CH 103

[To Lisburn Village]

“Haaa~, magic power sure is delicious~. And it’s even more delicious because I haven’t absorbed some in a while!” (Cinzia)

Cinzia’s bone bird, that is wearing bird’s skin, is perched on my shoulder, absorbing my magic power to secure her life as I ride on Diedur running alongside the wagon.

Her real body, the hollow armor, is staying in the wagon’s luggage compartment.

Such bodyless Cinzia said, “I don’t want to go because I don’t have good memories of the royal capital,” the day before we entered the royal capital, so she had been waiting at the carriages waiting area along with Suzana and Dimol.

[Cinzia-sama, you absorbed Master’s magic power too much! There will be no more left for Dayle!] (Dayle)

“Dayle you stingy~. I only absorbed a little bit, y’know.” (Cinzia)

“Cinzia-sama, if it’s magic power, you can absorb mine too, you know. Please come here.” (Noelia)

Cinzia makes a little thoughtful gesture, but then she takes off from my shoulder and perches on Noelia’s shoulder.

We are on our way to my hometown – Lisburn.

We have visited two people whom Alfine likely to rely on in the royal capital, but we couldn’t obtain any information on her. As a result of the discussion we had with Cassandra and co when we returned to the mansion temporarily, we decided to go to Lisburn village.

“So, about how long until we reach that Lisburn village? You wouldn’t say that we have to cross those mountains, right?” (Cinzia)

Lisburn village, my hometown, is a rural village about a day’s walk away from the royal capital.

However, the village is located at a place surrounded by precipitous and high mountains, which is rare in the area of the royal capital that is mostly dotted with plains; the village was built in a basin pass those high mountains.

I’ve heard from the director of the orphanage and the adults of the village that those steep mountains gave the village protection against the invasion of the Abyss Walkers during the Great Invasion, but due to negligence that stemmed from that, they didn’t notice the Abyss Walkers secretly creeping in, causing great damage.

At that time, both my parents and Alfine’s parents were involved in the battle and died.

After that, the children of the village who lost their parents like us were gathered in the orphanage and lived together the whole time.

Cinzia, who has begun to absorb magic power from Noelia onboard the wagon driven by Suzana, looks at the mountains that begin to be visible ahead and tilts her head.

“Err, the village is beyond there. There’s no snow at this time of year and there’s a road that can be passed through by a wagon, so I think it’s gonna be okay.” (Frick)

“Frick-sama’s birthplace is beyond those mountains, is it… To think there is a place surrounded by such high mountains near the royal capital…” (Noelia)

“I remember that the Elbrus Mountain Range were created due to the experiments on terrain-changing magic during the ancient magic civilization, but still, though this is also my first time seeing it, it is unbelievable that it was created by magic, isn’t it?” (Suzana)

Suzana, who is driving the wagon, told us the origin of the mountains that is visible ahead.

I had thought that she was a maid who could do anything flawlessly, but it turns out that she is actually Henestrosa family’s spy-in-training.

Though she said she couldn’t fight, but it sure feels like she can use the art of self-defense to protect herself.

Besides, it seems that she is even familiar with the situation of the nobles and the kingdom of Hartford, like just now, she has a deep knowledge of the history of this area.

After finding out the identity of Noelia’s personal maid – Suzana, who is mysteriously fixated on maid uniform, my admiration toward her has been renewed.

“So, that’s the case. I didn’t know because I’m not familiar with history. So magic can make such terrain!” (Frick)

“Frick-sama, terrain-changing magic is a magic that has already been lost without a successor. Besides, Linus-shi told me that it requires many magic stones that holds enormous amount of magic power to use, so it is almost impossible to reproduce in modern times. However, as long as you have magic stones, as long as you have the time and money, even if it’s impossible to reach such scale, it might be possible to revive the small-scale terrain-changing magic, you know. The problem of the terrain-changing magic is that it requires the one who activates the magic to have enormous capacity to receive magic power, so perhaps if it’s Frick-sama who has such vessel…”

As soon as it become the talk about magic, Noelia’s face changed from that of a noble daughter’s to that of a magic researcher’s.

Her cheeks are flushed and the number of her words are increasing; I’m sure that she is now pulling out the knowledge of terrain-changing magic references with great momentum from her brain.

Though I said that Noelia changed, I think it just meant that she’s doing her best at what she likes, however.

“The golem-related employment magic that I use is one of the magics that was derived from the terrain-changing magic, y’know. We might be able to revived it with Frick easily, surprisingly. How about we try it when we are free later?” (Cinzia)

“If you change a terrain without permission, people will get angry, right? Even I understand that much, you know.” (Frick)

“If it’s at Youg Hannotes region, we can get permission from my father and experiment as much as——” (Noelia)

If it’s at Youg Hannotes, huh…… wait, no no, that definitely would be dangerous, right?

It would be bad if I make a mistake and create a terrain like this.

“Ahem! Let’s talk about the terrain-changing later; the road will be narrowing soon, so can I have you take the lead, Frick-sama?” (Suzana)

Having realized that the talk is about to go astray, Suzana urges me to take the lead.

“Alright, the steep slopes will continue from here, so let’s slow down a little. Diedur, too, watch your steps.” (Frick)

“Understood. It’s dangerous, so please return to the luggage compartment, Noelia-sama and Cinzia-sama.” (Suzana)

“Yes, yes, shall we go back, Noelia?” (Cinzia)

“Frick-sama, Suzana, please be careful.” (Noelia)

After the two returned to the luggage compartment, I decide to have Diedur to take the lead, and lead the way through the continuing narrow slopes to the village.