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The Quest for Mana Crystals – Part 06

“What’s wrong, Hikari? Why are you in such a rush?”

“There are no mana crystals here.”

“I-I see.”

Standing on the concrete foundation gave them a good view of the surroundings. The sea was visible beyond the trees, and they could hear birds chirping. It was a quiet place.

“If mysterious lights were seen from the port, the mana crystals should be on the top of the island or the side facing the port. But there were none along the path, and none up here.”

“That’s true. The old Japanese military might have destroyed them.”

Hino had realized the possibility that the area had been dug up.

“Hey, you two, wait up!”

Tamaru finally caught up, sweating. He was carrying a heavy bag filled with filming equipment.

“What do we do?” he asked. “Should we at least take photos of the anti-aircraft gun ruins?”

“Idiot. There’s no way anything valuable is left in places dug up by the military.”

“Uh, um… Shouldn’t we film something, just in case? Like, as an alibi?”

“Let’s go check it out,” Lavia said with a sigh. “We were going to search the entire island anyway, and I’m interested in the ruins.”

“See?”

“Don’t see me. It pisses me off.”

“Ouch! No violence!”

Tamaru groaned as he took an elbow to the ribs, the same spot that the editor hit earlier.

Ignoring them, Lavia pressed on. She remembered a side path branching off from the main one, so she took it and found a rough trail. The forest ended quickly, revealing the sea. It was a cliff about five meters high.

Walking around the island’s perimeter, they headed to the side opposite the port. Lavia knew the further they went, the less likely they would find mana crystals, but she kept her eyes wide open, searching intently. Hino and Tamaru followed silently, sensing Lavia’s intense focus.

“Hikari, there’s the ruin.”

The rough path ended at the ruin. A tunnel dug into the rock wall opened into darkness. It ended about twenty meters in, with embrasures facing outward.

The tunnel, wide enough to transport anti-aircraft guns, had its floor and walls reinforced with something like cement. At the end of the tunnel, soft light streamed in through the windows. Except for the roaring of the waves, it was quiet.

“Looks like a bust.”

Hino didn’t need to say it. There was nothing here. The anti-aircraft guns had been removed, leaving it completely empty.

But Lavia thought differently.

“This wall.” She stared intently at the reinforced wall. “There’s something on the other side.”

Hino and Tamaru gave a start.

“R-Really? This wall was coated after being dug out, so it wouldn’t be surprising if there was a hollow space beyond it,” Hino said. “I thought the old Japanese military would have taken the mana crystals long ago, but now that I think about it, mana crystals can’t just disappear. It’s entirely possible they had been stored somewhere. If it was on the same island, moving them would be easy. But how did you know?”

“I sensed mana. Can’t you feel it? This close, I can tell even without any special abilities.”

Hino was at a genuine loss for words. When he first heard about the mana crystals, he thought, “If they actually exist, this would be a scoop. No, it would be more than just a scoop—it would prove the existence of magic in this world.” And so, he had been investigating to confirm their existence.

But deep down, he might have thought they didn’t exist. In a world built on science, there was no place for mana crystals. Even if they did exist, he thought they would just be some mysterious, glowing mineral. Something science could explain upon proper examination. But he was gravely mistaken.

The mana that Hino didn’t know was real, just on the other side of the wall.

“Wh-What do we do, man?” Tamaru asked. “If we break the wall, we need to contact the landowner… or are the ruins managed by Tokyo? Or the national government?”

“Don’t panic, Tamaru. You saw the state of this island. How many people come to see this ruin in a year? We’ll return to the port and get a pickaxe.”

“What?! Are you really going to smash it?”

“They’ve already finished examining this place. If the wall is broken, people will just assume it crumbled over time.”

“But we’re taking photos, aren’t we?”

“Of course not.”

“What?!”

“Stand back,” Lavia said.

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

They watched in shock as a shimmering light gathered around Lavia.

“O’ elementals, heed my call. With the primordial flame, incinerate!”

It was language from the other world, so Hino and Tamaru didn’t understand it. But they knew something serious was happening, because a magic circle appeared in front of Lavia, and a fireball the size of a basketball emerged from it.

“Run, Tamaru!”

“I’m way ahead of you!”

With a whoosh, the fireball struck the wall, destroying it. Sparks flew. The air expanded with the heat, creating a fierce wind.

“Whoa!”

“Ugh!”

Hino tumbled forward, and Tamaru groaned as a flying stone hit his side. It happened to be the same spot Hino had elbowed earlier.

“W-Was that magic?!” Hino mumbled as he looked at the world upside down between his legs.

Standing in the thick cloud of dust, the girl said, “I found it.”

Lavia went ahead and pushed through the dust, stepping over gravel. A flying stone had cut her hand, but she paid no mind.

She made for the other side of the wall, to the hollow filled with a pile of glowing green crystals, the same crystals they had found in Mount Midori.

“No way.”

“…”

Hino and Tamaru were left stunned.

