Chapter 12
THE NEXT DAY dawned on the Crystal Shrine of the Celestial Ruins, morning sun gradually dyeing the world orange.
Gilbert and Heinrich would begin their investigation in earnest today, so they spent the morning preparing to head back to the site. Mira planned to retrieve what she needed from the depths of the Shrine and then go home.
It was time to say goodbye.
“You’ve been a big help, friends,” Mira announced and held out her hand.
Having finished checking his investigation equipment, Gilbert grasped her hand firmly. “Same to you. Without you, we would’ve had a lot more trouble during our climb. I certainly appreciate going under budget on medicine.”
“Hm, well…you’ve taught me much. I am fortunate to have met you too, Miss Mira.” Though a blush colored his cheeks, Heinrich’s words were sincere. He looked Mira in the eye and returned her handshake as well.
“Well, take care of yourselves.”
“Yeah. You too, Mira.”
“I pray for your good health.”
With that, Gilbert and Heinrich left the Crystal Shrine and headed for the forest. They hadn’t known each other long, but Mira considered them a pleasant pair. She smiled as she saw them off and then turned back into the temple.
From there, she descended the stairs.
***
Mira’s artificial light fell upon the weathered stone walls. Each step on the stone stairs echoed over and over in the deep darkness. The third underground floor at the very depths of the Crystal Shrine was Mira’s destination. She now stood in the Chamber of Purification, just outside the Lustrous Crystal Chamber.
At the center of the Chamber of Purification, cloaked in stifling darkness, was an altar. It was carved out of a pillar, and it contained a single dirty crystal ball. Relying only on her ball of light, Mira approached and pressed the ball into the altar.
Immediately, the device started up. Muffled noise came from all directions, creeping up the walls and finally converging on a single point. It sounded like someone dragging a heavy leather bag. A breeze blew through the chamber.
Backing away from the altar, she moved toward the back of the room. As she did, a gap opened up in the stone wall. It was just big enough for an adult to fit through, and warm air flowed from inside. A mossy, grassy scent wafted up to her nose. It smelled like a thicket in summer.
The passage behind the hole was about the same width, continuing deeper and deeper. Mira pressed on without hesitation until she spotted light seeping in from ahead.
“This really is farther than it looks,” she complained as she stepped into the source of the light.
It was clear how the Lustrous Crystal Chamber got its name. A square room with walls about ten meters long, its ceiling was covered in crystal. At its center was a chunk of crystal about the size of a curled-up child. A pillar of white light extended from the ceiling down to this crystal, which refracted it like a prism, shooting light in all directions to form bright spots throughout the chamber.
“Now, where would they be?” Mira walked toward the chunk in the middle of the room, with its many crisscrossing beams of light. Patches of moss sprouted here and there, and water occasionally dripped from the ceiling.
Just for fun, she reached into the pillar of light, which was as warm as a ray of sunlight. This light turned black crystals into white crystals. If Soul Howl’s aim was efficiency, it was probable that he had done his work next to this very light.
Mira drew her hand back from the light and squatted down. There she started rummaging around on the floor of gravel, dirt, and moss.
After she’d taken a single lap around the room in search of the shavings, Mira rested her elbows on the crystal and put a hand to her chin. “Hrmm…” she hummed, frowning.
She hadn’t found anything that fit the description. However, an unnatural heap of moss drew her eye.
Pushing aside the top layer of vegetation, she found a pile of surprisingly fresh wood shavings. It smelled just like the Forest of the Devout—no doubt these were the shavings of the Elder Tree she’d been searching for.
Is it possible to date these?
The plan was to figure out when Soul Howl had visited based on these shavings. However, the shavings lying in crisp curls on the floor looked as if they’d been carved within only the past few days. Perhaps her doubt was natural.
Mira saw the moss spreading over the shavings as proof that it had not been so recent, and she thought for a moment.
Well, this is outside of my field of expertise. I should just do what I need to.
Mira picked up the whole pile, moss and all, and shoved it into the leather pouch she had brought for the job.
She searched the rest of the mossy ground, found another pile, and collected it too. With that, she left the Lustrous Crystal Chamber and returned to the Crystal Shrine without looking back.
***
“All that trouble to get here just for that.”
Now that she’d recovered the shavings, Mira’s job here was complete. She mounted Pegasus and headed toward the entrance of the Celestial Ruins, looking down upon the tomb-like buildings. She planned to use the secret one-way exit nearby.
She hopped down from Pegasus just before the stairs and stepped over to the right side. As she did, a dark hole came into view, hidden from the main staircase. Mira soon arrived at a dome-shaped chamber with a magic circle engraved in the middle.
She stepped into it without hesitation. After a few moments, the magic circle began to glow. With a lightness that felt as though the gravity had been halved, the floor sunk down with Mira in tow. She reached the bottom floor in ten minutes.
