Chapter 26
The hazy mist swirling in the dark cave seemed ready to swallow Kira’s magical fire at any moment. The students, realizing they were facing a crisis, remained silent for a moment, but the brief silence was broken by Sarina’s voice, who was the first to be consumed by fear.
“…So, have multiple walls and paths been created by illusion magic? No, why did this suddenly happen? Is it because I touched things here and there? Could it be that I touched something wrong and activated the magic? Is that it? I’m sorry, what should we do? Are we unable to get out of here now?!”
“No, let’s calm down first, Miss Sarina. There’s probably a way to escape. It’s okay, just try to catch your breath for now.”
“That’s right, don’t get too excited. You might hyperventilate if you’re not careful.”
Surprised by Sarina’s sudden panic, Emily and Kira quickly approached her and patted her shoulders. Eden, who had been watching them, pondered for a moment before speaking again.
“I think it would be best for us to return to the place with the monument for now. It’s much wider than here, so there’s space to rest, and if we keep walking through corridors, we’ll get lost. What do you all think?”
Everyone nodded in agreement with Eden’s words. They decided to walk back to the space with the monument, following the direction Eden remembered.
* * *
The group caught their breath after returning to the original space. The faint mist disappeared as they left the corridor. It seemed the magic in the corridors was indeed activated to make people lose their way.
Upon reaching the wide space, they decided to sit for a while on the stone pedestals near the monument. They needed some time to think about the current situation.
“First, I think we need to consider why this situation occurred, and what we need to do to resolve it.”
Kira offered her opinion while enlarging the fire to better illuminate everyone’s faces. Jake, who was agreeing with her words, suddenly raised his head as if he had just remembered something.
“Come to think of it, won’t the teachers arrive soon? Then we might be able to get out after just waiting a little, without needing to worry, right?”
“Yes! That’s right. We received a message that the teachers were on their way before we came in here. I just followed along when Lord Valenti suddenly broke down the door, but they must have arrived by now!”
Sarina nodded hurriedly, agreeing with Jake’s hopeful words. However, despite their opinions, Kira’s expression remained dark. The same was true for Emily. Emily, who knew well about illusion magic, looked at the hopeful Jake and Sarina and struggled to speak.
“If illusion magic has been activated inside, the situation outside is probably the same. It’s not just that we can’t get out, but those outside can’t come in either. Especially this magic, it’s so solid that it has substance. We can’t break it unless we figure out what caused the magic or what the medium is.”
“If it’s the cause, would it help if I touch everything I touched again?”
Sarina asked with a tearful expression at Emily’s words. Then Kira, who had been deep in thought for a while, suddenly spoke.
“…Maybe it’s not because Miss Sarina touched something.”
“What? Really? If I’m not the cause, what activated the magic?”
“I heard that when we came in here, Lord Valenti cut the door with his sword, is that right?”
“Yes, that’s correct, Miss Kira. I cut the door and entered.”
“Whew, I was chilled to see you slice through that thick iron door as if it were paper, Lord Valenti. I’ve heard your swordsmanship is excellent, but you’re really amazing.”
As Jake suddenly expressed admiration, Sarina cut off his words as if frustrated and leaned towards Kira, asking urgently.
“Lord Jake, this is not the time for such talk! Miss Kira, could it be that the magic was activated because Lord Valenti cut the door? Not because I touched things here and there?”
“I’m not certain, of course, but it’s highly likely. This is a shelter created by magicians, after all. Considering it was built to survive fierce monsters, a plausible hypothesis can be formed. If we think about that time, we can easily infer. If the door is broken by a strong external impact rather than being opened by magic or a key, it’s likely due to a monster’s attack. If it’s a shelter built to protect the people inside, wouldn’t they have activated illusion magic to make monsters lose their way?”
“That’s certainly a logical opinion. It’s highly likely.”
Eden nodded in agreement with Kira’s explanation. Suddenly, Sarina, her face reddening, jumped up from her seat and shouted at Eden as if wronged.
“That’s right! I told you, Lord Valenti! That this door should be opened carefully! I was calculating the formula, but you couldn’t wait and just cut through the door!”
“…I apologize. I was hasty.”
“Miss Sarina, please calm down. What’s important now is not who made a mistake, but how we get out of here. Lord Valenti didn’t do it knowingly, did he?”
