3 bar menu

Volume 5 Prologue Part 10

Grabbing Asuka and Suzuka in a tight embrace, Almathea fell together with them into the lake at the lower part of the cave. Lamia avoided ending up in the same way as the three of them by gently flapping a pair of her wings that looked as if they have been woven from the shadows themselves and she used them to fly in the air above the water, looking at the three who have fell into the water and were now in dismay before moving her gaze to their immediate surroundings.

 

According to the intel she received, the bugs glowing in the dark similarly to fireflies that they saw nestling on the ceiling in the previous cave are the species that are unique to the Lost Continent of Atlantis. So if they are present in this cave as well, then the conclusion to their current situation was obvious: even though the {Boundary Gate} teleported them to a different location, the were still within the borders of Atlantis.

 

Having confirmed their current state, Lamia heaved an especially heavy sigh.

 

(The three of them just went and fell in the lake without a care in the world. What are they going to do if it turns out to be poisoned, or if they are any other kinds of traps in it?)

 

Since they have found themselves in an unfamiliar place, they should refrain from touching this unknown water, and jumping straight into it should be completely out of the question. Hell, they do not even know if this lake is inhabited by monsters or not, and they must not forget the possibility that there might be magical traps, charms or illusions planted in the area.

 

(But no, they did nothing of the sort. They just. . . . . . fell right in, as if that was the most obvious thing to do.  Good grief, are they the kind of people that I am going to have to put up with from now on? Aunt Leticia. . . . . . . what in the world were you thinking?!)

 

Dissatisfied with the low-level performance of her new companions thus far, Lamia puffed out her cheeks angerly and turned away. Out of those three young women that she now had no choice but to be around with, Almathea was the only one whom she could barely accept. After all, she was the one who raised The Chief God of Greek Mythology, Zeus, a God of Lightning who is as powerful and renowned as Indra, The Strongest God of War of Indian Mythology, but since she herself was a Goddess as well, it would be best to still remain somewhat cautious around her, but at the same time, maybe her presence in the party of this Kudou Asuka girl is going to be something that she could make a use of? With a bit of persuasion, maybe she would even be willing to share some information about the mystery of this current Gift Game with her, or perhaps even. . . . .

 

(Ah! Yes, that is right! If I could just pull that off, this might be the biggest jackpot in our Community’s history!)

 

Lamia’s expression became brighter as she clasped her hands together.

 

(If I can convince Almathea to share some of the information about  Zeus, the king of all the Greek Gods with me, that would mean that I could make progress in the current Gift game while obtaining valuable intel that would give us immense advantage in the future! I see now, that must have been Aunty Leticia’s intentions all along! She wanted me to be a spy under the guise of someone who needs to be taken care of so that they would not suspect a thing! As expected of a Vampire Princess and mother’s sister! Her wits and cunning truly know no bounds!)

 

Overjoyed at apparently deciphering why her aunt decided to leave her with those strange bunch of women, Leticia was so overwhelmed with happiness that she could not stop herself from waving her hands around I joyous ecstasy. A part of her originally thought that maybe Leticia told her to be with those humans and Goddess because she was fed up with her company and did not want to have anything to do with her anymore, but now she could see that it was not the case at all. She knew about the boatloads of potential that Lamia has within her, and this wanted to give her a chance to demonstrate her many talents in action!

 

Now that she knew that this was what her beloved aunt expected of her, she had to start putting her own wits to work immediately, and that involved coming with a plan that would allow her to exploit her newfound companions as much as possible.

 

Lowering her altitude to go as close to the surface of the lake where all three of the girls have now resurfaced, she spread her shadowy wings with an even bigger smile than before.

 

「Oh well, I guess that it cannot be helped, huh? Yes, there is no point arguing with it anymore. Here, grab onto me, and be quick about it.」

 

「T-Thanks for the save. . . . . . . . 」

 

「Guooooh. . . . . . . .  *Cough!* *Cough!* *Hack!* That. . . . . . . .  that honestly felt as bad as the fall that I have experienced when I was first brought to Little Garden along with Homura and Aya. . . . . . . . . .! 」

 

Suzuka and Asuka grabbed onto Lamia’s wings, and she safely carried them away to the lake’s shore. When Lamia offered to do the same thing for Alma as well, she politely declined and swam to the shore in a composed, almost nonchalant manner, but the truth was that she was looking out for any danger that might come at them from under the water’s surface so that she would be ready to act immediately in case of any surprise attacks. Thankfully, nothing of the sort happened.

 

This cave that they found themselves in right now seem to be even more spacious than the previous one, and its ceiling looked like it was placed even higher as well, but the thing that surprised Alma the most, to the point where her eyes became wide open, was the fact that the area around the lake has been illuminated by the what looked to be streetlights.

 

「Are those. . . . . . . .  gas lamps?」

 

「Gas. . . . . . . . . . . .  lamps?」

 

「Ah, they are the kind of lamps that use natural gas as fuel instead of oil or fire. And since there are so many of them here, then it probably means that this place must be located pretty deep, maybe even hundreds or thousands of meters underground where there is an overaboundance of the gas to be found pretty much everywhere.」

 

「I understand that much as well, but. . . . but if there are gas lamps here, then that means that there are people who live down here, right?」

 

The remaining three nodded their heads at Suzuka’s words. According to her rough estimations, the previous limestone cavern must have had around fifty meters of height, but judging by the distance from the ground all the way up to the ceiling of this particular cave, the distance here must be at least five hundred meters, maybe even more than that.

Asuka looked at the lit up canopy above their heads with a mysterious expression while clutching onto the hem of her skirt.

 

「Judging by the structure and the atmosphere of this place, I would say that it was not build by human hands. The ones responsible for its creation are most likely. . . . . .  the Spirits, perhaps?」

 

「Most likely, because the air around here certainly feels like the same sacred kind that you would find in the abode of the Spirits. But to be even more precise, I think that the ones responsible for the creation of this place are Divine Spirits, most likely the ones directly related to the Mother Goddess, considering how sturdy and durable this place looks despite being located so deeply underground.」

 

Squinting her eyes, Alma also looked up at the ceiling above them. Certainly, this place did not feel like something that has been simply carved out of the earth and given a simple cylindrical shape to avoid it getting crushed by the masses of solid rock and earth above, below and all around it.

 

「It would be impossible for a natural cave remodeled by a simple Spirit to have such an unorthodox shape. This place was definitely created by a Divine Spirit, no doubts about it.」