Chapter 119. Traces
Clatter, clatter.
Seeing the dinosaur sitting quietly atop the climber, the sages kept glancing in that direction.
“I-is it really okay?”
“Be quiet.”
The sages whispered among themselves. Yumankai, aside from the attention she initially paid to Beru, seed not to care much and spoke to Yul.
“Yul, here are the favor tokens we promised. Thank you for escorting us during the dragons’ attack.”
“I did it in exchange for paynt. It’s not sothing to be thanked for. These are?”
The five tokens Yumankai handed over. They were ordinary-looking hexagonal tokens, except that magic power resided within them.
“They are designated as favor tokens by the Council of Sages. You can buy things such as our labor or ti with them.”
“Hmm. Can I buy sothing from you with favor tokens as well, Yumankai?”
“Of course. My specialty is communicating with plants—what kind of plant would you like to talk with?”
The chairman of the Council of Sages specialized in talking with plants?
“…I don’t think I’ll need that.”
“Then you should look for the other sages.”
“Hmm. Can I roughly learn what abilities the other sages have?”
“What do you want?”
“Hmm. How much would it cost to hire a sage?”
“Ti is extrely important to sages, so it would be difficult.”
“Is that so?”
“However, there are sages who wish to go outside, so you might be able to hire one with about five tokens. My advice is that it would be possible to receive magic items from them or obtain part of their research results.”
“I’ll think about it a bit.”
For now, Yul went down the tower. The chairman’s tower was arranged so that various sages could freely co and go.
And on the first floor, he was able to see Shillenwe Arkatil again after a long ti. But she was not alone—she was talking with soone.
“Lord Yul! Are things upstairs finished?”
“Yes.”
“B-But then, what is that creature beside you?”
Shillenwe greeted Yul happily, but the mont she saw Beru beside him, she froze.
“His na is Beru. He’s a creature that lives on the Sky Island.”
“C-Cute… ahem. Ahem. This dignified creature has beautiful feathers on its head. It walks on two legs… hmm. It looks like a dragon? But then it doesn’t have wings.”
Pirru!
Beru took a step toward Shillenwe.
Startled, Shillenwe slightly stepped back.
Yul spoke to her. Beside her stood another sea elf.
“The elf next to you?”
“Ah! This is Archmage Eldiren, whom I briefly ntioned before.”
Long, teal hair and a delicate face. She wore a robe that revealed her collarbones, and just looking at her, she appeared to be a beautiful woman with an elegant bearing.
“It is my first ti eting you, one of the Deep King Tribe.”
“What business do you have?”
“It has simply been a while since I t a fellow sea elf, so we were briefly speaking about the situation outside.”
Her way of speaking is unusual.
“Ah, she’s from the old days, so her way of speaking is unique.”
If even Shillenwe, who had lived quite a long ti herself, called her soone from the old days, just how old was she?
“Thus, upon hearing about the outside world, it seems there are many grave matters.”
“That’s right. I heard sea elf society is in complete turmoil right now.”
“The king cannot fulfill his role, and the princes point their blades at one another. Truly an age of chaos. It is most unfortunate.”
“…Is there sothing you wish to say?”
“I wish to go out myself and resolve that problem, but I am bound to the Council of Sages. Because of important matters, I cannot attend to the affairs of the outside world. Thus, I ask for your help.”
“I cannot save all the sea elves.”
Saving the sea elves would require an enormous amount of ti and effort.
Their population exceeded several million, and they lived across every island and sea of the Archipelago Ocean.
It wasn’t for nothing that they had once beco the dominant power of the seas.
“What I intend to save are only those sea elves rejected by the sea.”
“Even so, you are the only one trying to save the sea elves. Allow to offer so assistance.”
“What kind?”
“Technical support for the sea elves equivalent to the value of the coins.”
“…For example?”
“It is the lost shipbuilding technology of the sea elves. I am researching it here.”
“Oh? That sounds interesting.”
“A ‘food ship’ that can harvest fruit on its own, a ‘forging ship’ that produces weapons and armor, a ‘seed ship’ that creates the seeds of ships… and so on. All ship technologies originate from the techniques of the ancient High Elves that were lost in battle.”
Restoring lost High Elf technology here?
“Was it impossible outside?”
“The techniques of the sages here are on an entirely different level from those of the outside world. The reason I need favor tokens is that so of the technologies require their assistance to create.”
“That does seem to be the case.”
Do the sages exchange favor tokens among themselves to share technologies?
Thanks to that, their magical abilities improve. And if they were to go outside, there wouldn’t even be mages of a similar level, aning they would have to conduct magical research alone.
‘Each of them is basically on the level of a magical academy’s headmaster, so it makes sense.’
Places filled with mages on the level of Egion Aseras, cooperating instead of being hostile—it was understandable they wouldn’t want to leave.
“Alright. Should I spend all the tokens?”
“The more tokens you use, the faster the progress will be.”
Looking at the sages, each of them likely had their own specialty. But right now, there didn’t seem to be a better choice than using the favor tokens here.
“Shillenwe, tell her what kind of ships are needed, starting with the essential ones.”
“Yes, Lord Yul. But.”
“…?”
“Is it really okay to use them here?”
“It’s fine. It seems better than spending them elsewhere.”
Shillenwe made a sowhat moved expression.
