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Chapter 130 part 2

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Translator: “Hakou”                             Editor: “Weasalopes”

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This is something that happened a few days later, in a place far northwest of the Royal capital. There, a change was about to occur.
The spirit forest in the north of the Ost continent.
There is a big lake in the northern part of the forest.
If you look south from the lake, you can see a huge tree that exceeds the height of a thousand meters, and a large branch with a radius of 2,000 meters spread partially over the lake.
Just below the branch is an elegant small castle with a tower.
And from the castle to the elf’s village, the water of the lake forms a long arch, flowing trough in the air due to magic.
Some amounts of water are scattered from the bridge of water. Hence, on sunny days, the castle was always covered with a rainbow.

(……)

A small island near the center of the lake.
Trees grow on the island, which is about 200 meters from end to end, and there’s a ruin of a fort buried in it.
The owner of that island was like always, enjoying peaceful time whilst watching the rainbow.
No, calling it “owner” might be misleading. Because its existence is the island itself.
This island-like thing has lived for a long time.
And different from the current world tree, it existed through multiple different eras.

(……?)

The island-like thing budge.
Ripples appeared on the surface of the lake, and washed the stone wall of the elegant castle that stands on the water’s edge.
The lake near the village of elves. This is an important water jug for the elven village.
However, the elves didn’t try to remove the island-like thing that lived there.
This island-like thing is a high-ranking beast and has immense power.
However, it has a calm nature. In addition to that, its range of activity was only limited to the lake.
And above all, it has the property of keeping the lake clean.
So rather than saying it’s not in the way, it was even seen as the guardian of the lake.
On the other hand, this island-like thing doesn’t have the consciousness to care what the elves are thinking or doing.

(….Mu?)

Right now, a change is about to come for this island-like thing that has lived and gone through the same daily life for hundreds of years.
Something has made his heart feel excited from moments ago.
It was the scent of a certain fruit that he had tasted a long time ago.
The scent was faint, but that was enough for this thing that did nothing but to stay still all day to sense it.

(Muu)

The fruit seems to be far from here.
It has no particular complaint about that. Should I go until I can change that? Such straightforward thinking dominated its mind.
This island-like thing liked the fruit.
At one point in time, it grew up by the lake. But almost all of them were harvested by humanoid creatures living in the forest.
It was regretful, but it didn’t want to go to such lengths as picking up a fight only to obtain it.
Just, if the time for it to bear fruit again ever comes, the island-like thing thought that it would be nice to talk to them if they would leave some of the fruits without harvesting it.
It has been hundreds of years since it decided so. But the fruit never grows again, and so the opportunity to call out to them never came.

(……Oh no)

Its heart is screaming.
The scent of the fruit conveyed that it is already ripped and ready to eat.
In other meaning, it would go bad if it didn’t harvest them now.
The island-like thing felt a sense of impatience that it never felt for hundreds of years.

(Mumu)

After a moment of contemplation, small waves raised around the small island.
It has no dissatisfaction with its current unchanging life.
However, in this long life, it might be good to try and move to eat what you want to eat for once
Suddenly, a huge magic circle with a diameter of several hundred meters appeared on the bottom of the water. And it begins to rotate slowly while shining blue.
And the island-like thing began to quietly sink. Its body is buried in the magic circle at the bottom of the lake.
When it was completely submerged, the magic circle lost its light and disappeared.

***

Rewinding the time a little, with the Royal capital as the stage.
In the hangar for merchant guild Knights near the eastern gate of the Royal capital.
It’s been three days since I talked to herbivore mechanic about the cane rifle’s iron sight.
There was a call from herbivore mechanic.
He said there’s new equipment installed on the Old Lady, so he wants me to try it out.

(Uwaa…)

I, who immediately headed to the hangar groaned.
There were very dark circles under the eyes of herbivore mechanic. His cheeks are hollow, and when I looked closely, his body was swaying left and right

「A-Are you alright? It looks like you doesn’t have enough sleep」

「I’m okay. I properly took a sleep four days ago」

He smiled as if there’s nothing wrong.
He probably hasn’t gotten any sleep since the day I asked him a favor.
The herbivore mechanic urged me who still dazed to sit in the cockpit of the Old lady.

