Chapter of Spirit Verse: Searching for the Unknown

Unsurprisingly, searching for something when we didn’t even know whether it existed or what it even was wasn’t easy.

That said, this wasn’t the first time the mercenaries had to search for something in this manner from what I was told. Korwen knocked on the wall, ear on the wall, and then knocked again, only moving a moderate amount between each knock. In that way, he was systematically covering all the walls in the room. There was just one caveat with the whole process…

“Captain, shouldn’t this be left to some of the other men? This is going to take forever, won’t it?”

He barely proceeded a few steps and he had been at this for a short while already. It was excruciatingly slow. Furthermore, there was no point in him doing this by himself, was there?

“Yumi, in contrast to you all, I can’t see mana. This is the only thing I can do.”

That didn’t answer my question, though?

Really, if he just called for a few men this wouldn’t even take that long… Though, whether it would actually bear any fruit was a different matter.

After we joined Ria, we tried to take another look at this room but there wasn’t anything out of place. Even looking at it with my mana sight didn’t reveal anything of note. The mana was… quite thick. That’s something I could confirm after Meela had mentioned it earlier. But if she hadn’t I probably wouldn’t have realised it.

Mana seems to fluctuate a lot depending on where you are anyway… There’s no way I’d notice something out of place if I don’t even know what was normal…

The same could honestly be said for most things that resolved around mana… While I had gotten more familiar with it, there’s no way I could rival Ria, who was doing this all her life.

Of course, that didn’t mean I was slacking off. I had just been unable to find anything and now I found myself once more staring at the remains of the ritual drawing on the floor. The thick blackish lines, surrounded by an unfamiliar script. The script in particular was so damaged it was beyond recoverable. Something we had already determined last time. And it sure didn’t change just because I was looking at it again.

“Yumi, what are you looking at?”

“Nn? Just this… drawing, Sis. Hey, can you recognise anything there?”

“Err…”

Karen, who had come up to me took a long look at the floor before shaking her head.

“It just looks like gibberish to me… Isn’t this something you should ask Ria about?”

“Nn… I was just curious what you thought of it.”

“Well… If you say it like that…”

She turned her gaze back to the floor and stared at it for a few more seconds.

“I don’t know… The floor is damaged and the parts that aren’t damaged are fading away… Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. Sorry for asking out of the blue.”

I suppressed a small sigh, slightly annoyed at the apparent futility of our task.

“Yumi, is there anything about the drawing that picked your interest?”

“Well… I was just thinking… The notes Ria found said they used it as a source for the ritual, right?”

“It seems so, yes.”

“So, shouldn’t there be some kind of indication on this drawing?”

Like, the three skeletons we found were lying right on top of those circles. Those circles were all connected to the centre of the drawing. The drawing was partly fading but that much could still be determined with ease. However, there were a good dozen of those circles in total… Although they had been empty. Ria suspected that someone had cleaned those up later or the people might have actually survived the ritual…

Either way, I assumed that those circles were necessary to pour mana into the ritual. In that case, if they really used something else as the source, shouldn’t there be some connection to this drawing? At least, that’s what my thoughts were on the matter.

“Some indication you say…”

“Nn.”

“I can’t see any.”

“... Nn.”

“Maybe if it wasn’t so damaged and faded.”

“...”

Yes, that was the problem. The damaged sections, where the floor had been purposefully destroyed, were one thing but the other was that it had been so old that it had faded quite a bit…

“If only we could restore it somehow… Sis, you wouldn’t happen to know of a spell that can restore this, do you?”

“If such a thing was possible, don’t you think Ria would have already done it?”

“True…”

In other words, there was no chance to do it… Magic wasn’t all-powerful, as unfortunate as it was…

“Haaa… Anyway, did you find anything, Sis?”

“No, nothing. To be honest, I doubt we will find anything here.”

“What a coincidence, that’s the same thought I had.”

Glad to know I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t expecting much from this…

“I wonder how the elder and Meela are faring.”

“They’re over there, Yumi.”

Karen pointed to the corner of the room where the elder and Meela were… tending to a plant.

“What are they doing…”

“Miss Elder said it was a plant that’s sensitive to mana, far more than we or the elves.”

“Huh… Such a plant exists?”

“Apparently. I didn’t know about it either…”

“Nn… Not like it’d help us anyway. I don’t think that plant can tell us how it feels…”

That was something only the elves could really do…

“Do they actually hear a voice?”

“I don’t think so… I heard before that it is more like they are feeling its will? But I don’t know if that is true.”

“That sounds more likely than a voice, at least.”

It seemed that the two were too busy with their plant right now to answer that question. We’d have to wait until we’d get an answer. Assuming we’d get one at all.

“Maybe they’ll find something. Would be nice.”

“It would be.”

Alas, judging from their expressions… Anyway, the two elves were busy, Korwen was still knocking the wall while barely making progress and Ria was… doing something in the other corner. It only looked to me like she was staring at the wall but she was probably examining it with her mana sight, too.

