Chapter 430
Chapter 430: Approaching the Threshold
Aaaaaah!?
“Aaaaaah!?”
What the hell are you doing, Arthur!?
The silent screams of me and Antendeixis overlapped.
Arthur carelessly poured magic power into the ground, and the magic circle—
Didn’t respond at all.
“Nothing’s happening, huh?”
“It’s not just ‘nothing’s happening’!”
I couldn’t help but smack Arthur on the head.
“Ouch! What was that for?”
“That’s the wrong question! Don’t casually inject magic into an unknown magic circle! What would you do if an accident happens?!”
“But… it looked like Alexander was pouring magic too.”
Arthur rubbed his head, looking indignant. Oh great, he saw that!
“I was! I was being cautious about it!! Just trying to figure out what it is! It’s like trying to measure the depth of a hole in the ground by throwing in small rocks to hear the sound! What kind of idiot throws a bucket full of rubble in all at once!!!”
“Is that so? But is this even a meaningful magic circle? If it absorbs magic, it doesn’t seem like just a pattern.”
Arthur was still so laid-back. No, it was making me dizzy…
“Hey, you two, what’s going on? Why all the noise?”
“Is something the matter?”
Then the Old Man and Hans walked into the shrine.
“Oh, Old Man. We were just checking out this thing that looks like a magic circle with Alexander.”
“You haven’t checked anything!”
Despite pretending to hammer something and asking, “Is this a jar?” he had the nerve to act like a scholar.
“Oh ho, a magic circle, you say?”
The Old Man was peering closely at the design on the ground, looking quite curious.
Stop it! Don’t! You must really stop! I can only sense bad vibes!!!
“This… it’s writing I’ve never seen before. It doesn’t look like Elf writing… Hans, do you know what it is?”
“No. It’s neither Ancient Elf script nor Dwarf script.”
Hans, being questioned by the Old Man, carefully traced the patterns with his finger, shaking his head.
“Could it be from a minority group of Beastmen…? No, but this ominous font… Could it be Demon script?”
With Hans’s words, a wary expression appeared on both Arthur’s and the Old Man’s faces.
Whoa whoa, hold on! It’s good to be cautious, but a misunderstanding like that would be troublesome!
“It’s not Demon script.”
I immediately denied it.
“Oh? You know about Demon script, Alexander?”
“Yeah. I can’t go into too much detail, but I often come into contact with information from that area.”
“I see.”
As I spoke with a somewhat suggestive tone, Arthur returned a knowing smile.
The Old Man seemed to find our exchange amusing, while Hans maintained his usual serious expression. …Hans, rather than being unremarkable, it feels like it’s hard to read his thoughts. It’s like he’s suppressing his own character as much as possible.
He’s not obviously suspicious, but rather insubstantial—if it’s calculated, who exactly is this guy? He gives off an otherworldly vibe, somehow feeling disconnected from reality…
“So, it seems we’re at a loss about what this writing is. Is this really a magic circle to begin with?”
“That’s the thing—we can’t tell. I and Alexander are still figuring it out. There’s a sensation that magic is being absorbed, so it doesn’t seem like just a pattern.”
“Hmmm…”
The Old Man gently touched the design on the ground after listening to Arthur’s explanation.
Hey, hey, hey.
“Um! Old Man, please be careful…! I mean, since we don’t know what it is, it’s better not to interfere too much…”
“I understand, I understand.”
The Old Man nodded as if to say “no need to say any more” and lightly infused magic power.
“Hmmm… this certainly is something unknown. What do you think, Hans?”
“Let’s take a look.”
Hans also gathered his magic power and cautiously examined the state of the magic circle.
Watching this was nerve-racking, but… compared to Arthur, at least he showed some sense.
Well, even if there’s a little incident, this magic circle probably won’t activate so easily—
“There’s no response at all.”
“That’s right, Hans. …Huh!?”
Suddenly, the Old Man poured a ton of magic power into it!!
“Ha!”
And for some reason, Hans followed suit!!
A flood of magic power was being poured into the magic circle!!!
“Whoa! Ah! Aah!!”
I jumped up and shouted,
“What the hell are you two doing!!”
I gave the Old Man and Hans a sharp smack on the back of the head.
“Ow!”
“Ouch!”
“Whoa!? What are you doing, Alexander!?”
For some reason, Arthur screamed, but I didn’t care!
“What do you mean, what!? Be careful!! I told you to be careful!!”
I pointed at the design on the ground with both hands. Thankfully, it didn’t respond at all!
“What’s going to happen!? I have no idea!!!”
“Well, that is certainly true, but there’s no need to be so uptight about it. Given the structure, this must have been an ancient religious facility or something.”
