Chapter 7
“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, I was relieved from the bottom of my heart .
I guessed 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 was quite appropriate .
“I borrowed the clothes of Edward-oniisama, thinking that you are in the ruins, because I couldn’t come to a place like this wearing a dress . ”
“Oh, that sort of thing……you, you suit this appearance better . ”
“Oh, it is a great honor to be praised by you . ”
Well, it was still impossible for me to wear a luxurious dress after all!
I thought that Erica’s face suits it well enough .
Was the femininity of my soul insufficient as expected?
No, it was good enough that practical clothing suits me .
Let’s feel good .
“I’m glad I found you, this is the most dangerous place in Aurelia territory, you know?”
“I’m aware of that, I just didn’t expect to waste my magical power to such extent by searching this ruins for such a short time . ”
Klaus had a hard face .
It was a dark and scary place, so I certainly felt like I was getting frustrated—
Had I had any difficulty in spending magic so far?
“Klaus-sama, what do you mean by that?”
“Erica, you, didn’t you notice it when you come to this place?”
“Not at all . ”
“……You’re dense . ”
“It couldn’t be helped because Western human beings are different from Eastern human beings . ”
A dense place with a good sense, that was the virtue of the human beings from Aurelia territory .
I might not have noticed it because my efforts and talent weren’t enough, though .
“The magical effect that absorbs magical power is working on this ruins, even the activation of lower tier magic took a heavy burden since a little while ago . ”
“Is there such a trap put on 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 is this . ”
“Surely, metals and jewels that impede magic are physically embedded . ”
I heard that there were metals with such effects in Lucanrant .
Depending on the combination of minerals that I didn’t know, the same effect might be invoked, not only limited to the northern metals .
“It seems that wide area magic is blocked, and magic with effective range of 5 m or more in radius has failed . ”
“That said, I heard from my older brother that there is a trap that has been launched, but I don’t know the effect . ”
“Got it . ”
Although we from Aurelia didn’t mind the effect, people from Harvan seemed to be pretty incompatible with it .
Ruins of Visitor were like the culmination of the lost techniques of Aurelia of the West .
Unexpectedly, these missing technologies might be said to be ‘abandoned’ by choice because of problems, rather than being ‘lost’ .
Like a trap that obstructed the magical power that was not friendly to outsiders, for example .
“Because of that……I’d like you to see this for a moment . ”
Klaus spread a parchment .
There were large rectangular outline and the name of the G.o.d of wind was written in twelve directions so as to surround it .
It was the most commonly used template in this world’s maps .
But, except for the frame and several lines of Harvan’s magic language, it was almost blank, and things that seemed like maps were not drawn .
“I tried to use Auto-mapping and put spell cards along the route . However, thanks to the troublesome trap, even if I casted the spell it wouldn’t react at all . ”
“Oh, so it is a spell for that . ”
“If I knew a little sooner that Auto-mapping would be invalidated, I wouldn’t search so deeply . ”
Klaus shrugged his shoulders .
When the talk finished, I asked what I 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, didn’t he feel like a small animal?
“In order to follow Klaus-sama, I was using Urd Sight . Then I could see Ann-sama as well as Klaus-sama……”
“I have not brought my sister here . ”
“It seemed that she was pursuing Klaus-sama . ”
“But, I’m certain that I had put my sister to sleep with a sleeping magic……, no way, that girl, did she use a reinforced Magic Resist in antic.i.p.ation of me getting out?”
In his own way, he devised a plan to make sure his sister didn’t come to this dangerous place .
I thought that he was cold to Ann, but he was a good older brother .
However, it seemed that his sister was one step ahead of him .
The young Ann was also an excellent mage like Klaus .
So, as a result of her insight and effort, she successfully Resist her brother’s magic .
This, Klaus’ secret affair was backfiring, wasn’t it?
The more he said that she couldn’t come, the more he hid it, the more she would be worried about it .
They were 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 pursuing Klaus’ back, I neglected to confirm Ann’s whereabouts .
It was 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 was overflowing with wands, and to my boots that seemed to be durable on the floor .
“If I’m not cautious like you, it is likely to lose my way in the ruins . ”
I was feeling a bit relieved at being obediently heard .
I couldn’t beat him if he said, ‘I will definitely not turn back!’
“If you decide so, let’s search for Ann-sama immediately . ”
“Ah . ”
“If we couldn’t find a way to find Ann-sama, we’ll go back to Spring Palace at once . ”
“Ah, this maze is too much for children to navigate alone . ”
“Speaking of maze, please dispel the Phantasmal Maze in Spring Palace . ”
I had to ask him not to forget about it .
It was no wonder that many maids were distressed at this time .
“Mmm, you noticed it, didn’t you?”
“If I didn’t notice, I wouldn’t bother 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 was misunderstood .
I had not come to explore like Klaus . I came to stop Klaus from exploring .
I didn’t even know if my father or Duke of Harvan 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 it 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 was, he was still a 10-years-old boy .
The Ruins of Visitor had an intense magical power obstruction, and he had been using Glam Sight since the start .
Or rather, I admired that his magical power had been kept well until now .
Then, I was concerned about the amount of magic that was charged into the Wand of Urd Sight .
I had already consumed about 60 charges before finding Klaus .
The leftover was about 40 charges .
The Wand of Urd Sight was a wand created from ash tree1 .
The top of the wand was a yellow tourmaline, while the handle part was given a pattern that was weaved in gold .
It was the core material that was distinctive .
Silk weave of 10 meters in length st.i.tched with gold and silver threads .
It was compressed into several millimeters by s.p.a.ce magic, it was lightweight and used as a core .
Then, it was necessary to replace the core material when recharging the magic inside a wand .
What was my point?
In other words, this magic was incredibly expensive .
(Edward-oniisama, I’m sorry……!!)
While apologizing in my mind, I opened my bag for the second Wand of Urd Sight .
I wondered how many wands would I use overnight .
I was afraid of thinking about that for a moment .
1 Ash is a type of tree . In this story, it refers to Fraxinus j.a.ponica, or j.a.panese ash .