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Chapter 32 – At Night in the Great Sea of Trees
“It’s about time for a change. Wake up.”
The moon was soon rising. Rona said this as she erased the mute barrier, snapped her fingers, and cast a disguise removal spell on Clare.
“Hmmm…”
Clare and the girl doll both jumped up, but the disguise on her hair and eyes was not removed. From Selena’s point of view, it was a lighter inhibition spell than usual, but that was probably due to the fact that they were currently under surveillance and Clare was maintaining her thread magic.
She was only interfering with the disguise magic so as not to affect the thread. From Rona’s point of view, if the disguise magic she was maintaining was broken through by a light disguise removal spell just because she was asleep, then there was no point in talking.
“Hmm… Good morning.”
The girl doll yawned and rubbed her eyes.
“Good morning, Clare-sama.”
“Good morning.”
After exchanging such greetings, Rona headed to bed.
“Well, I’ll leave it to you for a while. Well, I think I’ll wake up on my own if something gets picked up by the detector.”
“Okay. Good night, Rona. I’ll use the sound-proofing barrier here.”
“Good night.”
Rona nodded and lay down, not seeming nervous at all, and was breathing heavily as soon as she lay down. Clare deployed a sound-proofing barrier around Rona and sat down next to Selena.
“Are you tired, Selena?”
“I’m fine. I was talking to Rona-sama while I was there, so I wasn’t really concentrating on being on guard. Besides, I figured that if Rona-sama were to move, it would be a little later.”
“That’s right. She hasn’t moved since she returned to her tent, and she hasn’t used any magic. I guess it’s time for everyone to go to bed.”
“A little longer, I guess.”
The two of them were killing time while being on guard, eating midnight snacks and chatting, but――
“Hmm…”
Clare turned her head toward the camp, and Rona sat up at almost the same time.
“It seems to have moved.”
“Are you ready?”
“I can move at any time.”
“Well, let’s go.”
The three of them left the tent together. The tent that Clare had made with her thread magic disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place.
“Apparently he’s trying to sneak out the back of the camp.”
“He’s heading somewhere. If he’s meeting up with his friends… he hasn’t been caught by the detection magic so far.”
Is he good at concealment, or is there something else? We can’t rule out the possibility that he’s not a spy yet.
Clare and the others advance through the dark forest at night, using forest walking techniques and a concealment barrier. Although they are using magic to improve their night vision, their movements are unwavering. They can move in a straight line, so they can move regardless of obstacles, even at night.
All they have to do is move straight toward their target. They quickly close the distance between them, and reach a distance where they can catch glimpses of him beyond the trees.
“It’s him after all.”
“… He seems to be acting alone.”
Clare and the others keep their distance and follow the figure, watching what it plans to do.
Soon the figure takes something out of its pocket.
It was a stone with a string attached. It looked like a pendant and was hanging from his hand. He swung it around and hit the tree, and the stone emitted light.
“Is it a light leaking stone?”
“Light leaking stone?”
“Just as you can see. It’s a stone that glows for a while when it’s struck.”
The figure used the string to swing the light-emitting stone around and around, then threw it high into the tree.
The light was a signal to someone. There was silence for a while. Clare was watching the situation unfold, but suddenly she looked up.
“It’s probably reacting to the light. A magical reaction is coming towards us from the sky. It’s not very large, but–”
“The wavelength and movement are a bird monster. If it has good night vision, it’s an owl. It’s being used as a liaison. Judging from the direction the bird was sent from… Ah, that’s it. We’ve identified several people there.”
Clare and Rona analyze the movements that are happening and say.
“If it’s a bird… it can fly above the Great Sea of Trees.”
The King of the Sky comes to hunt when he discovers a creature that is not supposed to fly flying above the Great Sea of Trees. If it is a creature that can fly, it will not be hunted by this.
“Based on the magical wavelength, you’re not a summoner, but a monster user.”
“I don’t know if it’s her or her companion, but there is someone who has that kind of skill.”
“That’s right. I’ll take care of the one at a distance. You guys–that’s right. Work together and hold back both the owl and that thing.”
Rona said that and walked lightly without waiting for the other two’s reply. She quickly disappeared, blending into the darkness of the night.
“I can’t catch the bird myself. May I ask Clare-sama to do that?”
“I understand. I’ll move while supporting Selena.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“If we use the monster bird as a liaison, maybe a letter? Or a message. Let’s wait until we see what the bird will do before we move.”
The two and the girl doll nodded at the same time, exchanged hand signals, and moved in different directions. This was to prevent the bird from escaping in a pincer attack. Clare heads in the direction the bird is flying. Selena takes a position in the direction of the camp.
–The figure makes a clicking noise intermittently several times. In response, the voice of an owl echoes through the forest. The figure holds out his arm equipped with a sturdy leather gauntlet into the air, and an owl flies in from the dark night without a sound of wings and lands on his arm. It is an owl monster with blue eyes. It has ear feathers more like a horned owl than an owl, and is large for this type of bird of prey, but it is a real monster, and its eyes are like the stars shining in the night sky, so it is called a star owl.
“…Here he comes. I’m counting on him.”
The man says this and ties a letter rolled up into a cylindrical shape from a pouch on his waist to the owl’s leg. When it receives the letter, it hoots and flies off.
Then–Selena calls out to him.
“Who is this letter addressed to, so late at night?”
The man who was called from behind stiffened, then slowly turned around.
“…A witch’s apprentice? I wondered who it was.”
That person was the man who had voiced his opposition to Clare and the others accompanying them before they entered the ruins.
If we assume that he was an intelligence agent for the Empire, Selena speculates that he was against the idea because if someone who could detect magic accompanied them to the ruins, they would be unable to disrupt the investigation or secure important relics within the ruins.
The man smiled in a friendly manner as if nothing had happened, but he was vigilant about his surroundings. Selena could see the magical reaction of the man’s detection magic.
He might have thought that Rona and Clare were somewhere too.
“No. Apparently something came to light about the ruins after that. It was necessary to let the guild know as soon as possible. It’s late, but I’m a monster user, so I went out of my way to hand over the letter I was entrusted with.”
Maybe it was a phrase he had planned from the beginning. If he said it was a letter he was entrusted with, it wouldn’t be a problem if he couldn’t tell them the contents. He said he didn’t know the details and refused to give any commitment.
“That’s strange. The direction the owl flew in is not the direction of the capital. Can we go back to the camp now and talk about it?”
“Of course.”
The man said this while spreading his arms as if he meant no harm, and suddenly released something like smoke from his palm.
Sleep Cloud. It was a spell that robbed the person it inhaled of consciousness.
However, Selena was not there when the smoke was released. She lowered her body as if to sink into the ground, avoiding the area where the spell was being cast.
“Wh-what!?”
The moment of the attack and the type of magic he was about to use were all perfectly seen through, and he dodged it. Selena crouched down and charged just above the ground, using the spring of her whole body.
Their eyes met. Selena was about to step forward and thrust her drawn rapier at the same time, and the man tried to dodge the stab that would likely be launched in response.
He tried to dodge–or so he thought. But Selena watched his movement until the last moment, and then changed her action as if after the fact. Immediately after passing by, she swung her rapier and slashed the man’s heel.
“Guah!?”
The man’s Achilles tendon was cut, and he fell over. He still tried to resist, but–
“Please don’t move. If you’re going to cast a spell, I’ll stop you before you can cast it next time.”
Selena’s quiet voice. When he raised his head, the tip of the rapier was pointed at the man’s throat.
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