CH 292

I tell Shellrule I’m going to the capital earlier than expected, and tell her I’m leaving the Kagero Institute under her care, as I get on Hipopo’s back.

I haven’t gone anywhere alone in a while.

Taula came to talk to me while I was getting ready, and while she didn’t say it, it was obvious she wanted to come along. But I told her politely that I’m going alone this time.

I’m just following Kalin’s hunch, but if we suspect Zwei is involved in this, I’m hesitant to take Taula along.

She also told me something that caught my attention. She thinks she may have lost her oracle power.

She said she doesn’t know for sure, but she thinks that ability was taken from her or sealed while she was Zwei’s captive.

Unfortunately, all I can see with a 《Transcribe》 scroll is that she’s healthy.

And considering what happened with Sister Reese, I think it’s safe to say that Zwei finds this oracle power to be inconvenient.

“Zwei said ‘we’, which means there are more. Are the others like that too…?”

“Bumoh?”

I whisper as I think back to what Zwei said, and Hipopo raises its voice, like it’s asking if I’m all right.

I give it a light tap on the back and say it’s nothing.

We leave Putaresque, and Hipopo runs through a trackless path straight for the capital.

It’s strange how we don’t come across a single monster. That makes the journey an easy one, but it also means I’m not able to harvest materials.

“Ah, that’s right. When I had Eve reactivate the monster repellent magic barrier, it went too far, and that probably affected the ecosystem of the monsters around here. And unknown also used up a lot of monsters. That’s probably it.”

I look around, and I can definitely see some effects.

Through my alchemist eyes, I can see the density of magic elements has gone down in a pretty wide area. Of course, I’d have to use a tool to measure the exact numbers, but it feels similar to if someone did some light magic element extraction from the ground.

“I think enough magic elements were extracted to where grain could be farmed here. Removing this many magic elements means this could become a big grain producing region…”

Hipopo runs as I see a new possibility for the Admiral dominion.

And eventually, I see the capital.