too. So, off we went.

Well, I found out pretty quickly that Tiger Bears were large bears with tigerstriped fur. Also, they had fangs like sabre-toothed tigers!

I was startled when they ambushed us up in the rocky mountains, but Yae

ended up taking out almost all of them by herself.

We snapped off their fangs to take back to the guild as proof that we'd taken

care of them, and I used '[Gate]' once more to take us back to the guild. We

handed the fangs in and the quest was complete. All of this took no longer than

two hours, netting us a reward to the tune of twelve silver. Honestly, it was

beginning to get a bit silly how quickly we were clearing those quests.

Understandably, we were questioned as to whether we really defeated these

monsters at the location specified in the request. I carefully informed the

receptionist that I could use teleportation magic, and she accepted my

explanation. Apparently there were several other adventurers with various

kinds of teleportation magic, although each with their own restrictions. In the

case of my [Gate] spell, it could only take me to places I had already been to at

least once before.

Yae went on about us taking on another request since we still had plenty of

time left, but I wasn't really up for more fighting at that point. I managed to

pacify her by suggesting we all go get something to eat instead. And so, we

stopped off at the cafe, Parent, to celebrate having cleared Zanac's request, as

well as Yae registering with the guild, as well as her first successful hunting

quest.

We all ordered small snacks and drinks, plus one vanilla ice cream for each of

us. Yae was shocked by her first contact with the substance, but she was

wolfing it right down like everyone else before very long.

Right as we were about to leave, Aer asked if I'd like to come up with another

new item for the menu. Hmm... what'd be good this time? Guess I'll look up

some ideas when we get back to the inn.

◇ ◇ ◇

It had been two weeks since we'd gotten back from the capital. It was raining

outside. It had been raining for three days, in fact. Apparently this world had a

rainy season as well, but this wasn't it. Just a particularly long spell of rain.

We had put off doing guild quests until the rain stopped. Instead, I immersed

myself in my magic studies. Basically, I was picking up usable new spells from

that book I'd bought in the capital.

It was a five hundred page book. I'd read through about a third of the whole

thing, but I'd only managed to find four worthwhile spells. There were about

fifty spells per page, so twenty five thousand in all... Out of those twenty five

thousand, only four usable ones so far from the approximately eight thousand

three hundred I'd reviewed.

The spells I had acquired were:

[Enchant] — A spell for infusing magical properties into items.

[Paralyze] — A spell for paralyzing an opponent to prevent them from

moving.

[Modeling] — A spell for changing the shapes of minerals, wood, or the like.

[Search] — A spell for locating nearby objects.

Only those four.

Out of them, [Modeling] and [Search] proved to be the most useful. Still,

none of them were quite perfect.

[Modeling] was a skill for transferring one's mental image over to re-mold a

solid object, but it took quite a bit of time if you weren't used to it. Plus, losing

focus halfway through making something usually produced weird-looking

results.

I tried making a shogi set for practice, but the board itself was one row too

long and the pieces were too big to fit in the squares.

It was difficult unless you had a clear image in mind while performing the

spell. Was much easier to create something while staring at what the finished

product should look like, so I managed to get a shogi set made pretty well by

searching for an image of one on my smartphone.

[Search] was one that I learned while thinking it would come in handy when

trying to locate lost items, but it turned out that the spell itself could also

perform incredibly vague searches.

I had thought there wasn't any vanilla in this world, so as a test I used

[Search] at the marketplace and ended up finding it instantly.

What I found wasn't the vanilla that I was used to, but a strange fruit

resembling a cherry tomato that was apparently called a Koko. Nevertheless, it

both tasted and smelled like vanilla, so it turned out to be very usable as a

substitute.

Even if the name or shape were different, if it was something my mind would

judge as vanilla, then the spell picked up on it... It cast a wide net.

But even that spell had its downsides. Its effective range was incredibly short.

It only had a radius of about fifty meters. I couldn't really use it for anything like

finding missing people.

"I'm hungry..." I checked what time it was, and noticed it was well past

lunchtime. No wonder.

I closed the book, locked my room, and headed down the stairs. In the dining

room, Dolan and Barral, the owner of the Eight Bears Weapon Shop, were

sitting facing each other. In between them was a board of wood covered in

squares.

"You're playing shogi again?"

"Yup," Dolan answered, his gaze glued to the board all the while. I couldn't

help but shrug.

Regarding the shogi set I had made as a test, Dolan was the one who took the

most interest in it. Once I taught him the rules he became immersed in the

game, and even started dragging acquaintances into playing against him. Barral

also happened to get hooked on it, so the two of them would play against each

other whenever they had the time.

To be honest, I really lucked out when Barral also got hooked. Until he came

along, I'd been forced to be Dolan's opponent, being the only other person who

really knew the rules.

