Chapter 10: Ruins of Visitor (part four)

Last chapter of any series for this month. We’re already halfway through the first arc! *pat myself on the back*

TL: clover

ED: clover, eristol

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“Erica, are you hurt somewhere?”

“I’m alright, Klaus-sama.”

“I see…then, do you feel sluggish? Cold? anything?”

“I’m alright!”

“I see…if anything feels off, don’t push yourself and tell me immediately.”

“Yes, yes. I will tell you.”

Klaus and I split up to classify the items from Eduard-oniisama’s storage chests. With all the unknown wands and scrolls, it is very possible we might carelessly activate some weird magic, so we needed to sort these out.

I worked on the wands, while Klaus analyzed the scrolls and spell cards.

…At least that was the plan, but Klaus’ hands were stopping frequently and he sent nervous glances my way.

Every time he stopped, he asked me about my condition.

“Erica, you, are you really……”

“Klaus-sama, I will get angry, you know?”

The word ‘Worried!’ was written all over his face.

He resembles Eduard-oniisama when I caught a cold.

I wonder if it is because they are both eldest sons with little sisters.

Eduard is a good person despite his dark, scheming smile, so perhaps Klaus, who is snarky and has sadistic tendencies, is also a good person?

“Klaus-sama, how does it look?”

“There is no curse in the range of my Glam Sight. I should be able to use the spell cards for Hafan magic without any problem. Looking over the scrolls will take a little more time though.”

“That’s fortunate. Please don’t forget to restore your magical energy with a potion.”

“Yeah, I know. How about you, Erica?”

I read the parchment notes about the classified wands.

Wand of the Death¹.

Wand of Fire Bolt.

Wand of Lightning Bolt.

Wand of Magic Missiles.

They all came from the trapped box of death.

Although the remaining amount of charge is few, all of them are powerful offensive wands.

It was not unreasonable for Eduard-oniisama to be vigilant about thieves.

“You mean they are Eduard’s leftovers?”

“The fact that his offensive wands have been used so many times must mean he was involved in some considerably large-scale combat.”

“I see. I was wondering why I didn’t see any sign of monsters in these ruins … Maybe he has already dealt with them?”

“Probably so.”

Yes, the Ruins of Visitor has already been conquered.

In this regard, I would like to obediently thank my brother.

The mechanism of this labyrinth is already troublesome enough, I shudder to think that monsters might also be prowling around.

“Ooh! I can use this! Great!”

Klaus had been quietly glancing down at his notes up to that point, but he suddenly cried out in excitement.

He seems to be in a good form ever since his magical energy recovered.

I also stopped my hands from packing items into my bag and looked into the scroll.

“Have you found a magic that seems useful?”

“Far better than being ‘just’ useful, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a trump card. What is described here is a Pass-wall magic.”

Klaus pointed between the scroll and a page of his notes excitedly.

Yup, but you see, I can’t read the magic language of Hafan.

The notepad was crammed tight with the results of his magic research.

This is nostalgic, Klaus (older) of the game also carried tome of his magic research that was as thick as a Japanese dictionary².

With this, he will grow up to be a hardworking genius.

“A magic that allows you to freely pass through walls? That is so convenient that it’s almost unfair.”

“I don’t feel even the least bit ashamed, because right now, it is a race against time.”

Certainly, with Ann and my lives on the line, we don’t have time to waste keeping track of the mechanism of the labyrinth.

But now that I think about this carefully, brother had actually prepared this cheat of a spell for exploring the ruins.

As expected, brother…somehow immature.

“If it were an ordinary labyrinth, we would just have to walk through the walls from one end to the other end, how frustrating…”

“But we don’t understand the laws of the labyrinth, so it won’t be strange even if a fatal incidence occurs since we don’t know everything.”

In addition to the passage of time, the Ruins of Visitor detects the weight of its intruder and changes its shape.

It’s not like Eduard-oniisama, who explored the ruins first, left his message in every room.

Even if he did, we have no time to waste trying to decipher the laws of this labyrinth.

“If we don’t understand the rule, at least we have to suppress the labyrinth’s shifting.”

