Shini Yasui Kōshaku Reijō to Shichi-nin no Kikōshi

Chapter 7: Ruins of Visitor (part one)

“Klaus-sama! Are you okay? You’re okay, right!?”

I rushed towards Klaus in spite of myself.

I could finally see the face of Klaus who until now I could only see the back of, so I felt relieved from the bottom of my heart.

I guess I was also relieved since I met a familiar face.

Gradually, the harsh expression on Klaus’ face disappeared.

“Aah, I have no problem. You are the one who is alone……You, what’s with that appearance?”

Uh, he got right to the point.

First of all, I thought about putting emphasis on practicality and more than that, I was in a hurry.

Regarding my coordination, it is quite appropriate.

“I borrowed the clothes of Eduart-oniisama, thinking that you are in the ruins, since I couldn’t come to a place like this wearing a dress.”

“Oh, that sort of thing……you, this appearance suits you better.”

“Oh, it is a great honor to be praised by you.”

Well, it is still impossible for me to wear a luxurious dress after all!

I thought that Erica’s face suits it well enough.

Is the femininity of my soul insufficient as expected?

No, it is good enough that practical clothing suits me.

Let’s feel good.

“I’m glad I found you, this is the most dangerous place in the Aurelia territory, you know?”

“I’m aware of that, I just didn’t expect to waste my magical power to this extent by searching this ruins for such a short time.”

Klaus has a hard face.

It is a dark and scary place, so I certainly feel like I am getting frustrated—

Did I have any difficulty in spending magic so far?

“Klaus-sama, what do you mean by that?”

“Erica, you, didn’t you notice it when you came to this place?”

“Not at all.”

“……You’re insensitive.”

“It can’t be helped because Western people are different from the Eastern people.”

An insensitive constitution with a good instinct, that is the virtue of the people from the Aurelia territory.

I might not have noticed it because my efforts and talent aren’t enough, though.

“The magical effect that absorbs magical power is working on this ruins, even the activation of lower tier magic started taking a heavy burden since a little while ago.”

“Is there such a trap out here somewhere? Can you find out something if you use Glam Sight?”

“I already identified things that seem to be the starting point of the trap. But the spell to solve it doesn’t seem to be effective. I don’t know what kind of trap this is.”

“Surely, metals and jewels that impede magic are physically embedded.”

I heard that there are metals with such effects in Lucanrant.

Depending on the combination of minerals that I don’t know of, the same effect can be invoked, so it is not only limited to the northern metals.

“It seems that wide area magic is blocked, and magic with effect range of 5 m or more in radius fails.”

“That said, I heard from Onii-sama that there is a trap which has been activated, but I don’t know the effect.”

“Got it.”

Although we from Aurelia don’t mind the effect, people from Hafan seem to be pretty incompatible with it.

Ruins of Visitor is like the culmination of the lost techniques of Aurelia of the West.

Unexpectedly, these missing technologies can be said to be ‘abandoned’ by choice because of problems, rather than being ‘lost’.

Like a trap that obstructs the magical power which is not friendly to outsiders for example.

“Because of that……I’d like you to see this for a moment.”

Klaus spread out a parchment.

There are large rectangular outline and the name of the god of wind written in twelve directions surrounding it.

It is the most commonly used template in this world’s maps.

But, except for the frame and several lines of Hafan’s magic language, it is almost blank and nothing resembling a map was drawn.

“I tried to use Auto-mapping and put spellcards along the route. However, thanks to the troublesome trap, even though I cast the spell it doesn’t react at all.”

“Oh, so it is a spell for that.”

“Had I known a little sooner that Auto-mapping would be invalidated, I wouldn’t have searched so deeply.”

Klaus shrugged his shoulders.

When the talk finished, I asked what I was really concerned about.

“Well, Klaus-sama. Where is Ann-sama?”

“Wha—! Why are you talking about Ann now?”

Klaus’ body jumped in alarm.

Huh, this guy, doesn’t he feel like a small animal?