Even if I was familiar with the rules, I was by no means good at shogi myself. I

didn't even use to play it very often. I had won a few games at first, but could

no longer lay a finger on Dolan. I guessed that was what it meant to grow good

at something because you enjoyed doing it.

I placed an order for lunch to Micah in the kitchen, then took a seat on the

other side of the dining room so as not to disturb Dolan and Barral.

"Mr. Barral, what about the store?"

"Not many people comin' along in the rain, so I left the missus in charge of

things. Never mind that, though. Touya, think you could make another one of

these here shogi boards?"

"Eh? Didn't I already make one for you?" I could've sworn I'd made a set for

him just the other day since he said he wanted to practice at home, too.

"Simon from the item shop said he wanted one, too. Do me a favor, aye?"

"Well, alright then..." Can't you just get a craftsman to make one...? Though

when I thought about it, I realized that making it normally might prove to be

quite the hassle.

"Really now. Thanks a bunch, kid."

"Checkmate."

"Hrm?!" Dolan let out that word, crossed his arms, and gazed at the board,

and Barral reacted in turn. Those two were completely hooked. I had no idea it

would catch on to this extent.

While I was watching the two of them, Micah brought out my meal.

"Here y'go, sorry for the wait. And you two, hurry up and put that thing away

already."

"Sorry... Jus' one more game." Dolan made a gesture as if begging Micah to

let them keep playing. To be fair, they probably wouldn't be playing so much

under normal weather. On the other hand, it could just be that the rain

provided a convenient excuse...

The meal Micah had made today was wild herb pasta and tomato soup with

two apple slices.

"Come to think of it, Micah, where's everyone else?"

"Linze is still in her room, and Elze and Yae went out earlier."

"In this rain?"

"They went to buy the new desserts from Parent, apparently." Oh, that

explained it. Since I'd managed to find vanilla, I talked to Aer about it and came

up with a vanilla roll cake as the new menu item.

Like the time before, all I really did was find the recipe and note down the

instructions on how to make it. Even so, it turned out delicious. So delicious that

I got carried away and had her make strawberry roll cake as well.

When Elze heard about it, she almost had me by the neck, demanding to

know why I didn't bring any back with me. She was so unreasonable...

Just because those new creations are going on sale doesn't mean you have to

run out and get them on the day they come out. Well, never underestimate the

tenacity of a girl with a sweet tooth, I guess...

"We're back! Ahh, we're soaked!"

"We're back, we are." Speak of the devil and whatnot, the two of them had

returned. They shook their umbrellas off and planted them by the entrance.

This world didn't have the vinyl umbrellas I was used to. It did have umbrellas,

but they were basically made out of cloth and wood. Though the ones they had

were infused with pine resin, so they were still just as water resistant as the

ones I was used to.

"Welcome back. Did you get it?"

"Of course we did. There were less people because of the rain, so it was way

quicker than usual." Elze proudly held up the bag of treats. Bless her, just look

at that smile.

"It was delicious, indeed it was."

"I know, right?" They even had some when they went to pick it up? What a

pair of gluttons.

"Here y'go, Micah, this one's yours."

"Thank you. I'll give you the money for it later, alright?" Elze took four small

white boxes out of the bag and handed one to Micah. Seemed like Micah had

asked Elze to get her one, too.

"Who're the rest for?"

"One for Linze, one for me and Yae to share... And one for you to deliver to

the duke."

"Wait, deliver?" Never mind that, you still plan on eating more?!

"Who else but you is gonna make it to the capital in this rain? We've gotta

give them gifts in return for their hospitality last time, it's common sense."

When I said that they should come along as well in that case, I was politely

rebuffed. Seemed they were still nervous around Duke Alfred. Oh, come on

already.

With no real choice in the matter, I set off on my own. Since it was a freshly

made, the sooner I handed it over the better they would still taste.

Oh, right... I figured I would deliver a shogi board to the duke, too. Just as a

souvenir of sorts.

I let Dolan know and asked for permission to use some of the scrap wood

from out in the back garden. I cast [Modeling] and made two more shogi sets.

I'd made them several times already by that point, so I'd gotten pretty used to

it.

I finished making them in around ten minutes. I checked them over just to be

sure. Yup, they look fine to me. I accidentally made one too many rooks last

time, so I had to be careful.

I returned to the dining hall and handed one set over to Barral. I put the roll

cake and the box containing the shogi pieces into a bag, then slung the shogi

board under my arm.

"Alright, I'll be off, then." I took my umbrella and headed out into the back

garden to get ready to cast [Gate]. It was always better to avoid standing out

when doing that.

The best place to appear would be... in the shadows of the front gate, I guess.

"[Gate]."

"Yummy! This is yummy!"