“Are we going to starve to death trapped in this illusion magic maze now? Is that it? I’m still young… I can’t die so meaninglessly in such a dark place!”
“Please calm down. Nothing is certain yet. We might find a way out soon, don’t you think?”
“That’s right, Miss Sarina. I don’t think we need to worry so much when the situation isn’t that bad yet. Let’s calm down and think together.”
Jake, who had grabbed Sarina’s arm as she sobbed in fear and made her sit down again, comforted her. Emily also went to her side and patted her back to help calm her excitement. Then, as something occurred to her, Emily turned to Kira.
“By the way, Miss Kira, if the shelter activated magic to block external attacks, wouldn’t they have also devised a way to deactivate the magic when people inside want to go out? The purpose of the magic would be to stop monsters, not to isolate people in the shelter, right?”
“Yes, Miss Emily. I thought so too. It’s likely that they prepared a way to break the magic that any magician entering this shelter could easily access. It should be solvable no matter what kind of magic is used. And the place with the most information in this place is probably here, this space with the monument.”
“So we just need to search this place? Miss Sarina, did you hear? They say there’s a way out, so let’s calm down and look for it together! Miss Emily, Miss Kira, what should we be looking for?”
Jake stood up at Kira’s words and pulled Sarina up with him. Sarina, who seemed to have calmed down a bit, was sniffling as she stood up led by Jake’s hand and looked at Kira and Emily. Eden also got up from his seat and looked at the two as if asking what they should be looking for.
“To break the illusion magic, we need to find the medium. It should be usable by any magician who finds the shelter, and enough mana should be injected into the medium to break the illusion magic. It also shouldn’t break easily, and it should be something magicians can find easily.”
“What kind of thing could that be, Miss Emily?”
Kira fell into deep thought after hearing the conditions Emily listed. Sarina also pondered with her arms crossed, while the two from the Swordsmanship Department, ignorant about magic, just looked at the girls.
“Injecting mana into the medium… Like blowing mana into a magic device?”
At Sarina’s casually thrown words, a term flashed through Emily and Kira’s minds. The two turned to each other simultaneously.
“Mana absorption stone!!”
“It’s the mana absorption stone, Miss Emily!”
The mana absorption stone that Calroph had given as an assignment is a stone that magicians have been using for a long time to enhance mana application skills. Of course, what Calroph distributed was modified for the assignment, so it wouldn’t be in the shape of a round egg, but the color and texture of the stone would be similar.
“Any magician can use it, it can be injected with mana, and since it’s a stone, it won’t break easily!”
As Emily spoke with a bright face, Kira nodded.
“And any magician can easily find it!”
Sarina, who doesn’t take Calroph’s class, had never heard of the mana absorption stone, so she couldn’t understand. However, seeing Emily and Kira’s bright smiling faces, she smiled along and hugged them with both arms.
“I don’t know what’s what, but you’ve found the medium, right? We can get out of here now, right?”
“Yes, that’s right, Miss Sarina. We can get out now! I’m so relieved!”
As the three girls were squealing and hugging each other, Jake, who was watching while scratching the back of his head, let out a small sigh of relief. He also didn’t quite understand what was going on, but it seemed things had been resolved well.
“Miss Sarina, Lord Jake, Lord Eden. Please, all three of you, look for a light gray stone. The surface will be smooth like marble with wavy lines drawn on it. We don’t know how big it will be, so if you find anything, please show it to Miss Kira and me. Miss Sarina, if you see a gray stone, try injecting a little mana into it. If the stone absorbs the mana, that will be the medium we’re looking for.”
Emily, who had finally calmed down, explained the details of the stone to the three people who didn’t know about the mana absorption stone. After hearing her explanation, the five of them immediately started looking around the area where the monument was erected to find the gray stone. Kira enlarged her magic fire even more so that people could easily find the stone.
How much time had passed like that? Lord Eden, who was examining the lower part of the monument pedestal, raised his hand to call Emily and Kira.
“Miss Emily, Miss Kira. I think I’ve found a stone similar to what you described. Is this it?”
At his words, everyone stopped what they were doing and ran to where Lord Eden was. When Kira brought the light close to illuminate the lower part of the monument pedestal, they could see that a stone of a different color from the monument was supporting part of the pedestal.
“…We found it!”
A look of elation spread across Emily and Kira’s faces.
