Chapter 827 – Where Did You Hide?

000

The next morning.

It was the third day of the Five Elements System, and it was the last day, but there was no sign of any movement from the exiled church.

Wake Lyla up by giving her some of the hangover reliever she gave her a few times ago and ask her to take another look at her Asteris skies.

Fortunately, the Sky Fortress was still quietly sinking beneath the water.

“Why isn’t it moving? Did you change your mind after seeing that we figured out their attack plan?”

＂Maybe so. Anyway, it’s true that we didn’t make any hasty moves. Well, if you don’t do it, you don’t do it, so it’s not that bad for us.”

At least, there is no need to worry about damage to civilians.

Lyla poured a cup of sugary coffee into her mouth as she projected a map of the surroundings of Asteris, created from magical illusions, across the living room.

No matter how hard I tried to come to my senses, the hangover cure Cleon gave me was so strong that I still felt like I had a bitter taste in my mouth.

To the east, centered around Asteris, a large magical reaction was still appearing in the sea at the end of the continent.

That is the fortress in the sky that they must block.

＂There is no doubt that he is absorbing magical power through his spiritual vein. However, once the period of the Five Elements Festival ends, the magic power of the spirit vein will decrease drastically… If you miss the timing, the underwater fortress will not be able to fly, and you will have to wait until next year?”

“… I don’t think the Exiled Church would have given up on their plan so easily.”

After hearing Lila’s words, Amelia muttered that and Cleon nodded, saying the same thing.

“Because they are always trying to get in through loopholes outside our thoughts. … Perhaps, we must consider the possibility that the operation to use the underwater fortress itself may have been a lie.”

Considering that they were trying to do something within the city by deploying Albain’s clones, the suspicion about that possibility grew even more.

“What do you think about it? Berlin.”

Here, let’s ask for advice on strategy from someone who actually has experience commanding an army.

With that in mind, when Cleon picks out Berlin among the people gathered in the mansion and asks him, Berlin quietly looks at the map and then answers.

＂… If you ask me…＂

“Out of these people, you are the only one who has actually participated in a war.”

When Cleon said that, Bayerlin answered with her sigh.

“Even if it’s a war, the direction is different. Someone else knows more about this than me. That’s right, Otis or something like that. The battlefield I was in charge of was a battle where you lead the strongest soldiers in and destroy everything.”

＂…＂

After hearing Beirlin’s words, Amelia’s expression darkened a little, and Beirlin turned her head to look at the person next to her.

“But isn’t it okay to just ask this guy? “You said you were a knight?”

＂Huheunghaheung?＂

Everyone’s attention is focused on Diora, who responds with a strange sound, and she has a mouth full of toast. She seems a little embarrassed that the baton has suddenly been passed to her, and she puts everything in her mouth.
It was passed over.

“… Uh, it can’t be helped. “I didn’t even eat breakfast, but I suddenly got a call telling me to get together.”

＂No one said anything in particular.＂

When Cleon pointed out that in response to Diora’s excuse, she responded by saying ‘Ugh…’ Looking a little downcast.

“I don’t know much about operations or anything like that. I’m similar to this, my role mostly involves going into dangerous places alone, wiping out everything, and sorting out the situation.”

“Is there only brain muscle here?”

When someone said that, the entire group fell silent.

＂… Just wait a moment! Whatever it is, Dio, I can’t stand being treated like that.”

At that time, Selena opened her mouth and appealed to herself as if she was not herself.

Then, the eyes of her companions turned to Diora, who was standing next to her, enjoying her morning tea with her tea cup in her hand.

＂…＂

＂Wait a minute~! What is that reaction? Is it full of facial expressions like you can’t believe what I’m saying!?”

“No, it’s not that I don’t believe it, but…”

Cleon tried to calm her down by raising her voice, but Selena put down the teacup she was holding and rolled up her arms in response to her group’s reaction.

＂Woah, I’m so pissed~! Even after all this, I am the daughter of a duke! And a court wizard! There’s no way I would have invested in STR rather than INT!?”

The next thing she did, as she put her incomprehensible sound into her mouth, was to take control of Lila’s illusion techniques and begin to control the illusion on her own.
Since light and flame are attributes that are closely related to illusion magic created through heat or light refraction, it would have been possible because both are compatible, but Lila raises her voice there once. 〈 Br〉

“Wait a minute, don’t mess with the illusion you’ve adjusted.”