"Mind your manners, Sue. But you really do have a point... This roll cake truly

is delicious." Sue and Duchess Ellen happily devoured my offering of roll cake. It

made it worth taking it all that way. The duke ate too, and he seemed to

approve.

"I'm truly envious of the people of Reflet who are able to eat this every day. If

I could only cast [Gate] like you, then I would be able to buy it all the time, too."

"If you'd like, I could teach the recipe and cooking instructions to the chefs on

the estate. It's not really a trade secret or anything."

"Really, Touya?! Mother, do you hear that?! We'll be able to eat this every

single day!" Sue latched onto my words rather firmly. Excuse you, young miss,

but drool is escaping your mouth.

"Now now, Sue. You'll get fat if you eat it every day. Let's just leave it at every

other day instead, all right?" The Lady of the house had her say, though I didn't

think every other day would make much of a difference compared to every

single day... I'd feel pretty guilty if Sue had completely fattened up the next

time I came to visit.

"Now then, you called this thing shogi, did you?"

"That's right. It's a game you play between two people... a pastime of sorts.

Would you like a go at it?" I set up my side of the board as Duke Alfred

inspected the board and pieces.

"Father, let me play too!"

"Now wait your turn, I'll be going first." The duke copied me and set up his

side of the board... Except the rooks and bishops were in the wrong places.

"First of all, I'll teach you how each piece can move. This piece is a Pawn and

indicates a regular footsoldier. It can only move one square at a time, but if you

get it to the opponent's side of the board, then..."

"Hm, I see..." Slowly but surely, I taught the duke the basic movement

patterns of each piece. He proved to be a fast learner. I was certain he'd

improve rapidly given his quick thinking. Alas, it wasn't long before I regretted

my actions yet again.

"One more game! Just one more game! We'll be done after that!" You told

me that same thing just a minute ago, I thought to myself... The result was that,

much like Dolan, the duke had gotten hooked on shogi. And, for the second

time, I was forced to play several games of shogi in rapid succession. The sun

had long since set, and Sue had even fallen asleep on the couch waiting for us.

I thought again about how little this world had in the way of entertainment,

and briefly wondered if that was why people were so quick to latch onto things

like shogi.

"This is a very interesting game. I must get my brother to play it as well!" It

was late at night before I was finally released, but the duke proceeded to throw

me a curveball with that shocking statement. I could only hope that the king

wouldn't become hooked on shogi, too. He won't ignore state politics to polish

up his shogi game, right...?

Oh, the rain finally let up.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Yae, it's heading your way!"

"Understood!" It disappeared from my vision using the crumbling castle wall

as a shield.

I heard a metallic clang from across the wall, and when I circled around it, I

saw the thing engaged in combat with Yae.

It wore black plate armor and swung around a huge, menacing greatsword.

An aura of raw power flowed out of its trunks as its mighty legs clung to the

ground without ever giving way, and its two arms swung around that

greatsword without so much as a trace of mercy in its being.

No, it had been lacking in a feeling of mercy from the very beginning, for this

black knight had no head.

Dullahan. That was its name. Born from a knight who was beheaded whilst

still harboring many regrets, it revived as a monster and began beheading

others as a means to try and seek a new head for itself. It was different from

the legends about it back in my old world...

But this Dullahan was our target. Yae and I caught the Dullahan in a pincer

attack. I sent her a signal with my eyes, and she confirmed that the light was

gathering in my outstretched middle and index fingers before quickly retreating

from the spot.

"Strike true, Light! Sparkling Holy Lance: [Shining Javelin]!" A blinding spear

of light shot out from the fingers I had aimed at the Dullahan. The spear hit the

creature square in the left shoulder and tore its arm right off.

But unlike a human, no blood poured from the wound. Instead, a black

miasma seeped out into the surrounding air as it moved to swing down its

massive greatsword upon me with its remaining right arm.

Suddenly, a well-timed shadow leaped in from the side to intercept the

headless knight with a brutal punch to the side. Not letting the monster recover

its balance, the shadow continued with a flurry of well-placed roundhouse

kicks.

"Elze! Did you take care of the Lone-Horned Wolves?!"

"Yeah, cleaned 'em all up! Man, there were like twenty of those things, you

know?!" Linze came running up from a distance shortly after that. Right, time

for the showdown.

The Dullahan staggered for a bit due to Elze's chain of attacks, but quickly

corrected its posture and sent its blade flying horizontally at the neck of its new

target. Elze noticed that fact and barely managed to leap out of its way,

throwing herself into a roll toward my direction.

"Come forth, Fire! Purgatorial Sphere of Flames: [Fireball]!" Linze threw a

fireball that landed a direct hit on Dullahan's back. Yae moved to strike in that

instant, but her sword only struck the enemy greatsword as her attack was

fended off.

