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Chapter 48 – Part 2

TRANSLATOR: Artemis

EDITOR: Ryunakama

After Selina spoke, I noticed Liu Yu timidly raise her hand, likely because she was trying to state her own opinion too. So I shifted my gaze toward her, urging her to unveil her opinion.

「Hmm, next is Liu Yu. Will you tell us what you’re thinking, Liu Yu?」

「Yes. I agree with Selina-san’s idea as well. It is just that I think we should take the number of spirits into consideration」

「The number of Ghosts, Spectres, Phantoms, huh? Professor, have there been any kind of experiences in the past with the spirits of the deceased Sky People in the ruins?」

「Let’s see, you can say there haven’t been much of any. Eliza and I have experienced an encounter once before, but most of them are spirits that have lost their mind and are trapped in certain locations. If the spirits of the deceased Sky People would show themselves because they got angry over their territory being trespassed on and destroyed, then they should have shown themselves the most during the early investigations. We’d also have to think about why they would show themselves now after all this time, and not any time earlier」

Unless the Todorokuni team had discovered something previously unexplored, and awakened something that had been sealed away or had been sleeping since long ago?, Professor Edward whispered, and soon began to get lost in his own little world. But Miss Eliza pulled him out of it with her unconcerned voice.

「Whether it’s a slime, or a fog, or a ghost, if it shows up as an enemy, then we must simply be prepared for every possibility」

「Hm, yeah, that’s right. It’s common for both slimes and fogs to be weak to fire. Luckily we have the Dragonian, Vaje, here with us, and as long as we’ve got mages, it’ll be easy to handle. As for the spirits, if we give enchantments to everyone’s weapons, there shouldn’t be a problem. It would have been great if we had a holy person here for that, but this time, we can just rely on Eliza’s divine holy magic」

「Does Eliza-san hold the qualifications to be a priest?」

Having uncovered a new fact, Selina asked this question with admiration, but Miss Eliza answered not with any particular pride, but as expected, with her usual indifference.

「Yes. I have been granted the rights to be an acolyte of the Mairahl religion. My class is that of a warrior-priest」

Hmm, so it’s Mairahl. From Miss Eliza’s demeanor of her being well acquainted with fighting, I would have thought she might have worshipped Aldeath or some other war god lineage, but to think she was a follower of the Mother god of earth, the granter of fruitful harvests. It was a little unexpected.

When Mairahl’s name came up, Liu Yu and Vaje’s eyes toward Miss Eliza softened a little bit.

「Hmm, the divine holy magic of the Mairahl religion mostly consists of support magic, like healing and vitality, so it should fit right in with us, since we’re mostly unbalanced toward offensive magic. And Selina, you have a general knowledge of intermediate earth and water magic. Right?」

「Yes. The type of healing magic I can do is to stop bleeding, remove poison, and dull pain. As long as it’s around that level, I can do anything. But recovering severed limbs or reviving the dead is definitely impossible for me……」

Selina let herself bashfully boast a little bit, which caused Liu Yu to copy Selina and raise her hand, asserting her own presence to me as well.

Oh, for the always reserved Liu Yu to do this is very rare. Perhaps she feels a sense of rivalry towards Selina?

「Dran-sama, Dran-sama, I also have knowledge of healing and support magic!」

「Ah, I’m counting on you too, Liu Yu. The talisman arts and the yin and yang arts of the Water Dragon; I’ll have you show it off to me to your heart’s content」

「Yes!」

Liu Yu’s answer and her facial expression, was like that of a young child puffing out their chest with pride over being praised by their parents. Then with black eyes, she sent a glance toward Vaje, and bragged with a small giggle of satisfaction.

Vaje had already been in a bad mood, putting on a face of discontent, but then I heard a sound that was very similar to the sound of a crack spreading through a breaking boulder, and Vaje’s harshness and hostility only increased further.

「Liu Yu, stop right there. This isn’t like you. I can’t be proud of someone who purposefully causes quarrels」

「Ah, I- I am sorry」

As if Liu Yu was a little kitten who had just been struck by the rain, her shoulders slumped as she became disheartened. Seeing this, Vaje looked like she was just about ready to open her mouth to say, Serves you right, the words barely hanging at the edge of her tongue. But that’s when I stabbed through with a particularly large nail of words.

「Vaje, you should easily understand by now, that you need to hold back that attitude, even just a little bit. Normally, I wouldn’t mind it, but right now you two messing around regrettably tears into our already limited time. So then, Professor, how should we move going forward? Do we believe the words of the sparrows, that Todorokuni’s investigation team has been annihilated? Or do we make a plan to escape Solania?」

「If we go ahead and make the plan to escape, we can welcome our ship, the Silver Swallow No. 1, after seven days, or we could go to the Todorokuni ship in three days and explain the situation so they would give us safe refuge. If we think about the number of days, the latter would be more desirable, but they don’t trust us, and we’d need some kind of proof that would satisfy them too. First, I want to go to the Todorokuni campgrounds and see if we find any clues there. Plus, if we leave these strange incidents happening in Solania alone, I don’t think it will end well. If the technology and goods that the Sky People left behind in the ruins were to be found, and if it were to be largely misused, it would lead to great losses. There’s also whatever great disasters might be waiting for us inside Solania itself. As your teacher, I’m in a position where I will put your safety above all else, so with a pitifully sorry feeling, if we don’t manage to capture the enemy, then I think it will be difficult to escape in just three days」

「Then, first, we’ll be aiming for the Todorokuni campgrounds and collecting information. We will also have the sparrows survey our surroundings. As for the information we collect, we should move depending on that every time」

Every time I tried to summarize everything that was asked for, the Professor would stop me with a short shake of the head.

「Now then, preparations are complete, and our plan of action is decided. The guarding of our surroundings will be strengthened, and we’ll head for Todorokuni’s camp. It’s unfortunate, but we’ll have to postpone our investigation because it’s too dangerous right now. Vaje, Liu Yu, normally I would be very sorry over getting you two involved, even though you were originally unrelated to our mission. But for the safety of everyone, I ask that you both come with us」

「I have had no objections since the beginning.」

「Fine, I’ll come along. Even if I’m not with you, I won’t ever be in danger. There’s no reason for me not to go with you and cooperate」

This was how we started our journey towards the Todorokuni campgrounds.

In the past, roads were paved all over Solania so it would create easy access to all areas, but over many years, grass and flowers covered the road, but not so much that it would make the road impassable by foot.

The road branched off into many paths as it led into the forest. The branches hang low overhead.

In the middle of the road, there were insects and little birds, which Professor Edward entered contracts with one after another, and added to our surveillance system. We will advance with Professor Edward and Miss Eliza’s guidance.

The map of Solania was shown to us at the lodging houses, and we all had it engraved in our minds, but for Professor Edward and Miss Eliza who had come here countless times, they would notice immediately if there were any changes to Solania compared to their previous times here.