“You just have to wait and see. If I add my magic to this illusion, I will be able to further increase its accuracy… Laila. “Are you going to hand over the visual sharing you are doing to your surveillance familiars to me?”

As she said that, Lila sighed and threw away the magic stone she was holding in her hand and handed it to her.

＂Haa… Do you know how much it costs to make a long-distance familiar? If you break it, you have to ask for it.”

“Of course. Don’t underestimate the power of the duke family.”

“Now that I think about it… This girl was the daughter of the richest family in the kingdom…”

Feeling confident that she might be treated harshly, thinking that if she breaks something, Lila sees that Selena is starting to adjust her illusions and her familiars.

“How do you confirm that the fortress is on the bottom of the sea?”

＂When the familiar floated on the sea fires a wave of magic power toward the sea, the wave hits the surface of the sea floor and is reflected. Through that, you can outline objects on the sea floor.”

When Lila tells her that this is a method she learned from a past task of searching for artifacts on the ocean floor, Selena answers her.

“It is indeed an effective method. But that’s not enough to remove the enemy’s camouflage.”

＂Camouflage? For example? “

“For example, the Exile Church has built a structure in the same shape as the Sky Fortress under the sea, and what your familiar is capturing is that bait?”

＂Haa?＂

Lila reacted to her words at first, but then closed her mouth for a moment.

It occurred to her that she might be as she said, so she cooled her head for a moment.

“… Then what do you do?”

When Lila asks that question, Selena blinks her eyes two or three times.

Then, the light of her magic began to appear in her eyes, showing that her vision was connected to Lila’s familiars.

“Of course, scattering magical waves is a textbook method, right? However, the opponents are rare villains called the Exiled Church… They know full well that they cannot deal with them using ordinary methods. Even more than that, Lila, you are able to control so many familiars at the same time. If it were me, I’d probably get distracted quickly and fail at a few… But first—”

As she said that, she quickly rolled her eyes and was checking something.

“If the movement areas of numbers 3 and 5, and numbers 5 and 7 overlap… Give up number 5 and expand the movement areas of numbers 3 and 7…”

“Wait, wait, wait! The route is also changing! What are you trying to do by making number 5 completely deviate from the path?”

＂What is the water resistance performance of this familiar of yours?＂

Instead of answering her own question, Lila’s brow furrowed when Selena asked her again, but she answered anyway.

“First, since it operates on the sea, salt and moisture can be prevented. Considering the range that needs to be explored, many familiars are needed, and just having familiars that can fly can cost a lot of money… Wait!!”

When Lila let out something like a scream, a change occurred in the illusory map that was spread out in front of her group.

One of the familiars was circling the area where the fortress was sleeping on the sea floor, not missing the situation, at high speed.

It descended at high speed, like a seabird targeting a fish that had risen to the surface of the water, and without even slowing down, went straight through and sank into the sea.

“What are you doing! “I told you to pick it up if I dropped it!”

“That will happen, so don’t worry. There are times when you have to see things like this with your own eyes.”

Selena calmly controls her familiar, as if telling her to calm down in Lila’s voice.

Before he knew it, Diora, who was near Cleon, was secretly whispering to Cleon.

＂As expected, Selena… I hate the way things go around in circles.＂

＂Thanks to you, Lila looks like she’s going to die from stress, but she…”

Cleon was also looking at the two with a slightly worried expression, and the next moment, Lila and Selena opened their eyes wide at the same time.

＂Eh, wait… This…!＂

＂Umm~!!!＂

A welcome map that gradually begins to show below sea level.

And what was seen in the illusion was not the underwater fortress that the party had figured out.

“What? This. “The surface of the sea floor was made like this?”

When Lila’s panicked voice rings out, the fortress that is supposed to be there is nowhere to be seen.

There was only a valley on the sea floor that seemed to have been created by following the outline of a fortress, like making a statue after a person.

＂Look at this~~~~! It was just as I said!? Of course, Selena Regent! The position of the kingdom’s wise man is a separate situation!”

“Wait a minute, idiot! Does that matter!? It’s more important that the fortress is gone!”

When she laughed and laughed, her tension rising even more as her guess was correct, Lila raised her voice and placed both hands on her desk.

The good news is that she is not the only one who is embarrassed.

