Book 7: Chapter 1: Family Trip Suggestion

“Let’s go on a trip!”

Two months had passed since we returned to the Ifrus Academy of Magic, and tomorrow marked the first day of the fifth month of this year.

Ifrus Academy of Magic had a ten-day break at the start of the fifth month. Thus, many students and teachers would return to their native homes during this time.

Our classes had already ended that  day, and I wanted to go somewhere during this vacation. So,  I suggested that we go on a trip during our dinner. 

“A trip, is it? I’m fine with it.”

“I’ll follow Master wherever he goes.”

“We’re the same.”

Tina, Youko, Mai and Mei agreed immediately. Tina’s family already passed away, and Youko also didn’t have a family, so they had nowhere to return to.

Mai and Mei return to the Spirit Realm from time to time whenever they were summoned by the Celestial Spirit King, so they didn’t need to go home during our vacation.

“Count me in, meow!”

“I also want to go.”

We already spent almost a month at Vestier, the Kingdom of the Beastkin, as part of the academy’s event two months ago. So,  Merdie wouldn’t go home, either.

In the first place, if I didn’t use teleportation magic, then it would take Merdie 10 days to go to Vestier, so it would be impossible for her.

Well, I’d gladly help her teleport if she asked, though.

Luna already visited the orphanage last year, so,  it seemed that she wanted to join us, too.

“How about Leaffa?”

“I’ll go, of course. Ah, but Halt, I just have a request —”

She received a letter from the Elf King, and he told her to come back  home, so we decided to spend our last two days of vacation in Alheim, Kingdom of the Elves.

I didn’t have a problem with that, since a week was already enough for the vacation I wanted.

“It’s okay with you too right, Hakua?”

“Of course! I’m excited to go on a trip!”

Hakua was  the Dungeon Master of the dungeon ruins in Vestier. She wanted to tag along with us when it was time for us to return to the academy of magic.

Hakua was a species of dragon called the White Dragon, but she usually appeared in her humanized form — a pretty, snow-haired little girl.

She wasn’t used to speaking in human speech, so she used baby talk when we met her. She was able to  speak normally after some time  though. She was a fast-learner. Tina and the other girls patiently and carefully taught her afterall.

By the way, Hakua was  the Dungeon Master, so was it really fine for her to leave the dungeon?

— That’s what I thought, but the Demon King hadn’t revived yet, so the Heroes wouldn’t  probably appear in the meantime.

I already annihilated almost all of the monsters there, so Hakua didn’t have anything to do until they were revived, after all.

Besides, the place I wanted to go to, and the thing I wanted to do during our vacation were related to Hakua. So,  it was   Hakua’s decision that would determine whether   we’d  go or not.

“We’re going to the Holy City of Sanctum.”

“Holy City, you said… I did say that I’ll go wherever you go, but why there, of all places?”

Youko frowned a bit. She was a nine-tailed fox monster, so she didn’t want to go to a city protected by a strong divine barrier that could purify evil — well, to be precise, she couldn’t enter that city in her current state, supposedly.

“The Creator God has a shrine inside the Holy City. I want to go there. Besides, you don’t have to worry, I have a way so that Youko and Hakua can also enter.”

If Youko wanted to go, then I planned to set a Divine Barrier Resistance Shield.

I went to the Holy City before to do an experiment. I wanted to know how effective the Holy City’s Barrier was when it comes to the Evil God’s underlings.

Long ago, I captured a warlock who attacked me and took him to the Holy City.

The Holy City’s Barrier repelled the hand of the warlock when I made him touch it. It was strong enough to reject the entry of demons.

If it was a monster with B-rank or lower then it’d have probably disintegrated right away.

And so, I tried experimenting with several methods to invalidate the effect of the Divine Barrier, and the result was —

I developed the Divine Barrier Resistance Shield.

The outer layer was a coating made from holy attribute mana, the middle layer was from zero attribute mana, and the inner layer was from dark attribute mana, and I piled them on top of each other. Even a warlock could enter the city with this Divine Barrier Resistance Shield.

It didn’t repel the barrier because it was coated with the same mana attribute as the Divine Barrier so there was an affinity. Thus, the person or thing inside this shield wasn’t recognized as foreign object by the barrier. 

In order to prevent the darkness attribute and divine attribute from conflicting with each other, I layered zero attribute mana between them, and I guess that was  one of its special points, right?

I coated the warlock with it, then I let him enter the Holy City. I removed the Divine Barrier Resistance Shield after that.

He disintegrated in an instant.

The divine magic was stronger inside the barrier compared to the outside.

I learned two things from this experiment.

First, the Holy City’s Barrier was capable of exterminating a warlock. Second, my Divine Barrier Resistance Shield could nullify that barrier.

That was why I was confident that I could take the demon Youko and the monster Hakua to the Holy City.

Well, I thought that even if I didn’t set up that shield, Youko and Hakua could withstand the barrier. Youko was a full-fledged nine-tail fox, and Hakua was a high-ranking dragon species, after all.

However, it would be a huge problem if both of them tried to force their way into the Holy City. There was a possibility that they might destroy the Holy City’s Barrier.

That person would be really troubled if that happened.

And so, I decided to ask them to wear the Divine Barrier Resistance Shield when they were inside the Holy City, even if they might feel cramped in it.

“Can Youko, a demon, enter Sanctum……”

Luna had also gone to Sanctum before, so she was already aware how strong the Holy City’s Barrier was. So,  she was a bit surprised to know  that demons like Youko could enter the city.

“It’s already too late to be surprised, Luna. We’re talking about Halt, after all.”

Leaffa was already too used to my antics, so she didn’t bat an eye at whatever I did recently.

I remembered doing a lot of trials and errors with that Divine Barrier Resistance Shield, so it would have been nice if she was moved even for a little bit.

Hmm, I should do something with great impact, huh…

“Oh, speaking of Holy City…will you visit that Esteemed Person?”

Tina also came with me to the Holy City on one occasion.

That was when we became acquainted with that person.

“Not this time. That person is busy with a lot of things, so I think it’s fine even if we don’t meet.”

“Is that so… So why do you want to go to the Holy City?”

The reason for that was —

“I want to greet the Creator God, and also consult him about something for a bit.”