Chapter 606 - Treasure Hunting (1)

Erina and Mio returned to the main room after escorting Elysia and Sylvia out of the mansion's territory. She sat near her father again and asked curiously. "Father, do you have a hidden agenda by inviting Elysia-san and Sylvia-san to participate in that international task in the Pacific Ocean?"

"Hm, I just want to know what they're going to do there. Besides, we can assess their real strength there. Well, they're also obviously going to be seduced by other country's youths, maybe? How are they going to get out of that situation? Hm, the same goes for you, Erina. So, make sure you always keep your distance from pests." Kenji replied casually.

"Ooh~ So it's like that. But, I won't allow anyone to inflict any harm on them." Erina emphasized her point.

"No one will harm them. Even your grandfather is surprisingly well-behaved for unknown reasons." Kenji shook his head.

"What do you mean by that?" Mitsuzuka frowned.

"Nothing. You were just being a selfish and arrogant prick yesterday. Luckily, whoever you're dealing with has no ill intentions, or we're in trouble." Kenji rolled his eyes.

"Do you believe that Elysia has something to do with that golden seraphim? Well, the possibilities are there. However, I have a different reason because of that girl's attitude. I put her in a predicament by cornering her, but she surprisingly responded to everything quite casually. But, she seemed to be acting differently just now." Mitsuzuka folded his arms in front of his chest.

"Yeah, she just doesn't want to be bothered by your interrogation anymore. The warning is clear. She's a strong potential ally. Let's prove my guess the day after tomorrow." Kenji put his tablet screen on after reading a report.

"Hm, good. We got cooperation requests from the Russian and American teams. I hope they don't have a silly game over this." Mitsuzuka stroked his beard.

"That's why you sent some additional warships just in case, right? They left this morning." Kenji sighed.

"???" Erina has many question marks in mind. She looked at Mio, but the latter didn't respond much.

It was like they were on standby for war. However, it was just a peaceful underwater ruin exploration task, right?

At that moment, two girls walked down a rather crowded street with pedestrians. They originally wanted to find a place that was a bit quiet, but they came to a crowded place instead.

"Ely, Ely, E-Ely~ Why are we coming to a crowded place? I thought we were going to a quiet place." Sylvia smiled in amusement to see Elysia's troubled face.

"Umm, somehow, your statement sounds a bit wrong... But, well, we seem to have gone the wrong way, Sylvi. Maps suck sometimes." Elysia laughed awkwardly.

"That doesn't really matter. We'll find a suitable place for take-off later. Ooh~ I can smell a tantalizing aroma from there. Hum, I reckon it's a food and hawker-only shopping district, right? Let's buy some food supplies before we go to China, Ely. The ruins can wait, but the food can't." Sylvia pulled Elysia's hand to the district with that delicious smell.

"Meow." Vanessa meowed while looking up. She totally agreed with Sylvia.

"Hm, okay. It's still early, and I think those shops serve breakfast and lunch box packages for the workers or students." Elysia just complied with the request casually, even though she knew the one who needed to pay for everything was herself. "So, what do you want to buy? Tell me, and we'll get it."

Sylvia considered her decision for a moment. The shops there both had their own charms, but she ended up relying solely on her sense of smell to decide.

After visiting more than seven food vendors, Sylvia and Vanessa felt that was enough for their trip to another part of the world.

However, a shop that had just opened really caught Sylvia's attention a lot because she could see an inverted cone shape with cream on top.

"That's obviously an ice cream shop. Let's buy that, and let's go right away?" Sylvia pointed her palm at the ice cream shop.

"Okay." Elysia didn't mind that.

They then entered the shop and placed their food shopping bag on the table before going to the ice cream stand.

"???" Elysia was stunned for a moment when she saw the Turkish ice cream stand there.

Sylvia was so engrossed in looking at the ice cream there, but she was at a loss to decide. Thus, she wanted to ask for advice. "Ely, which one do you want to buy? Hmm?"

Sylvia noticed that Elysia was staring at an ice cream stand on the other side. "You want that? Let's get that then."

"E-eh?" Elysia was surprised because Sylvia suddenly pulled her hand to go to the Turkish ice cream.