“In order to follow Klaus-sama, I was using Urd Sight. Then I saw Ann-sama as well as you……”

“I have not brought my sister here.”

“It seems that she was pursuing you, Klaus-sama.”

“But, I’m certain that I put my sister to sleep with a sleeping magic…… no way, that girl, did she use a reinforced Magic Resist in anticipation of me going out?”

In his own way, he devised a plan to make sure his sister wouldn’t come to this dangerous place.

I thought that he was cold to Ann, but he is a good older brother.

However, it seems that his sister was one step ahead of him.

The young Ann is also an excellent mage like Klaus.

So, as a result of her insight and effort, she successfully resisted her brother’s magic.

This, Klaus’ secret is backfiring, isn’t it?

The more he said that she couldn’t come, the more he hid it, the more she became worried about it.

They are a curious pair of brother and sister.

“I didn’t see my sister on the way so far, it seems that she followed another road somewhere.”

In the middle of devoting myself to pursuing Klaus’ back, I neglected to confirm Ann’s whereabouts.

It is also because I was reluctant in using the expensive Wand of Urd Sight.

Perhaps it should have been used more finely.

“Would you like to trace our way back again, Klaus-sama? Let’s go find your younger sister on our way back.”

“……That’s right. Apparently, I’m not prepared enough to get around these ruins.”

Klaus glanced at my appearance and said that.

His gaze moved steadily to my alchemist’s leather gloves, to my leather bag that is overflowing with wands, and to my boots that seem to be durable on the floor.

“If I’m not cautious like you, I am likely to lose my way in the ruins.”

I was feeling a bit relieved at being obediently heard.

I couldn’t have beaten him if he said, ‘I will definitely not turn back!’

“If you decide so, let’s search for Ann-sama immediately.”

“Ah.”

“If we can’t find a way to find Ann-sama, we’ll go back to the Spring Palace at once.”

“Ah, this maze is too much for children to navigate alone.”

“Speaking of mazes, please dispel the Phantasmal Maze in the Spring Palace.”

I had to ask him not to forget about it.

It would be no wonder if many maids are distressed by now.

“Mmm, you noticed it, didn’t you?”

“If I didn’t notice, I wouldn’t bother coming to pick you up like this.”

“I thought that you are much more enthusiastic in searching this ruins, so that is not really the case?”

“It’s not!”

It would be troublesome if it is misunderstood.

I did not come to explore like Klaus. I came to stop Klaus from exploring.

I don’t even know if my father or the Duke of Hafan would get angry at me, alright?

“While tracing our way back, let’s use Urd Sight at each branch. So we can see where Ann got deviated.”

“Is that a Wand of Urd Sight? Will you also let me use it? I have been using Glam Sight until you joined, it seems that it will take time to recover my magical power because of that.”

“I see. It might be more efficient for both of us to use Urd Sight rather than just me.”

Eastern magic cut not only mental power but also physical strength.

No matter how much a genius Klaus is, he is still a 10-years-old boy.

The Ruins of Visitor has an intense magical power obstruction and he has been using Glam Sight since the start.

Or rather, I admire that his magical power has been kept well until now.

Then, I was concerned about the amount of magic charged into the Wand of Urd Sight.

I have already consumed about 60 charges before finding Klaus.

The leftover is about 40 charges.

The Wand of Urd Sight is a wand created from ash tree1.

The top of the wand is a yellow tourmaline, while the handle part was given a pattern weaved in gold.

It is the core material that is distinctive.

Silk weave of 10 meters in length stitched with gold and silver threads.

It was compressed into several millimeters by space manipulation magic, the weight was reduced and used as a core.

Then again, it is necessary to replace the core material when recharging the magic inside a wand.

What is my point?

In other words, this magic is incredibly expensive.

(Eduart-oniisama, I’m sorry……!!)

While apologizing in my mind, I opened my bag for the second Wand of Urd Sight.

I wonder how many wands I will use overnight.

I am afraid of thinking about that even for a moment.

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1 Ash is a type of tree. In this story, it refers to Fraxinus japonica, or Japanese ash.