"This thing's tough! We won't stand a chance if this turns into a battle of

endurance!" Unlike the enemy, we couldn't afford to take so much as a single

clean hit from that weapon. It would cleave us in twain, and even a minor

scratch from it was enough to tear off a limb or two.

The Dullahan was already a lifeless creature; a being of death. In other words,

an Undead-type monster. As a general rule, Undead monsters were extremely

weak against Light-type magic. Linze could also use Light magic, but she wasn't

particularly proficient with it. I had to be the one to finish it off... And I had just

the idea.

"Linze! I need you to freeze that thing's legs! Just buy me a few seconds!"

"Eh? Uhm... understood!" Hearing this, Yae and Elze made their move. They

drew the Dullahan's attention from Linze and me. Our teamwork had finally

reached an impressive level.

"Entwine thus, Ice! Frozen Curse: [Icebind]!"

Linze's spell froze the ground at the Dullahan's feet in a flash. The headless

knight put all of its power into its legs to free itself from the bind, and the ice

gradually began cracking around it. As if I'd waste this chance!

"[Multiple]!" I activated one of my non-elemental spells. Around me

appeared four magic circles floating in the air. Next, I cast a Light magic spell.

"Strike true, Light! Sparkling Holy Lance: [Shining Javelin]!" At my command,

four spears of light came shooting out of the four magic circles. Each spear

followed a straight trajectory to the Dullahan. The effect of [Multiple], one of

my newer Null magic acquisitions, allowed multiples casts of a single

incantation to be used at once.

The headless knight tried to move to dodge the spears of light, but Linze's ice

held it firm to the ground.

The Dullahan took the full force of the attack, losing its right arm, a chunk out

of its side, its left leg, and it also had a hole blasted in its chest before finally

collapsing to the ground. Black miasma flowed out from the battered armor and

dispersed into the wind. The headless knight would move no more.

"Looks like we're done here."

"That was hard work, it was." Elze let out a sigh of relief and Yae plopped

herself down on the bare ground. That was to be expected. Yae had been the

one constantly dodging all of the Dullahan's attacks in close-quarters for the

majority of that fight.

"...We weren't expecting a pack of Lone-Horned Wolves to appear alongside

it. That was a dangerous miscalculation..." Linze held her hand to her chest in

relief as she said those words.

Over the past few months, we had built up our Guild Rank to the level of

Green. Out of Black, Purple, Green, Blue, Red, Silver, and Gold, we were now

the third rank from the bottom. Reaching that point meant people would

acknowledge you as a fully-fledged adventurer.

We were ready to accept a Green request right away when Elze came forward

with the suggestion of trying out a quest from a different town's guild office for

once.

Just like that, we made for the guild office in the capital. There we found a

green request asking for the subjugation of monsters in these ruins.

Apparently they were the ruins of what was once the country's old capital

from over a thousand years ago. The king of that era decided to abandon the

land and built a new capital elsewhere, so it was said. Basically, they relocated.

I had no way of knowing what it was like at the time it was still the country's

capital city, but as of that moment the place was covered in ivy and the castle

walls were riddled with holes. There were still faint traces of the paved ground

and some buildings to give the feeling it was once a city, and at the center stood

what must have been the royal castle... although it was just royal rubble by that

point. It was the very picture of a ruined city.

Monsters had come to live in the ruins over time, and adventurers like us

would be requested to drive them out. But before long the monsters would be

back, leading to more adventurers driving them away, forming a curious cycle.

Still, it was true that if left alone, the monsters would eventually build up

enough numbers to be quite threatening. It was probably best to drive them

away from the place every now and then for everyone's safety.

"For this being the old capital, there sure is a whole lot of nothing here,

huh..." Looking around, all I saw was crumbling walls, broken walls, and

shattered walls. At the very peak of this place, on top of the only hill with a

decent view, used to stand the old royal castle, supposedly. I wondered if Sue's

ancestors had lived there at some point.

But would it normally deteriorate into such featureless ruins? Was it maybe

like in the Three Kingdoms when Dong Zhou burned the old capital to the

ground, houses and all, as he moved the capital to Chang'an?

"It'd be funny if there were some kinda hidden royal family treasure or

something."

"No, I believe that not to be the case. It would be one thing if the country had

fallen, but a relocation of the capital alone would not be so difficult that they

would leave precious treasures behind in the process, it would not."

"I knooow, I just thought it'd be funny if there were something like that." Elze

pouted at Yae's sound argument. Treasure, huh?

Back in my world there were the buried treasures of Tokugawa, Takeda, and

the like, but it seemed like such concepts were familiar to this world, too. I

wasn't averse to the idea. The idea of a treasure hunt never failed to strike

something in a man's heart.

Just then, an idea came to mind. I can try using that spell!

"[Search]: Treasure."