“Passage of time, and weight…huh…”

“Time manipulation is one of the most powerful forms of magic. I have memorized the spell with its chant and magic circle configuration, but I am still too immature to use it. I have never succeeded in casting it, not even once.”

“You have already memorized it, huh, the highest-ranking magic?”

“If it is only memorizing spells, everyone can do it if they try. If it can’t be used then memorizing it has no point.”

“Surely you will achieve the strength to use it once you grow up and become an adult.”

“No, it seems to be because I lack emotional strength. It is because I haven’t experienced any strong emotions in my life.”

No, but even though he is only ten years old, he has memorized the highest-ranking magic, not everyone can do it, you know?

This is a genius who has not noticed that he is actually a genius!

In any case, controlling time is impossible anyhow.

What remains is weight.

Weight, weight, weight…ah!

“Klaus-sama, there is a wand of Levitation. With this Pass-wall, combined with—”

“I see, a flight magic! Then, it’s as good as no mechanical labyrinth!”

The shaft of the wand of Levitation was carved from the fossilized bones of a wyvern.

A piece of Amber rests on its tip, and its brass grip was carved with a feather pattern.

The core material is the fossilized plume of an archaeopteryx.

Incidentally, this is also very expensive, but in this situation I can’t afford to be frugal.

Unlike the Flight spell, Levitation does not allow for finer adjustments to altitude.

However, since we only want to avoid the labyrinth’s mechanisms, floating even a little above the ground should be enough.

Levitation has a weak effect, but it is useful enough.

“Then the next step is decided. Using Levitation in combination with Pass-wall, we will search each level one by one,” Klaus declared.

“If we also use Urd Sight, it seems we will be able to significantly save time.”

“There are two Pass-wall scrolls. We need one for returning, so we will return temporarily if we cannot join with Ann before the first piece’s effect runs out.”

“I suppose it can’t be helped. In that case, let’s leave some notes to guide Ann-sama to this camp.”

There is a possibility that it might not be noticed at all due to the weather if it is only written on the wall with Moonlight Gallnut Ink.

Dropping pieces of parchment with detailed instructions in conspicuous places such as doorways would certainly raise her chances of finding them.

“Erica, I have said this many times, but if you start feeling off in any way whatsoever, we are getting out of here. No matter how much time is left on the Pass-Wall spell.”

“Klaus-sama…”

“I am worried about Ann, but if something happens to you, I will never forgive myself for the rest of my life. If only I checked the magic traces around the chest a bit more carefully, that trap could have been prevented.”

“Klaus-sama, you have quite a stubborn personality, don’t you?”

“You…”

I appreciate his concerns.

But it was due to my carelessness that I got caught in a trap, he shouldn’t have to feel responsible.

So, I changed the topic.

Nonetheless, to be honest, I feel glad that Klaus is actively seeking to withdraw.

Is it because I have received a sentence of death?

Then it is a good thing.

—No, no, that is not good at all.

After we finished checking the supplies, we prepared for our departure.

Klaus had found a belt in the supply chest that was made to hold the potion vials. He wrapped it around his waist over his robe and filled every single one of its specially shaped metal slots with a magic replenishing potion.

He hooked the magic recovery potions to all of its special shaped metal fittings.

After drinking three of the potions, which the belt couldn’t hold, he tucked the rest into a cloth bag over his shoulder.

Three potions…he is only ten-years-old, but his capacity of holding magical energy is quite high.

If it is an average adult mage, I heard that their magical energy is fully restored after drinking two and a half bottle of potions.

“Wh-what is it? Why are you staring at me like that?”

“No, never mind. If I must say, I’m worried whether your magical energy has completely recovered or not.”

“Oh, I see … if my wide area magic was not hindered, I would have enough energy to run tracking magic on all the floors we have been to so far.”

“Klaus-sama, now that I look closely, your face is all red, are you feeling alright?”

“Oh, ye-yes … why is this happening? Was there also alcohol among the ingredients…?”

Klaus turned his head the other way and began organizing his spell cards at an incredible pace.

His dexterity resembled that of a magician shuffling cards, or a banker counting notes.

He bundled about twenty sheets of spell cards and put them into hidden pockets in various parts of his robe.

Hmm? Wait a moment, just how many of them is he bringing with him?