Lavia turned to them and said, “There’s more than I thought. Help me carry them all back.”

Faced with her commanding presence, Hino and Tamaru could only nod in agreement.

---

Epilogue: No Matter the Distance

“Was that…”

Hikaru and Paula exchanged glances.

“The spell for crossing worlds!”

The rift that appeared for a brief moment in front of them was unmistakably a sign of the spell for crossing worlds.

How? The reason was obvious.

“Lavia did it. In Japan!”

Just as Soaarunay had demonstrated at Mt. Midori, connecting Earth to this world was not impossible. In fact, since Soaarunay had used sorcery instead of magic, it was something anyone could potentially do. However, the web of magical energy enveloping the world currently prevented the spell for crossing worlds from succeeding. That’s why the rift only briefly opened.

Even so, for Hikaru, it was enough.

“Lavia is doing the best that she can.”

Back in Japan, Lavia had been conducting experiments on the spell for crossing worlds in Hazuki’s high-rise apartment, bringing back a large quantity of mana crystals. Hikaru didn’t know all the details, but knowing that Lavia was taking action gave him courage.

Hikaru, who had been feeling helpless, now found his heart ablaze with determination. Despite having stayed up all night, his body was brimming with energy.

“Paula. Let’s think about what we can do. Forget all the assumptions and list out all the possible actions we can take.”

“O-Okay!” Paula nodded. “Um… Lord Hikaru.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to go to the floating island?”

“Yeah. If I could do that, it would solve our problems.”

The simplest solution was to fly. But that method had eluded many people.

“In that case… um, forgive me if I’m wrong.”

“What? If you have anything in mind, just say it. Right now, I’m willing to grasp at straws.”

“O-Okay, then. You’ve flown before, haven’t you?”

“What?”

A moment passed.

“Aaaahhh!”

Hikaru screamed.

---

A big yawn escaped Soaarunay’s mouth.

“Hmm… precise control is quite difficult, but I think I can manage it for now. I wonder what will happen to this floating labyrinth if a storm comes. Well, whatever happens, happens.”

Soaarunay had been adjusting the panel near the massive energy core that kept the dungeon afloat. Once it stabilized, she left the room and flopped onto a bed in the residential area.

“Ah… what should I do now?”

The Great Labyrinth of Runay-aas was designed to sustain itself naturally, as Hikaru had noticed earlier, and each floor functioned like a biotope.

Because of this, Soaarunay never worried about food. In theory, she could live for thousands of years, though her lifespan would end before that.

She reached out for a pitcher, drank directly from it, and choked when it went down the wrong way.

“Even coughing, still all alone, huh?”^[1]

Soaarunay was the only human in the labyrinth. Many creatures lived here, but she was the only one who could understand human language.

Seekers of sorcery, the Saak family had a high tolerance for solitude. They preferred to have no one, not even family, disturb their research. This caused the family’s numbers to dwindle over time, leaving Soaarunay as the last one.

“Well… it doesn’t really matter.”

Soaarunay didn’t know what would happen to the floating dungeon after her death, nor did she care. She didn’t mind being the last of the Saak family.

Her ancestors had built the family on the premise of continuing their research, welcoming family members, and passing down their knowledge through generations. Some even brought in orphans as marriage partners.

Her ancestors were so dedicated to research that it seemed ingrained in their genes, leading some family members to leave the labyrinth because they couldn’t keep up.

“I need to do what I can while I’m alive. What was I studying again?”

She counted her research subjects on her fingers. Each one was worthy of study and considered fantasy by the people of this world.

“Besides research…”

The image of the boy with the silver mask came to mind.

“I want to make him cry.”

The Great Labyrinth of Runay-aas was the Saak family’s greatest masterpiece, often spoken of in fairy tales. And that boy had ignored it and left.

“I’ll show him!”

She had made the labyrinth float out of spite, to show the masked boy its magnificence, something he had disregarded. But Soaarunay’s frustration hadn’t subsided.

“What to do… He must be in a human city, so maybe I’ll burn down every city I find.”

She grinned at the thought of raining fire from the floating labyrinth.

“I could also find the Man Gnome village and destroy it. But it’s a hassle to search for it, so I’ll do it if I find it.”

The Saak family was considered an archenemy by the Man Gnomes, but to Soaarunay, they were just another adversary.

This was because the Man Gnomes fought the Saak family as a whole, while the Saak family, at its peak, had only a few dozen members. Now, it was just Soaarunay alone. The numbers were not balanced.

“Those people who keep saying ‘Sorcery is forbidden. The Soul is supreme’ are so annoying.”

Soaarunay yawned widely.

“Maybe I should take a nap. I haven’t slept much.”

Since the dungeon began floating, she had taken short naps and eaten, but most of her time was spent controlling the flotation.

The Great Labyrinth of Runay-aas was now stable.

Soaarunay closed her eyes, and she quickly fell asleep.

At that time, the labyrinth’s energy core emitted a quiet glow. With its master no longer controlling it, subtle changes began to occur.