I used my locating spell. If there was anything that I might've acknowledged

as treasure nearby, then this spell would've picked it up... Which it didn't. Well,

it was only to be expected.

"You used [Search]?! How was it, anything pop up?!"

"All I learned is that if there is treasure, it's nowhere near here." I gave the

overexcited Elze the results of my search with a bitter smile.

"I see... That sucks."

"B-But that's only for things Touya would see as a treasure himself, right?

There might be other valuable things outside of that range..." Oh my, it seemed

the younger sister was raring to go treasure hunting, too. Shouldn't have

expected any less of twins.

In fact, it was just as Linze had said. For example, say there was an extremely

valuable painting by some famous artist lying around. If I were to look at that

painting and think anything along the lines of "It looks like junk to me," then my

search spell wouldn't register it as an object of value.

The results were entirely based on the caster's frame of mind. That incredibly

vague style was both this spell's biggest strength and most critical weakness.

Although in the painting example, it would probably react if I found out about

the painting's worth after the fact.

At any rate, she did have a point. My frame of reference for treasure was

mainly things like gemstones, golden crowns, decorative swords, or piles of old

money. In which case, the term I should home in on is...

"[Search]: Historical Relics." This way it should catch objects of historical

value in its net. Or so I thought until I remembered that I had no way of knowing

that at a glance... Hold on... "...Huh, I found something."

"Eh?!" "What?!" "E-Excuse me?!" There it was, an object of historical

significance. The ruins themselves were also included in the results, but there

was something else nearby as well. I honed my senses in on it. Yup, there it was.

"Wh-Which way is it, the direction?!" Elze exclaimed.

"...It's over this way. I can feel it over there. What the heck is this? It's pretty

big."

"It's big?!" they all screamed in unison. We groped around the inside of the

ruins as we pressed forward. Everyone followed my lead until we eventually

came out in front of a big pile of rubble. Hmm...?

"Below? It's coming from underneath this rubble?" Just as I was wondering

what to do with the several tons of the building debris before us, Linze stepped

forward and fired off a spell.

"Burst forth, Fire! Crimson Eruption: [Explosion]!"

The rubble was blown into tiny pieces with a tremendous kaboom. Isn't that

overdoing things a bit, Linze?!

"...I've taken care of it." Not paying my stunned stature any mind, Linze set

right about to examining the ground where the rubble had been. Where'd all

that sudden zeal come from?

As I stood where the rubble used to be, I felt the signal grow stronger once

again. It was... under here? Looking carefully, I noticed something half-buried in

the dirt...

I called everyone over and we started digging away the dirt around it. When

we finished unearthing it, it turned out to be a pair of large steel doors that

were roughly two tatami in size and shape. Why was it hidden in a place like

this...?

We combined our strength and pried the doors open. For some reason it

opened smoothly, showing not so much as the slightest trace of having rusted.

It was possible that it wasn't made of steel.

After we pried open the doors, what we found waiting for us was a stone

staircase eerily beckoning us into the depths...

◇ ◇ ◇

"Come forth, Light! Tiny Illumination: [Light Sphere]!" Linze created a small

light that floated in the air. With cautious steps, we proceeded down the stone

stairs.

The staircase was a spiral one and it looked like it was going to go on forever.

As we proceeded, I was filled with anxiety. It was almost like we were headed

into the bowels of the earth itself.

After some time, the stairs opened into a long, stone passageway. The path

was straight onward, and so dark I couldn't make anything out. It was moist,

foisty, and humid... The whole place had an atmosphere that gave me the

creeps.

"Th-This place is freaking me out... Are there ghosts around here?"

"Wh-What are you saying, Elze-dono?! Gh-Ghosts won't come out here, they

won't!" Yae responded to Elze's mutterings in a hyperbolic manner. That

aside... can you girls quit yanking on my coat? It's difficult to walk like this...

Linze, on the other hand, was firmly walking along the hallway. Strong-willed,

that one.

Linze's light was the only thing illuminating the area, so we followed behind

her. As we carried on through the passage, the ceiling gradually got higher until

it opened up into a large chamber.

"What's this...?" I saw what appeared to be some kind of lettering drawn on

the wall ahead. It was four meters tall and ten meters across... lines drawn

across it separated the writing into columns. Each column was around thirty

centimeters across, and contained each individual piece of lettering.

Looking closer, they seemed to be more like pictograms than letters. Sort of

reminded me of ancient languages, like that of the Mayans or Aztecs.

"Linze... can you read this at all?"

"I can't... I don't understand this lettering. It's not an ancient magic language,

either..." Linze didn't look at me as she answered my question; she just kept her

focus on the wall.

This place was clearly of historical importance. Even an untrained eye like

mine could recognize that. Rather than treasure or loot, this was something

very different. My [Search] spell must have reflected that feeling when I used it.