All of Cleon’s party gathered there were looking at the illusion as if they were mesmerized by that fact.

“Lila, what is the fortress’s whereabouts?”

“I don’t know. Immediately after receiving information about the fortress, she had been monitoring the sea area through her familiar, and if something was flying in the sky in the meantime, there must have been something there. But…

Disappeared without a word or rumor.

It made no sense physically or magically.

＂If an object of that mass had been moved somewhere even by teleportation, a large amount of magical power would have been consumed… So, it is impossible not to be able to catch it. ＂

“To find out when, how, and where they disappeared, the fastest way would be to go here and investigate in person, but we don’t have time.”

Selena continues talking while nodding her head in response to Lila’s words.

At those words, her companions each begin to express their opinions and discuss ways to find the lost fortress.

“Then what should I do? Lila, how do you find traces of magical power through your familiar?”

“It’s not that high-performance. Moreover, since it is under the water, the familiar must also go under the water, and the familiar that Selena threw into the water earlier was not able to last even a minute before it disappeared.”

“I think losing all eyes on the sky is a dangerous decision.”

When Amelia agrees with Lila’s opinion, Sasha, who was listening next to her, asks a question as if she is dizzy.

＂Well, then how?＂

“What is the possibility that you are already in the sky of Asteris?”

Selena shook her head in denial at Beirlin’s point.

“If that were the case, neither I nor Lila would have noticed. As for the magic of invisibility, the greater the sense of incongruity, the easier it is for the magician to see through it.”

“That’s right. If that were the case, the sunlight falling from the sky would have been blocked. It’s unlikely to be over our heads right now.”

However, as the discussion continued without any opinions that came close to a correct answer, the group’s faces gradually darkened.

And then.

“If the opponent was an exiled church, they would have used an appropriate method.”

Lilim, who was quietly observing the situation and examining her map, opened her mouth.

＂A suitable method?＂

“Haven’t you experienced this too, Cleon? How do they solve problems?”

＂──.＂

Cleon was silent for a moment at Lilim’s words, then slowly placed his hands on the desk as if he was shocked.

＂Wait, no way…＂

＂Is that so…!＂

There, when Lila and Diora also responded as if they knew, the others turned to look at the three as if they did not know what they had noticed.

“… There is a suitable place. The entrance and exit can be manipulated at will, a space that is their exclusive patent.”

Lila, who heard Cleon’s muttering, nodded her head.

Amelia also spoke with a surprised expression, as if she understood what he said.

＂A gap in another dimension…＂

“The Exile Church has the technology to open the entrance and exit at will. It’s a unique technology, different from magic. If that were the case, it would be understandable that the fortress with its enormous volume and mass suddenly disappeared without a trace.”

After Lila gave a secondary explanation, Beirlin clicked her tongue, as if she was annoyed by the way the Exiled Church was doing.

＂How can I find out where I have disappeared into the gap between two dimensions? ＂

“In that vast infinite space? That’s impossible without coordinates. ＂

When Lila responds to Diora’s point, Cleon nods at her.

“… First of all, we have to do what we can now. Selena, please convey this fact to Master Miyeom. I will go to the temple like this.”

＂I understand!＂

When Selena said that, Diora left her mansion together to escort her.

Cleon also took all three swords today, hung them on his belt, and prepared to go outside with Sasha and Amelia.

“Lila, if anything goes wrong in the sky at any time, please contact us.”

“Okay. Don’t worry about the mansion. Because there is Arnia.”

Cleon nods his head in response and looks back at Sasha and Amelia standing next to him.

“The two went to Bourbon as requested. Because Dharma might take advantage of this timing to attack.”

＂Yes!＂

If you fall behind the enemy, you just have to work hard to catch up.

Cleon thought so and was about to leave the front door to move.

＂Hey~ This is Lila and Cleon’s house, right~? Anise said she needed help, so I came with her~”

A familiar voice coming from outside the entrance.

＂This voice is…＂

When he hurriedly opened the front door, there was a girl with gray hair and a woman with light blue hair who felt like freezing, standing side by side looking at Cleon.

“Ehehe, I’m here. Senior.”

＂Beatrix!? And…”

What responds to the ring vibrating on the finger is the last empty groove.

＂In the end, we meet in this situation. Responder.”

Anyone could see that she was a woman with the power of a dragon.