"Hello." The ice-cream seller was greeted with a friendly smile. He was happy to see two lovely young girls come to this shop as first customers right after opening. A good omen and fortune.

"Uhm, this one only has one flavor, huh..." Sylvia couldn't find the list of flavors on the menu. Thus, she cleared her throat and cast a simple Japanese spell to buy something, just as Ely had taught her. "I'd like to buy one for us."

"With pleasure." The ice-cream seller nodded in understanding. He didn't want to disappoint these two girls.

Sylvia anticipated what kind of ice cream they would get. She held out her hand to receive a cone of ice cream when the seller gave one, but to her surprise, she only got an empty cone instead.

"What kind of trick is this? Ely, why did this ice cream seller take back the ice cream? This isn't invisible ice cream either. A scam?" Sylvia looked at Elysia in confusion. She checked her empty cone, but it was just a cone.

"..." Elysia just smiled in amusement. The ice cream seller then gave another one, but Sylvia again got an empty cone.

"Uuh, this is really a scam. Ely, it's called an ice cream scam. The seller won't give out ice cream. Let's go to the glass stand over there." Sylvia pursed her lips. She had already received seven empty cones, and she was afraid that Elysia would have to pay more for the disappointment.

"Hehe, it's called Turkish ice cream tricks." Elysia patted Sylvia's head before facing the ice cream seller by placing the money on the table. "Excuse me, seller-san. You made my friend sad. Can we get the real ones without a trick? Here's the payment."

"Haha, my apologies. Your foreign friend is really innocent, miss. This is for both of you, free." The ice-cream seller gave away two ice creams.

"Thank you, seller-san." Elysia asked Sylvia to accept one while she took one. After that, they bought some other variant of ice cream before they left the shop.

On the way to a deserted place, the two of them were really eye-catching. However, the passersby could only stand aside in awe and admiration. After all, two stunning foreign beauties couldn't be seen every time. As long as the opportunity was there, of course, they would enjoy it.

Although, some came with bad intentions and stalked those beauties.

"Psst, Ely, someone's stalking us." Sylvia spoke in a whisper-like voice after they entered a secluded alley.

"It's okay, Sylvi. We're just going to fly away from here." Elysia immediately applied invisible magic right after they turned at the fork in the alley.

The stalkers were left confused because the stunning beauties had just disappeared from the alley. It was just a turn, and they lost track?

"Look at them, clearly not having good intentions. They are lucky that we are quite busy and don't have time to give them a bad day." Sylvia snorted and put all their food and snacks into her Space Bag.

"Forget them, let's go. Treasures are waiting for us." Elysia took out her Gravy Ark.

"Yay, a place that holds so many mysterious things and treasure fields, here we come~" Sylvia raised her hand and climbed onto the Gravy Ark.

The journey of about two thousand kilometers was taken in about three hours.

Sylvia was somewhat surprised that Elysia asked to stop above the sea. "Why are we stopping here, Ely?"

"We will explore the territory of China for the next two days. Let's start with the South China Sea first. Underneath, there is said to be an unknown ruin and many alleged treasures from pirates of the past. Well, who knows if we will find a fortune and resources." Elysia revoked her invisible magic and checked the maps.

The South China Sea was vast, and she couldn't find the exact coordinates of what was listed in the report just like that.

"Hm, thirteen kilometers that way, and we'll get to this marker, huh. All right, let's go over there and dive under the sea!" Elysia erected her invisible magic again for fear that someone would detect them.

"Ooh! Treasures and resources in underwater exploration." Sylvia was excited and controlled the Gravy Ark to follow Captain Elysia's orders.

*Splash*

Something like falling into the water. A border guard ship happened nearby, and the crew was confused by that mysterious splash.

"Phew, that's the navy for sure. Quickly continue to the bottom of the sea, Sylvi. We need to find a hidden trough around here. Vann, please help us find it." Elysia breathed a sigh of relief.

"All right, captain." Sylvia saluted.

"At your service, master." Vanessa also saluted before she looked around with a sharp gaze.. Unfortunately, her focus was diverted several times due to the fish and other strange sea creatures.