Oh, right. I should capture this moment in a picture. Smartphone in hand, I hit

the capture button on my photo app, and a dazzling flash illuminated the room

for a moment.

"Ah?! What was that?!" Yae and the others were startled by the sudden flash.

I held up my smartphone to show that everything was fine, and they exhaled in

relief. Guess they've finally gotten used to my eccentricities. Wait, I shouldn't

say things like that about myself.

I took several pictures of different sections of the wall, making sure that I got

at least one photo of every part. Really though... why was something this

unusual in a place like this?

"Hey, guys! Come over here a sec!" Elze, who was searching around

elsewhere, suddenly raised her voice. She was pointing at a part of the wall on

the right side of the chamber.

"There's something buried here." About level with my eyesight, there was a

muddy brown-yet-clear stone embedded in the wall. It was about two

centimeters in diameter. A jewel...? A low-quality and filthy one, at that.

"That's... a spellstone. It's a spellstone with the Earth attribute! If it gets some

magic flowing through it, something will probably happen."

"Something...? What if it's a trap?"

"I can't say for sure that it isn't a trap... but something like this wouldn't be

considered conventional with regards to warding off intruders." Linze's

explanation definitely made sense... But I still couldn't shake the anxiety. When

there's a switch, naturally you'd want to push it, right? In that case, it could've

really been a trap... Well, maybe I'm just overthinking it.

"Well, Touya. Get some juices flowing through it already!"

"Why me?!" I quickly turned to Elze in response to her casual remark. Don't

you care that it might be trapped, girl?!

"It's an Earth magic spellstone, so it's not like anyone but you can do it

anyway, right?"

Hrm... I guess she has a point. Linze had affinity for Light, Water, and Fire...

Elze had Null affinity, and Yae didn't have any aptitude for magic at all. Me

being me meant I obviously had an affinity for all the elements. So I guess I've

really got no choice, huh...

"...Why'd you guys all back away just now?"

"Just in case..." "Y'never know!" "Better to be safe than sorry, it is." Everyone

backed away from me, smirking softly as they narrowed their eyes in

anticipation. With a sigh, I channeled magic through the old spellstone.

Bzzzzzzzz... The ground itself began to rumble and shake, then suddenly the

wall in front of me crumbled away into sand, revealing a gaping hole. Pretty

flashy opening for a big door...

"What the heck...?" We looked through the hole left by the crumbling wall,

and saw something in the middle of another room. Something covered in dust

and sand.

The best way to describe it was... I suppose the first thing that sprung to mind

was an insect. A cricket, maybe? Yeah, it looked like a cricket. It had a round

central body, kind of like a rugby ball or an almond, with six thin legs protruding

from it. Some of them were broken, however.

It was around the size of a small car, as well. Imagine a dead cricket with all of

its limbs torn off, kind of like that...?

But it also had a streamlined, simplistic form. More like it was designed as a

machine than a living creature. It honestly looked a bit like some piece of

abstract art.

"What is that thing? Some kinda statue?" Elze looked at the thing from a

variety of different angles. Looking closely, there was a red orb around the size

of a baseball visible inside the thing's head? Torso? Well, it was inside what

could've been either the head or the torso of the thing.

I couldn't tell because of the dust and sand covering the surface, but it

seemed to be made out of a semi-transparent material... Is it made out of

glass? I couldn't really see very well due to the darkness.

"Linze... how much longer will you be able to maintain that [Light Sphere]?"

"Eh? Well... Light magic isn't my forte... but I should be able to hold it for

about two hours." Linze puffed up her cheeks, looking up at the sphere of light

suspended in the air.

"Huh? Isn't the light growing a bit dimmer?"

"There's no growing about it. It did get dimmer... W-Wait..."

"Touya-dono!" Following Yae's shout, my gaze turned back to see the red orb

begin to glow inside the cricket-thing's head. The cricket began to stir and shake

a little bit.

"Touya! It's absorbing the magic from the [Light Sphere]!" So that's why the

light was growing dimmer! The glowing of the orb inside the cricket-thing

began to intensify and brighten, and before long the cricket itself began to stir

even more violently. No way... is this thing actually alive?! Its broken legs were

slowly regenerating themselves. Was it lying dormant, waiting for magical

power to come by and power it back up?

Sssskkkkrrrrreeeeeeee! Sssskkkkrrrrreeeeeeee! Sssskkkkrrrrreeeeeeee!

"Gah...! What the...?!" A sudden high pitched noise reverberated across the

chamber, directly assaulting my ears with a ringing pain. The noise ripped

across the room, enough to make my body shudder as if I'd been electrocuted.

The sound even began to damage the structures around us. Oh crap! We're

gonna get buried alive!