‘I need to get back to the island quickly and check the rest of that letter and the contents of the backpack.’
Yul was eager to imdiately check the bundle of docunts inside the backpack that the person claiming to be the future Yul had given him, so he had no particular intention of looking into the mages of the Council of Sages.
However, to Shillenwe, it looked as though Yul was using sothing he had obtained with great difficulty for the sake of the sea elves.
* * *
Lucian had already returned to the main house. He had finished what he needed to do at the academy and ca back.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
“M-Miss! Where are you going!?”
“Outside!”
“N-No! The madam told us to stop the young lady from going out! Catch her!”
Lucian’s eyes widened when he saw his younger sister sprinting down the corridor in an attempt to escape.
“Cecil? W-What’s going on?”
“Perfect timing! Block them for !”
“What? Where are you going!?”
“Lady lessons!”
“Huh?”
“Y-Young master! Please stop the young lady from escaping!”
“Hah. As if!”
Cecilia kicked off the wall and leapt straight over Lucian’s head.
The sheer height of the jump made Lucian’s mouth fall open.
“Hey! You’re barefoot?!”
“River! Let’s go!”
Neighhh!
She burst outside, grabbed a horse waiting there, and dashed off past the startled gardener.
“Huff, huff, huff.”
“Butler Lander? What’s going on?”
“The madam ordered us to prevent Miss Cecilia from going out.”
“What are lady lessons?”
“W-Well, they said a famous etiquette instructor from the capital arrived.”
“Did Mother not give her permission?”
“She said she was still considering it, but the mont the young lady heard about it, she suddenly ran out.”
“Hahaha.”
Even though he had been caught up in such an absurd incident the mont he returned ho, Lucian felt that he had truly co back to his hotown.
This was ho.
While the servants bustled about, Lucian entered his room and began organizing his belongings.
“I wonder where Yul is right now.”
Even when he closed his eyes and looked, he could only glimpse a few vague scenes of aningless movent.
It seed that if the distance was too great, he could not see properly.
To Lucian, Yul felt like a grateful companion who stayed by his side.
Because of that, no matter what Yul did, Lucian had no intention of interfering.
Lucian set down his luggage and sorted through his things before soon discovering an unfamiliar book.
“Ah. This must be the old book the Headmaster gave .”
They were things he had postponed because he had been too busy.
“Oh. And this… a letter?”
There was a letter on his desk that he had never seen before.
It was from Frenda. And as he read it piece by piece, Lucian began to smile.
She wrote about the house she lived in and the things that happened after she arrived. She said she lived in a place where vast golden wheat fields stretched endlessly to the horizon.
She had three older brothers, and all three had beco knights. There were also design sketches related to her project.
[I kept thinking about it and suddenly beca curious. What would happen if we fired a giant cannon toward the moon?]
“It would probably fall halfway.”
[But what if we fired it strongly enough that it wouldn’t fall?]
Hearing Frenda’s peculiar curiosity made Lucian curious as well.
“The moon, huh.”
Lucian looked up at the sky beyond the window. Ever since he had been a toddler, his father had always observed the moon using Pathah Shile.
He set the letter down and picked up the old book to read.
Soon, his expression turned serious.
Holding the book, Lucian decided to go straight to the Kingdom of Frangia without even eting his mother.
He boarded a ship and arrived in Frangia, then headed once again to Labellum, where the bookstore employee was.
As expected, the door was not closed, and the bookstore owner was there.
“Ah. You’ve co.”
“Are you calling for ?”
Lucian lifted the old book and handed it to him. From the very first page, there was a ssage telling the reader to co to the bookstore.
“What relationship do you have with Headmaster Asenas?”
“No. I’ve never t him. He rely found the old book.”
“But it says this from the first page: ‘Whoever reads this page, co to Labellum.’”
“Even if it wasn’t you, soone would have co eventually.”
The bookstore owner said with a sly smile.
“Now we can talk just the two of us.”
“Why, is it sothing Yul shouldn’t hear? Unfortunately for you, I intend to tell Yul later about whatever we discuss.”
“Go ahead. I simply want to talk with you alone. Let’s think about it. At this point in ti, how many humans do you think know information related to the Humanity Disc?”
“Quite a few, perhaps?”
“You’re the only one. Among humans, that is. And you’re the only one who wants to find it.”
Lucian dropped into the seat across from him. Let’s at least hear what he has to say.
“Did you check the insurance records from the future?”
“I did, but I still don’t know if they’re real.”
“Does it matter whether they’re real or not? Once you enter the vortex, that place becos the Sanctuary.”
“…But the path to get there is still…”
“I can open the path that leads to the Humanity Disc for you. Don’t you want to find your father?”
Lucian frowned. He had never told this man anything about his father. Yet he knew.
The bookstore owner took sothing out from his coat.
“Here. This is the Golden Sea Chart.”
It was a sea chart made as a massive scroll.
“You simply sail your ship following the line marked on the chart. Be careful—if you stray even slightly from that line or deviate from the ship’s route, you’ll have to start from the beginning.”
A specific space can only be reached through a specific thod. A place that cannot be reached unless you follow the line...
“Why are you giving this to ?”
The bookstore owner clasped his hands together and rested his chin on them.
“Because I’m curious too… about what lies beyond.”
A aningful glint appeared in his eyes. This man was hiding sothing.
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