From the chamber that contained the magic circle, she stepped into a hallway echoing with only her footsteps and the sounds of a babbling brook. She soon found herself in front of a familiar broken stone gate, and exited into a large cavern.
Mira summoned a Dark Knight. It could handle any monsters between here and the forest beyond.
***
When she entered the woods, warm air enveloped Mira’s cold body. The scent of greenery was almost overpowering, but the spring air soothed her as she breathed in. When she exhaled, it blew through the trees and scattered off in all directions. Mira once again mounted Pegasus, who quickly rose above the abundant green canopy.
The forest at the edge of the mountains thinned beneath her, and Mira flew over open plains for a while. She pondered her future plans: should she head to the station and begin the journey home, or should she go see how one of the three strongest countries on the continent had evolved—in other words, do a spot of sightseeing?
“What to do?” she muttered to herself thoughtfully. But when she checked how much money she had left in her waist pouch, she swiftly made up her mind. “Everyone needs a day off once in a while. I came all this way, so let’s call this a fact-finding mission.”
Satisfied with this excuse, Mira turned Pegasus toward Ridel, the capital city of Alisfarius.
***
Once she figured out how to read manga while riding Pegasus, she did so for nearly two hours. When the Holy City of Ridel appeared like a mirage in the distance, Mira realized that it was nothing like what she remembered.
“Hm. This is…the right place, isn’t it?” After confirming on her map that this was indeed the capital, Mira suppressed a grin and let excitement bloom in her heart. Nostalgia was fine, but new discovery was even better.
The wide road heading into the capital was a sea of people, a reminder that this was one of the Three Great Kingdoms. Even just looking down on it from above, there was certainly no shortage of traffic. Each and every intersection added to the numbers approaching the capital. The crowds were so loud that Mira almost thought she could hear snatches of conversation from her lofty perch.
Once she was close enough, she landed in a nearby field and joined up with the crowd flooding in. They were packed shoulder to shoulder as the traffic reached the main gate.
It’s so strange to see it in person.
The gate at the entrance of the city was white, with perfectly uniform stones forming the outer arch. The gleaming silver doors were currently open. A few bespectacled gatekeepers stood beside them and watched the traffic.
Mira’s eyes, however, weren’t on the gate. If one shifted their gaze just slightly upward, they would spy a curtain of light encircling the city like a wall, continuing upward as far as the eye could see.
This was the most obvious change from the Ridel she knew. The stone castle walls that once protected the city were now behind the curtain. As the city had expanded beyond its previous walls, this curtain of light made with modern technology had inherited their job, expanding outward with the city.
The magical barrier swayed slightly in the summer wind. It emitted the full spectrum of the rainbow, looking about as sturdy as a bubble. Yet Mira knew the Three Great Kingdoms to be impenetrable.
Back when players fought rival factions constantly, the strongest player country declared war on one of the three—the Grimdart Empire—and got thoroughly trounced. Ever since then, no country had declared war on any of the three.
Mira had seen their power firsthand on Alisfarius-based quests. Thus she was deeply interested in the curtain before her as another of the Three Great Kingdoms’ accomplishments.
Before she passed through the gate, Mira broke away from the flood of people to speak with one of the men guarding the gate. “Say, you there. May I ask you a question?”
“What is it, little miss?” His voice was clear and calm. He looked down at Mira with a kind smile.
“What is that wall of light stretching over this gate? Is that a castle wall of sorts?”
“Yes! They call it the Rampart Barrier. Only the bigshots know the details, but I hear it’s an application of technomancy and exorcism.”
The man looked through the gate at the physical walls which had once protected the capital. Mira followed his gaze and took in the sight of the new parts of the city. All the buildings were white, and trees rising here and there proudly spread their leaves.
“I see. Technomancy certainly is a broad subject.”
“They’ve got flying ships these days, too, you know.” The gatekeeper looked back to Mira and flashed her an affable smile.
She glanced up at the sky and replied, “Indeed,” just as a bird flew by like a black dot under the sun.
***
Mira strolled through the city, taking in all the new construction since her last visit. The change was overwhelming. As a very religious country, Alisfarius used the color white everywhere. A quick glance around revealed a sea of white stone and pale lumber.
Unlike before, there seemed to be a trend toward public gardens. The city had planted latifward trees here and there. Latifwards were sacred trees in the Holy Kingdom Alisfarius, especially known for their beautiful purple flowers in the summer.
But the reason it was a holy tree was not its purple flowers. Once every ten years, the trees blossomed with white leaves and white flowers. When harvested, the blooms could be used as a panacea to humans and a toxin to monsters. Legend had it that once upon a time, an ancient hero known as Forsetia had used the medicine to survive certain death.