"[Gate]!" The door of light appeared at my command. Everyone ran in one

after the other in order to reach safety above ground. I was the last one to

enter the [Gate], but not before I saw the cricket-thing get up and head straight

for me at a monstrous speed. Like a launched spear, it hurtled toward me and

closed the gap to just five meters in an instant.

I tumbled through my [Gate] and landed flat on the ground. I closed the

[Gate] spell as soon as the above ground ruins came into sight. We just barely

avoided being buried alive...

"What the heck was that?"

"I've never seen such a monster before, I haven't..." Elze and Yae looked over

the entrance to the underground ruins, both brimming with tension and

anxiety. A deep rumbling came from underground... almost like an earthquake

was going on down there.

A roaring sound echoed out from the depths of the ruins, accompanied by a

whoosh of debris and a cloud of dust. The underground chamber had probably

caved in... At the very least, that darned monster cricket was definitely crushed

to pieces down there.

There was nothing but silence all around us as everyone found their breath

caught in their throats.

...Rrrrreeeeee...

That noise... No way...!

Kkkrrreeeeee...

It's getting closer.

Sssskkkkrrrrreeeeeeeeeee!!! With the sudden crash of splitting earth, the

creature burst through the ground and appeared before us.

An almond-shaped body with six elongated legs jutting out from its frame. A

crystal body, beautifully shimmering and shining like water beneath the sun.

This translucent being was alive, some kind of crystal creature.

The creature extended its legs and began a sideways crawl. The walls of the

ruins crumbled as it moved, cut like a knife through tofu. C'mon, that's stupidly

sharp!

"Come forth, Fire! Crimson Duet: [Fire Arrow]!"

Linze attacked the cricket thing with a repeated barrage of flaming arrows.

But the creature didn't even try to dodge, choosing to just stoically shrug them

off instead.

No wait... it's absorbing them. The flame arrows were being sucked into the

cricket thing, one after another!

"It absorbs magic attacks?!"

"Darn... In that case...!" Yae darted forward, striking the cricket thing with

lethal force. However, what was supposed to be a sure-kill shot was nothing

more than a scratch on it.

"It's extremely hard, it is!"

"Take this...!" Elze followed Yae's attack up with a massive punch to the

cricket's side. However, even though she staggered it a little, her punch had no

real effect.

One of the creature's crystal legs seemed to aim at Elze. She dodged it. Good

thing too, as it would've skewered her.

"How do we stop this thing?!" It absorbed magic... blades couldn't damage it.

What should I do...?! Wait... if head-on attack magic does nothing, then...

maybe we can try an indirect approach.

"[Slip]!" The moment I cast the spell, targeted beneath the cricket thing's

feet, it stumbled and crashed to the ground. Alright!

"Linze! Don't cast spells at it; use indirect environmental effects to harm it!"

"I see... Understood, then! Come forth, Ice! Grand Frozen Mass: [Ice Rock]!"

Linze decided to cast an ice spell. An enormous mass of ice appeared over the

creature and... fell right down onto it. Ouch. That's gotta hurt. It could absorb

attacks directly made out of magical energy, but it had no such luck absorbing

objects formed from magic.

Skree! Screaming with a sound eerily similar to a rusty door hinge, the

creature was clearly enraged. But it seemed like even magically created objects

could only cause minor damage at best, the darn thing was built too solid!

Taking advantage of its brief incapacitation, Else jumped in with bullet speed.

"[Boost]...! Full Throttle." Using [Boost], the Null magic spell that enhances

physical ability, Elze delivered a devastating kick to one of the creature's legs.

The leg was demolished in a heartbeat, accompanied by the sound of

shattered glass.

"Awesome!" Of course the thing could be damaged. Even if it was just a little

damage at a time, that meant we'd be able to win!

Skkrrrr... Sssskkkrreeeeee! The cricket thing let out another piercing shriek,

and the red orb inside its head began to softly glow. Almost as if reacting to the

glow, the shattered leg effortlessly regenerated itself. Hey... no way that just

happened.

"It regenerated..." Elze stood stunned for a moment, giving the newly

regenerated leg an opportunity to strike. In an instant, it shot out and pierced

her deep in the right shoulder. Her timing was off, so she'd failed to avoid it.

"Gwagh...!"

"Sis!" Elze leaped back to escape any more opportunistic attacks. Blood began

to flow from the wound on her shoulder, staining her clothes a deep crimson.

She was brought to her knees with sweat pooling on her brow.

"Yae! Linze! Stall that thing!" The two nodded and got to work. Yae distracted

it with sheer speed while Linze conjured up more hunks of ice. While the two

girls had the creature distracted, I made my way over to Elze and cast some

Healing magic. A gentle light enveloped her shoulder and blood stopped flowing

from the wound as it closed itself up.

"Thanks... I'm fine now, though." Like hell are you fine. Even if the wound had

closed up, the damage was still done.

