Translator: Kurehashi Aiko
Editor: [QueenieZhuz]
Volume 4 Chapter 16: Dragon-san Triumphs
I waited for Ishsan to settle down a bit.
It even almost made me forget about the threat that the "Eclipse" was still imposing on us. Almost.
I sipped some of my tea, and once Ishsan finally calmed herself she opened her mouth.
「Yes, I-I understand. So you"re investigating the cause of this phenomenon. We shall also see what we can do on our end.」
「Thanks. By the way, the dungeons located in Ballow doesn"t seem to have any of those facilities. So I think it might be safe to a.s.sume that Ballow is not in danger of having a crisis like that anytime soon.」
Upon hearing that none of the dungeons would pose a threat to the people of Ballow, Ishsan seemed relieved.
It was a natural reaction.
Because otherwise they would need to oppose the unknown phenomenon that they wouldn"t be able to handle all on their own.
As a magician, Ishsan was a crucial part of this country"s defense line, so it was no exaggeration to say that the lives of the people were resting on her shoulders.
She should be praised for not feeling overwhelmed by all this.
As I thought that, Ishsan asked carefully.
「So, the only clues that we have as of now are those spirits, right?」
「Yes. And it seems that one of the perpetrators is none other but Kyle"s late wife, Belga Slaggart.」
As Nectar chose his words carefully, Ishsan shook her head as though she couldn"t believe it.
「He mentioned that to me as well. That his late wife was turned into a spirit and that she"s being controlled by the criminals.」
He explained so much, huh?
While I was surprised, Ishsan stood up and took out a bundle of papers from one of the drawers and handed them to us.
「This is a report on the survey that we conducted on behalf of Kyle. It seems that the Research and Development Inst.i.tute concealed the fact that Belga Slaggart"s magic gun was stolen about half a year ago. We also discovered that some of the other magic tools went missing, as well as some legally questionable money transfers. The ones responsible are currently being questioned about that as well as being put on disciplinary leave.」
Ishsan smiled for a moment, but then her smile all but vanished from her lips.
「But truth to be told, around the same time there was someone who tried to break into the royal vault. Thanks to the advanced security mechanisms installed by Kyle they didn"t manage to break in and steal anything, but…… Those were probably the same people that caused turmoil in Melias.」
The look on Ishsan"s face was truly bitter at that moment.
But it was good to hear that the security measures designed by Kyle and Nectar managed to prevent Lute from getting whatever it was that he was after.
I turned towards Nectar and he was beaming with pride, but he soon turned serious again.
「So? What was the matter that Kyle asked you to investigate?」
「It was to thoroughly search each and every dungeon throughout the country.」
Ishsan pa.s.sed us even thicker bundle of papers.
「We investigated the materials with which the dungeons were built, as well as the materials excavated from within their depths, while also looking for clues as to why the ancients were wiped out. We were also tasked with investigating just how the dungeons were created in the first place. Gradually, more and more personnel were dragged into this.」
I understood right away what Kyle wanted to accomplish by that.
If Lute and his people were stealing magic tools all over the country, it would be possible to track them by retracing the steps of their stealing spree.
And since Kyle couldn"t cover all of the places at the same time, he hired some help to accomplish just that.
Ishsan said that this was troublesome, but the staff couldn"t simply do all of that on their own. She must have given them the green light.
「It"s a shame to admit it, but so far we haven"t found anything of interest. The materials in the dungeons are mostly common, with little to none of them coming from the past. We are doing what we can, however, and we will inform you right away if we happen to find anything.」
With a smile on her face, Ishsan puts even more doc.u.ments onto the table.
Each file was an index finger thick at least.
And we were only speaking in estimates.
「Please have a read and then pa.s.s it on to Kyle. If you like, you can even send us a report that summarizes your opinions on the materials we"ve managed to collect.」
Nectar took all the doc.u.ments, but even though he looked genuinely interested in them he couldn"t mask his overwhelmed expression.
「Sure, we will give them a read, but archeology is not one of my favorite subjects, so please don"t expect too much.」
「Now, now, what are you saying? I heard that once you"ve read all the books and doc.u.ments that were magic related in the whole country. So, I think that borrowing the knowledge and wisdom of the Great Sage will make our work that much faster.」
「…… Is this your idea of b.u.t.tering me up?」
「Not in the least. I just thought it would be great to be of some use to the Great Sage and his husband, the Obsidian Dragon-sama.」
Said Ishsan while looking ever so slightly embarra.s.sed.
That was enough to loosen the atmosphere again.
「Um, umm. Technically, I"m the husband here and Lava is my wife…… I"ll give it a brief read, so please wait a moment.」
「If you want us to give you any additional sources, please do let me know. We shall keep on sending them to you on a monthly basis. Thank you for your help.」
Then, Nectar began to read through the doc.u.ments one by one, leaving me and Ishsan to our own devices.
I"m so sorry, Nectar. I"ll try to make it up to you later.
Looking at Ishsan, she winked at me a few times, clearly indicating that distracting Nectar was a huge success.
「It was Kyle who taught me that trick. It works wonders every single time, according to him.」
It seems that Kyle really knew Nectar better than anyone in this world.
I always knew that Nectar was giving his best in doing the things he was interested in, and Kyle must have used that in order to prepare him for succeeding his role one day.
While I was thinking that, Ishsan leaned over the table and said:
「At first, when I heard that I would be able to solve one of the biggest mysteries in the entire history of the world I was a bit skeptical, but after hearing it from you, oh Obsidian Dragon, I have no reason to doubt that anymore. You need to stop this thing.」
I never would have thought that Ishsan would actually be like that.
