[…What?]
Eliya's reaction after hearing a rough explanation was just as I expected.
[What did you just say… An Oni attacked the Guardian Train?]
“Yeah. So now we're stopped in the middle of the tracks.”
[No, that's ridiculous…….]
She was at a loss for words, unable to speak for a while.
It was only natural.
It was such an exceptional and absurd incident that she would have been justified in dismissing it as a ridiculous joke.
Still, as if to prove she hadn't earned her priest title for nothing, she soon ca to her senses and asked questions to grasp the situation.
[…Any casualties?]
“There are a few dead… but this is still a good outco. At least we can count them.”
[Oh no… For now… uh, right. The conductor.]
“……”
[Did sothing happen to the conductor as well?]
“No. The conductor is fine. He's kneeling next to right now.”
[…Kneeling?]
Shrug—
“…He's being punished. I'm not sure, but it seems he did sothing wrong.”
[…Well, anyway. That's a relief for now. If the conductor is okay… he should be able to check for simple problems with the magic engine. If it's just an engine cool-down from a physical shock or a misalignnt of the tracks, it should be able to restart soon.]
She seed to be thinking about the situation quite optimistically.
Like it was just a simple component failure that happens from ti to ti.
Of course, since major problems with the Guardian Train rarely occurred, her optimism wasn't that strange.
…The problem was that the situation was not normal.
“But there's one minor problem.”
[…What is it?]
“Uh…….”
[…?]
“…It's nothing much. Just that so Oni ran off with all the Mana Stones used for fuel?”
Her voice stopped again.
This silence was a little longer.
“Still, it's a relief it's not broken, right?”
[…….]
When I threw out a joke to break the awkward silence that had fallen.
[How is that a relief, you carefree human!!!]
Eliya's roar, as if she had boiled and eaten a train's smokestack(?), erupted.
[I an… what kind of Oni not only attacks a train but also takes the Mana Stones? Those are low-grade Mana Stones reprocessed for train operation, so their purity is diluted. A Magical Beast shouldn't even be able to handle them.]
“…Well. They must have their reasons, I guess.”
[Haa… Is this the ti to be worrying about soone else's reasons?]
“……”
[Hold on a second.]
With those last words, I heard a clattering sound, and then the other side of the dal went quiet.
It seed she had stepped away to do sothing.
‘…….’
I had a rough idea of what she went to do.
She was probably calculating our exact location, the latitude and longitude of where we were stranded.
Things like where the nearest town was, whether we could get Mana Stones there, and how long it would take to travel.
Of course, even if she didn't do anything herself, since The Order manages the Guardian Train, the person in charge would handle it the mont The Order confird the problem.
But depending on the local situation, it could take more ti, and The Order's way of handling unexpected incidents like this was to get bogged down in procedures, slowing things down.
…From Eliya's perspective, who knew their sluggish process better than anyone, it was highly likely she would devise her own response, separate from The Order's.
And soon, a low mutter was heard from beyond the dal's communication magic circle.
[…No way. That can't be right.]
After that short mutter, Eliya went quiet again.
After so more ti passed like that, a hollow sigh burst from Eliya's lips.
[…My god. Of all places, in the ‘Kunlun Zone’…….]
* * *
[…I'll give you a brief explanation.]
[The central continent of the Upper Plane can be broadly divided into two territories. The , which belongs to the Church Alliance, and the
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