Rubbing his head, the Old Man looked around inside the shrine as he stood up.
“If that’s the case, if we were to predict the purpose of such a magic circle—it could be for a defensive barrier, granting some kind of blessing, engaging with spirits like the Elves do, or even to open a hidden door… it should have effects like these. It’s hard to believe that a magic that harms the user would be activated.”
Uh… well…!
That may be true…!!
Even if it’s related to forbidden arts, it wouldn’t have been designed to directly harm the user, so the Old Man’s assessment isn’t completely off…!!!
“A door to the Demon World opens…”
Antendeixis’s voice, distant and eerie, echoed.
True enough, there’s no direct harm to the user!
“However, the fact that it has no response despite all this interaction suggests it’s possibly designed this way.”
Hans said, mimicking the Old Man’s movements, rubbing his own head while speaking.
“Really? What do you mean?”
“I read in Elf literature that there’s a description of the land worship of ancient humans. This facility might have been used for rituals that offered thanks and returned magic power to the earth.”
“Aha, I see. So, it’s literally a ‘hole’ in the ground where magic power is absorbed.”
Arthur clapped his hands in response to Hans’s theory.
“If that were the case, the patterns around here might be verbal prayers rather than a spell.”
The Old Man nodded as if he understood completely.
“Nonetheless, since we don’t know what this writing is, I’d like you to take what I’ve said with a grain of salt.”
Hans suddenly started speaking like a scholar, which was amusing.
“Well, we aren’t archaeologists. Although we’re interested, if it appears harmless, let’s just leave it be for now.”
The Old Man laughed heartily as he left the shrine, with Hans following suit.
“In the end, we don’t really know, but it doesn’t seem like a big deal.”
Arthur casually remarked, and I felt like collapsing right there.
No way!!
This is a big deal!!!
If anything, the fate of humanity is at stake!!!
“I was hoping that if I poured a ton of magic power in, maybe some treasure would pop out.”
“No… it would be nice if it were treasure, but… we have no idea what might come out…”
“Alexander, you’re so cautious. Well, I might have also relaxed a bit just hanging back here.”
Arthur laughed sheepishly.
“Well, the vacation’s about to end, so we have to tighten up a bit…”
Letting out a small sigh, Arthur’s shoulders seemed to slump a little as he exited the shrine.
…
“Somehow got through that…”
Did I…?
Even as a magician, at the end of the day, we’re just humans. After a few people poured magic power, the magic circle showed no changes.
“Who knows how long it takes to activate? That sure is troublesome.”
Seriously.
Even if we tried to force it by sheer numbers, it would take decades, and by then the front lines might already reach the principality.
But perhaps, if we pushed with a few dozen more people, the portal might open up soon… Damn it, I can’t predict anything until I see it open once!
But I can’t just ignore it.
The Holy Church or the Empire—
The upper management of the Holy Church would definitely be enthusiastic about it. However, I have no idea how the extremists would act. I’d like them to handle the “absolutely kill the demons” faction rationally, but too much expectation is dangerous.
On the other hand, the Empire would likely cut off anything if it meant benefiting their own interests. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if they deliberately weakened the neighboring countries for the sake of their standing post-war. They probably wouldn’t treat the not-so-friendly Elf forests any better than a shield for stalling…
“………”
—Forest Elves.
As I pondered, her smile suddenly materialized in my mind.
…Liliana.
I see. The Forest Elves are powerful in magic and have enough numbers.
With the front lines nearing the Holy Great Tree’s Forest, in a sense, they have nowhere to fall back to before the humans.
More than anything, they have a long lifespan. The Forest Elves, capable of thinking in centuries, might—
Be able to effectively utilize this portal.
“…I see. That’s certainly one approach.”
While the nature-loving Forest Elves, who worship the deities of light, would never willingly accept contracts with demons,
Flipping that around, they might consider it if it’s to protect the forest. If Liliana could persuade them—
“Hey, Alex! We’re about to leave!”
Called by Arthur, I snapped back to reality.
“…Ah, right! Understood!”
As I answered, I looked around the shrine again.
…For now, I’ll put it on hold.
What’s certain is that I need to think of how to initiate contact with the Holy Great Tree Alliance.
However, Liliana’s existence should be a top secret, and an unknown human can’t directly contact the queen…
“If I force my way to meet her, I’ll stick out like a sore thumb and it’ll be super suspicious…”
To think I’d end up in the alliance’s territory was totally unexpected; I hadn’t thought at all about contact methods, dammit!!!
I left the shrine while racking my brain.
—I will definitely return to this place someday.
With that conviction in my heart.