「That"s right. And it"s not only about stopping the "Eclipse" here. It"s about protecting the ones you hold dear. I would rather die than let something like that happen.」
「Yes, but it"s not like this threat is completely unknown to us. The ancients knew about it.」
「Precisely. That is why investigating them might give us some kind of a clue.」
When I told her about the "White Youmas" from the East, Ishsan"s eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hand.
Her reaction wasn"t that much different from my own.
However, upon mentioning that Ishsan looked as though something crossed her mind, something of which I was unaware of.
「Obsidian Dragon, are you perhaps acquainted with the people of the East?」
「Um, yeah, I know one or two of them.」
「By any chance, do they have a white-colored fur?」
I shook my head, since neither Mikoto nor Senjiro had a white fur. Ishsan then let out a sigh of relief.
「Is something the matter?」
「No, it"s nothing, just me thinking to myself.」
Ishsan shakes her head and continues.
「Since it is you, Obsidian Dragon, it shouldn"t be a problem, sorry for startling you.」
「If you say so.」
Hearing me say that, Ishsan reluctantly spoke up.
「It"s something that happened a little while ago. His Majesty told me that he had a strange dream. He said that he thought it was something important, but he couldn"t remember the details. He only remembered a beast with a white fur.」
「…… Umm. Are those the exact words of the king?」
「Please rest a.s.sured. The current king tends to dream about things like black-scaled dragons and white fur beast-girls all the time.」
Ishsan"s words were really intriguing, especially those about the current king"s fascination with Obsidian Dragon.
That king, he"s still going at it, huh?
Ishsan looked at my reaction with amus.e.m.e.nt, but soon enough her expression tightened.
「That being said, I could feel the remnants of magical power on the king. This morning, too. It"s unthinkable that someone would be able to slip past all of the guards into the king"s chambers, but maybe those dreams are not simple dreams after all.」
「Fumu, that"s interesting. It seems like a spell with an irregular activation period.」
Looking to the side, I could still see Nectar reading through the doc.u.ments.
As he was turning over the pages, I cast a simple spell on him..
As usual, I cast a spell that prevented him from eavesdropping.
「Yes, of course, Master. We were just pa.s.sing by. The spell was just fine and resolved without any problems. Still, it is something rather impressive.」
「There"s something I would like to see for myself…… Could you give me some paper?」
「Sure, here you go. Still, this is a really embarra.s.sing turn of events. There was no harm being done to His Majesty, but the fact that there was someone right beside him in the middle of the night is quite alarming. But it"s better than being a.s.saulted or a.s.sa.s.sinated.」
The thought of them being deceived made me smile instinctively.
It"s been ages since I intruded into the castle, and it seems that since then they managed to work out some decent defense network. At least that"s how it was supposed to be, right?
However, feeling Ishsan"s gaze on me made me slightly uncomfortable, so the only thing I could do was nod.
「Right. Thanks for letting me know. I"ll ask them about a girl like that. But please don"t get your hopes up about this.」
Although that problem didn"t concern us in the slightest, it would be a problem if it caused a diplomatic scandal and rendered our journey East impossible.
「Thank you so much.」
Ishsan bowed down slightly, and then Nectar raised his face after writing something on a piece of paper.
「For now, from what I saw I would like you to concentrate your efforts around this area, as well have every bit of information you may have on it. And the translation of the ancient language here is wrong, so leave me the original, if you"d be so kind.」
Isha received the paper without hesitation, and after looking through its contents she gazed at Nectar in astonishment.
「You"ve managed to cover all of that in such a short amount of time?」
「That information is like a mountain of treasures, and it would be a shame to leave them alone. You focused solely on magic, but in ancient times magic was a part of everyday life, so if we don"t view it in a much broader scale, we will never find anything new.」
As he said that, Ishsan naturally began to creep closer to Nectar.
「…… I knew I could count on you, master. Your proficiency in the ancient language is second to none!」
Seeing her eyes sparkle, Nectar put his hands to his temple, as though he was trying to fight off the incoming headache.
Yeah, that was one of the fields that Nectar was absolutely the best.
Then Isha reached for the small bell that was resting on the plate on the table and rang it.
I could feel that the bell was magical and that it sound could reach pretty far, farther than any normal bell could.
「I was going to send you a summary, but please, take as many materials as you can with you.」
「Yeah, that would be a huge help. Want me to translate them while I"m at it?」
Nectar meant it as a joke, but in turn the look of grat.i.tude in Ishsan"s eyes was simply too much to ignore.
I was happy that my husband was held in such a high regard, and I wanted to jump on some of it.
「Want me to do the translation as well? Some of those words can be really tricky and difficult to decipher.」
Ishsan"s gaze was fixed on me.
This time, her reaction was completely different from when Nectar volunteered to do so.
「You don"t want me to?」
「Eh? No, no, no! I would be incredibly grateful, but asking you to do something like that feels simply preposterous, don"t you think?」
「I was the one who asked if there was anything I can do to help, so if there is something, isn"t it only natural that I want to help?」
「But still……」
While Ishsan looked to be at a loss, Nectar added.
「That would be a huge help. If we split the job it will end that much quicker. Now this is getting interesting.」
「Yes, I was thinking the exact same thing…… and fun isn"t something that you hog all to yourself.」
Ishsan looked as though she wanted to say something, but was too embarra.s.sed to ask.
「I understand. If you"d be so kind, Obsidian Dragon.」
「Ah, I always thought that it was kind of a mouthful, so you don"t really need to call me that. Please, just call me Lava.」
「I understand. Then I would like you to call me by my first name as well.」
I smiled wryly hearing Ishsan"s proposition, and in that moment the butler opened the door and came inside.
Just as I was to collect more doc.u.ments from him, I received a message from Vaas-senpai.
"Report, Mikoto"s sister wants to visit the Academy."
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