As I recall, Forsetia’s descendants are all kings of the Three Great Kingdoms. Mira thought back to the stories of a friend who loved uncovering the world’s lore as she gazed upon the many latifwards.
The Ridel of the past had trees planted in parks and along streets, but now, there were half as many trees as there were houses. Green seemed more plentiful than white at this point.
Mira cut away from the main street and enjoyed some sightseeing. In a residential area, gaggles of children played gleefully. Boys climbed the holy trees next to their homes and jumped down as tests of courage. Girls holding dolls formed groups to play together. Not long after, the boys were talking and laughing on benches, and the girls were running around together.
Housewives gossiped in the shade, and carpenters diligently carried out their work. The people casually passing by seemed so interesting to Mira. She was entranced with how real everything seemed.
Before she realized it, she’d passed through the neighborhood and arrived at a shopping district. The place was still mostly dominated by white, but the people’s clothes and the shops’ interiors came in all colors. Children ran around, weaving between adults. She noticed many women with baskets, yet men and adventurers seemed sparse.
This shopping district was for the locals. Unlike the shops lining the main boulevard, which catered to travelers and adventurers, this street was filled with products that would be used in the home. Mira walked through, peeking into butchers’ shops and greengrocers until she couldn’t resist the scents anymore. She stuffed herself with skewered meat and small snacks until the beast within was sated.
After more aimless wandering, Mira stopped in front of a shop. Its door was wide open, and the clientele running in and out were mostly children.
“What is this place?” she murmured to herself, peering into the white, warehouse-like structure.
Mira saw what looked to be a counter. Behind it, a woman in an apron accepted money from a boy, handing him something angular, about the size of a fist.
The walls were lined with cases and displays. She took a few steps back and glanced around the shopping district again. This was the only shop serving a vast number of children.
Curious, she wandered inside. The interior was the ubiquitous white, lending an air of brightness and cleanliness. Further inside, many tables and chairs were set up. Children faced each other across each table, as if performing some sort of ritual.
Each table also had a group of spectators clustered around it, with shouts occasionally erupting from one group or another. Mira felt a pang of nostalgia—she remembered a time when she, too, had been happy just to hang out with friends.
As she looked on, Mira noticed an adult woman sitting alone at one of the tables.
Someone’s mother, maybe?
Mira paid the woman little mind. Drawn in by children’s enthusiasm, curiosity finally spurred her to approach one of the tables.
The kids there were excited. So excited, in fact, that they didn’t budge to allow her inside the circle. Mira stood outside, stretching her neck in vain to see what was going on within. She gave up, realizing that there were plenty of tables a little less packed. She peeked at another table.
Could it be?
The two boys at the table faced each other, each holding his cards in a fan shape. On the table were piles of cards, and a large sheet spread across the surface marked with boxes and diagrams. There were cards placed atop the diagrams.
It was a trading card game. Back in Mira’s Japan, trading cards had all been converted to augmented reality, but kids still loved to play. Mira had never seen the original tabletop form as they played it now. She found herself gripped with nostalgia.
She was so taken with the game that she didn’t realize the boy opposite her had stopped playing, distracted by the appearance of such a pretty girl.
“Eh, what’s this?” Mira’s eyebrows shot up.
Her eyes focused on a particular card on the table. The boy sat in silent confusion until, after looking at Mira and back to the table several times, he suddenly remembered that he was playing, and refocused on the cards in his hand. Oblivious, Mira continued to examine the card that caught her attention, which had a name and artwork on it.
It was Heinrich the Avalanche…the very samurai who she had been with until this morning.
That really must be him. They’ve portrayed him quite heroically.
Mira checked the other cards and saw some featuring monsters such as goblins and ghouls. What other cards might they have? Curious, Mira circled the table—not realizing that she was gathering quite a lot of attention—and saw other names she knew well. Leoneil from the Karanak Mages’ Guild, Emella of Écarlate Carillon, and Garrett of Alcait’s Mobile Armored Division all had cards of their own.
But the most notable of all of them was Kenoh Kojiro the Fist, a player who had been famous in Danblf’s era.
Mira lifted her head and looked around. Finally, she had a clear picture of the whole situation.
The display behind a group of kids—who nervously looked away when she glanced at them—was full of valuable cards, carefully placed and preserved. At the counter, they sold packs of five random cards each.
Of course! This mysterious building was a card shop.
If such games are popular here…would this be the work of former players, too?
Elated by the feeling of essentially jumping back in time, she started looking around the display for a certain card…her card.
Amidst the most expensive cards was a very familiar name.
“Hello, Cleos.”
Mira searched carefully, yet no Danblf could be found. In fact, she found no card based on any of the Wise Men.
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