Regeneration... magic absorbing properties... an abnormally tough carapace...

how could we beat it? Did it even have a weak spot?

"Even if we smash it, it can regenerate! It's futile!"

"...Wait a second... when we found the creature, it was broken in several

places, so why is it fine now...?" I remembered that it absorbed Linze's spell and

then regenerated... Wait, did it need magical energy in order to regenerate?

The orb inside its head was glowing back then, too. Could it be that the orb was

the nucleus, of sorts?

"Elze, c'mere." I told Elze the plan I'd thought up.

"Huh? Can you actually do that?!"

"Not sure... But it's worth a shot, right?"

"...You're right." I steadied my breath and looked toward the creature,

focusing my mind on what it was I wanted. Because it had a transparent body, I

could make out my target perfectly!

"[Apport]."

Suddenly, the small, soft red orb was in my hands. Alright, we did it!

"Elze, do your thing!"

"[Boost]." I lobbed the little orb high into the air, where it soon met Elze's fist.

Finding itself sandwiched between Elze's fist and the ground, the little orb was

finally shattered to pieces.

"How's that?!" Its nucleus plucked, the cricket stopped moving. Eventually,

cracks spread and splintered across its entire body, and it collapsed with a

crash. The crystal creature had finally fallen, its remains glimmering in the

sunlight.

We waited a while to see if it would regenerate, but it simply never did.

"Hm..." There was a sudden lack of tension in the air due to our victory, so I

sat down on the ground.

I was just glad the idea I suddenly had at the time worked out so well. If

[Apport] had failed, who knows what I'd have done. I cast my spell faster than it

could absorb it, and it seemingly worked just fine, given that I managed to pull

out the nucleus.

I looked over to see that Yae and Elze were also sitting on the ground.

Meanwhile, Linze seemed to be busy investigating the broken fragments of the

monster.

"This... could actually be a material similar to spellstone."

"Spellstone, really?"

"The properties of spellstones include magic amplification, build-up of

magical energies, and the discharge of said energies. The monster absorbed the

magical energies of others, and used it to regenerate itself... or perhaps it was

more of a defensive ability... Regardless, it used the magical energy to attack as

well. Amplification, build-up, and discharge... The three properties of a

spellstone."

Could it be that it had no ability to make magical energy of its own...? Was

that why it was frozen in place in the ruins? But wait, magical energy flowed

throughout the world. Did that blocked off room have some sort of anti-magic

seal, then? The whole matter was an enigma wrapped up in an air of

uncertainty.

"Shouldn't we report this kind of thing to the guild, we should?"

"No. Given that this involved the ancient ruins of the former capital, we

should probably inform the government directly. We should take this to the

duke, I think." Well, that made sense to me. It seemed a smart choice given the

situation. With that, we were off to see the duke.

"[Gate]."

"I see. So there were such ruins at the old capital..." Duke Alfred folded his

arms as though thinking, then leaned back in his chair. Sue and Duchess Ellen

had gone out on a walk, so unfortunately I didn't get to see them. We were let

on through to the parlor where we gave the duke the gist of what had

happened.

"Alright then. This situation may concern the royal family. I'll arrange for a

search party on behalf of the country to be sent out to investigate. Of course,

we shall try and find out more about that monster, too."

"Oh, umm, the underground ruins collapsed, so it might be a bit difficult to

investigate..."

"What? Oh dear... I was curious as to what may have been written on that

mural you mentioned..." The duke drooped his shoulders disappointedly. We

did something bad back there... No, wait, we didn't do anything! That monster

wrecked the place, not us!

"Oh, the mural. Don't worry, we might still be able to do that. I took a photo

of it."

"Pho-to...?" I opened up the picture in my smartphone's gallery app and

showed it to him.

"Wh-What in the world is this?!"

"One of my Null spells. It allows me to record images of things that I've seen."

"I-I see... Always full of surprises, aren't you?" Duke Alfred was wonderfully

fooled by my white lie. I'm sorry, I apologized internally. It's a bit difficult to

explain, you see.

"If you give me some time, I can transcribe it for you."

"Please do. This could just be the key to solving the mystery of the capital's

relocation a thousand years ago." Oh, it seemed the people of the country

themselves didn't even know why the capital was moved.

I thought they would have left a record of such a huge event somewhere in

some official archives. Then again, if he was right, then that record could even

be exactly what we just found. It might even have had information about the

crystal creature we encountered.

I'd grasped the creature's weakness. I was confident I could probably beat it if

we ever had to fight another one.

But I still couldn't get something out of my mind. I had a feeling that the old

capital being run down into that state had something to do with the crystal

creature...

With a feeling of uncertainty over the whole ordeal weighing us down, we left

the rest in Duke Alfred's hands and departed from his estate.