「I put in an auxiliary magic circle that works around visualization. Now try to start the machine」

After switching my gears, I sent magic power to every corner of the Old lady.
Certainly, I was able to confirm an auxiliary magic circle that wasn’t there before.
There aren’t many auxiliary magic circles on Old Lady, so I can tell right away.
At first, it was loaded in the same manner as the other average Knights, but after the battle with heavy stone golem, most of the drive system was removed.
Rather than calling it unnecessary, it’s more like an obstacle to me.
What’s left is wind magic to hover, environment maintenance inside the cockpit, and external sound system.

「Ohh! This is……」

A small magic circle appeared in front of the Old lady while spinning slowly.
The herbivore mechanic started explaining it proudly.

「By continuously observing the spirit of light, you can infer the amount of shimmering. And you can keep observing the result while slowly negating the average amount of it. By repeating that――」

I couldn’t even understand ten percent of what he talked about, but I feel like he’s talking like my grandfather who loved cameras.

(I don’t quite understand, but maybe it’s something like optical correction or adaptive optics)

That was really impressive of him to be able to give answers in just a few days, as expected from an excellent person with passion. As long as he doesn’t make a mistake in his direction, he will get brilliant results.
Though, I feel like he’s too passionate.

「Thank you very much. I’ll test it right away」

After having a talk with herbivore mechanics on the spot, I looked for a job in the same northern mountainous area as the other day.
Since Knight is a powerful military force, it requires a warrant to mobilize.
Fortunately, there was a similar request, so I took it and headed out straight away.
I want to try it as soon as possible. And that feeling was the same for herbivore mechanics.

「Please don’t pour too much magic power in it, since it will burn out. But if you want to raise the output regardless, please use magic operation to separate it」

Roger that.
Herbivore mechanic smiled and slumped to the floor.
A nearby security guard caught him in his arms.

(He fell asleep huh)

The guards informed me that it’s okay.
I made the Old lady nod and headed north.

(He had worked hard on it to this extent. I’ve to make sure I tested this properly)

As I restrained my excitement and headed north, I arrived at the same place as the other day.
I looked for the dark rock and held the cane rifle.
Then I start to shoot immediately.

(Wow…)

Following the result of the firing, I complimented the herbivore mechanic once again.
Although it’s not completely, the haze has largely gone. And even though it still fluctuates slightly, it’s not to the point it lost the overall picture as it did the last time.
I also don’t have to worry about burning out. If I concentrated enough on magic power operation, it was possible to continue supplying a small amount of magic power to the optical correction magic circle.

(With this, I should be able to hit them)

I aimed at the same black outcrop on the same hill. It didn’t greatly deviate from the target like last time.
With a few shots, a clear tendency appeared in the direction of deviation.

(This should be the misalignment of the iron sight)

I took out the tool and made adjustments using the fingers of the Old lady.
I repeated the action several times. And the uneven distribution has disappeared.
After a few more fine adjustments, the aim is set. All the impacts were concentrated in a narrow area around the outcrop.
The black outcrops that were already crushed into a hole with depth enough to make me worry whether it penetrated the other side of the mountain.

(I might be the one to say this but… it’s terrifying to be able to hit it from this distance)

With satisfactory results in hand, I decided to go home. It’s because my D-rank magic has been used up.

(For D-rank potion making… Well, it doesn’t have to be tonight I guess)

Tomorrow is not the date to make delivery to the merchant guild. I made it before going to bed every day just because I feel it’s a waste to not use the remaining magic.
By the way, the target for the request has long been the target for my shooting practice.

(Yosh! Let’s go all out with herbivore mechanic next time)

Let’s take him to a luxury store instead of a cheap store like the End of the century. Of course, it would be my treat.

(Cione’s sideline)

Let’s have him polish his sensibility by looking at beautiful girls of the nation there. I’m sorry to say this but, the end of the century brothel is a lower-class brothel.

(National beauty contest with both of us as the judge. Judging is not just about appearance, but also their contents or interior)

Let’s force a request at them that would make their cheeks become red in embarrassment from our judge seat. And enjoy how they would respond to it while being embarrassed.

(I’m looking forward to it)

I keep advancing down the highway while suppressing the temptation to speed up.

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