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, 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, it was 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 Onii-sama that there is a trap that has been activated, 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 god 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 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, 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 anticipation 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 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 if many maids were distressed during 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 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 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 stitched with gold and silver threads. It was compressed into several millimeters by space 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 japonica, or Japanese ash.