Even just with a rough glance, it seems like he has put over 300 sheets in just one sleeve.

“Klaus-sama, no way, are you going to bring all of them? There are at least two-thousands, you know?”

“If we keep going down, there is a possibility that we will come across a dangerous monster. Two thousand is hardly enough.”

“Being a mage of the East is hard work, huh?”

“We value preparation just as much as you do. Fundamentally, we are the same as Aurelian alchemists. We differ greatly from Lucanrant’s swordsmen, whose bodies are weapons in itself, and Ignitia’s dragon knights, who are peerless so long as they have their dragons.”

“Considering all that, you still came here without preparation…”

“Because, at that time I was feeling weird. No, I reflect on it. I will never do something like this again.”

It is difficult to retort when he is feeling so ashamed about it.

His behavior was influenced by the curse of the vampire (?)³, so I didn’t mean to blame him.

I fastened the lamp on the bag to free my hand and wrapped a belt with wand holders around my waist.

It only barely caught around my waist, as expected it is truly a belt for my brother.

I picked up two wands of Magic Missiles and Lightning Bolt from the offensive set, and three wands of Levitation, Feather Falling, and Urd Sight from my utility set and stuffed them all in the holder.

Too many would just cause confusion and won’t be practical.

Keep a manageable amount in your belt and swap them out with the ones in your bag to adapt to the situation. That is an alchemist’s way of operating.

Eduard-oniisama taught me that.

“Ah, right. Klaus-sama, please take these too. These are the wands of Levitation and Feather Falling … in other words, they are for flying and falling. These two are very short-ranged so please refrain from using them on the move.”

“I understand the Levitation, but when would we use Feather Falling?”

“It is essential. We can’t say that there are no such things like a pitfall in here. You will also need it you levitate too high. Levitation magic has a very precise altitude rise, so it is easy to accidentally swing it a few too many times and then get stuck high in the air.”

“How high is it specifically?”

“Usually around five centimeters on your first swing. Twenty-five when you swing it once more. Hundred and twenty-five on your third swing. You will levitate exponentially higher with each swing.”

“Huh. That’s interesting.”

Ah, a ten-year-old and he already understands the exponential function.

As expected of the hardworking genius, Klaus Hafan.

Klaus is staring at the wand like a child eyeing a brand new toy…

It appears I have to keep an eye on him so that he doesn’t overuse it by mistake.

“Let’s go, Erica. From here onward, it’s a race against time.”

“Yes, Klaus-sama. We need to help Ann-sama as soon as possible.”

Klaus read aloud the scroll of Pass-wall.

A white light spread out from his staff and deployed a magic circle over our heads.

Beads of light emerged from the circle and showered down upon our heads like raindrops.

The drops of light which passed through us, rippled on the ground upon touch and formed another magic circle.

The two circles sandwiched us as they intersected slowly and we were enveloped by the white tracks of light on their track.

After confirming the invocation of Pass-wall, I waved the wand of Levitation, made of amber, bone and brass, twice.

Feathers made of golden lights danced through the air and floated down to our feet.

The feathers burst upon touching our shoes, and the shining particles changed into golden circles.

Levitation magic spread out and covered our soles, pushing our body up in the air.

Holding hands so that we won’t get separated, we kicked at the air and jumped straight into the solid wall ahead.

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¹ The literal translation is actually wand of the Armor of Death.

² It actually said 広○苑, but I know that it refers to 広辞苑 (Koujien) or a Japanese dictionary written by Shinmura Izuru. For reference, it is this size. So, Klaus (older)’s research journal is very thick.

³ This question mark is in the raw. This is because Erica still wasn’t sure that the magic spelled on the stone was from the vampires. It was still pure speculation.

Edit 09/05/2019: Passwall is another spell from DnD. A passage appears at a point of your choice that you can see on a wooden, plaster, or stone surface (such as a wall, a ceiling, or a floor) within range, and lasts for the duration. You choose the opening’s dimensions – up to 5 feet wide, 8 feet tall, and 20 feet deep. The passage creates no instability in a structure surrounding it. (source)

If you want to see how they look like after their preparation, look at the cover for this series in the TOC page.

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