“Everyone’s looking for mana or hollows in the wall, huh…”

“After all, those are the most likely ones to give any result.”

“Nn…”

“At least more than standing around in the middle of the hall like us.”

“...”

That’s something one shouldn’t point out, my beloved sister.

“Actually, I was doing something. I was trying to get a hint from the ritual drawing.”

“But didn’t you reach a dead end?”

“Right… I did… Haa…”

I squatted down, looking at the drawing again.

“Yumi.”

“Nn?”

“There’s… the other one, too.”

“Other one?”

“The other drawing… In that room, opposite of the ones with the… tools.”

The one opposite… Oh… Ohhh… There was that room that was in a… rather terrible state… The one Korwen had ordered to be kept shut. I had only caught a glimpse at the time but I did see a similar-looking drawing there…

“I don’t want to go there, though.”

“... Neither do I.”

However, it might give us a hint at the very least. It was… quite reasonable to check that place out. Unfortunately, I was quite confident my stomach would empty itself if I stayed there for more than a few minutes.

“Let’s ask the captain what he thinks of the idea first.”

“Okay.”

We faced Korwen, expecting him to still be knocking on the wall. Instead, we found him standing there with his eyes closed.

“Captain?”

“Mmm… I’ll check that place out. You two stay here.”

“Huh? Oh, you were listening?”

“You weren’t exactly quiet.”

Oops… Good thing we didn’t talk about anything… unfortunate.

“Still, I think that train of thought is reasonable. It’s at least something with a bit more… substance.”

“Ahh… but is that all right?”

“Sure is. Like I said earlier, it’s not like I really have much to do here.”

He shrugged his shoulders as if saying how little he mattered here.

“At least that gives me something to do. I’ll come back later.”

And without further ado, he left the hall.

“That was unexpected…”

“He actually seemed a little happy?”

“Nn…”

That was a little odd even for Korwen… But I couldn’t look into his head so I had no idea what was going on. Why would someone be happy to go into that room? Unless, he was happy to get out of this room? Okay, the smell was bad but I very much doubted the other room was better in that regard.

“Where did Mr Korwen go?”

“Nn? Oh, he went to check out the other room, Miss Elder.”

“The other room?”

The Elder, who had come over to us after seeing Korwen leave, tilted her head in confusion.

“There’s another room with a similar drawing to this one. That place is… in pretty bad shape, though. That’s why he ordered everyone to stay away from it.”

“I see. So he went to check that place out?”

“Nn. That’s it.”

The Elder seemed to understand what I was hinting at as she grimaced.

“The drawing… You say there is something peculiar about this drawing?”

“Pretty much. I thought it might give an indication of where the… other supposed source of magic might be. But it’s too damaged…”

“Mm…”

I said it was too damaged but the damaged portion was pretty much only the parts with the script. Even if those weren’t damaged, there was no way I’d understand any of it. That wasn’t up to my alley. I could understand the simple lines and patterns at most. And those were mostly fading away.

“What paint was used for this drawing?” asked the Elder all of a sudden.

“Huh? The paint?”

“Yes, the paint.”

“I don’t know…”

What kind of paint would people use in this world? Chalk? Charcoal?

“... It’s not blood, is it?”

“...”

Considering how deranged the worshippers were, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if it was blood. And I sincerely hoped it wasn’t. But…

“I fear the chances for that are rather high.”

“... Figured.”

“But it might serve us better in this case.”

“... What?”

The heck? How would blood help us?

“Meela, come here for a moment.”

“Miss Old Elder? How may I be of help?”

While I was a little confused, the elder continued on and called Meela over, who promptly skipped over to us, still holding the pot with the plant.

“I need you to grow something for me.”

“Of course! Which do you need?”

The Elder said some unfamiliar words to which Meela only nodded. She put down the pot and squatted next to it, closing her eyes as she held her hands towards the plant. After several seconds, a new plant grew in the plant, only a single branch that found its way between the twigs of the pot’s other resident. Once it stopped growing, a small purple fruit, the size of a lemon, grew on the tip.

“Miss Elder, that is?”

“This is a slightly peculiar plant, Karen. I believe in your language it is called… Purple Haze?”

“...”

The moment those words left her mouth, Karen immediately took a step back, then another and even a third one, clearly intent on taking distance from that thing.

“Sis? Is something wrong with that plant?”

“It’s dangerous, Yumi! That thing is really dangerous!”

“Eh?”

While I was still confused, the Elder chuckled next to me before she explained what the heck was going on.

“Ehehe. You see, Yumi, this plant is considered a delicacy among many humanoids.”

“I see?”

“But demonkin don’t take well to it. They get severe diarrhoea among other things if they eat it. Back then, it has become infamous among the demonkin as it was often served among the other humanoid races. It seems like it retained that reputation even to this day.”

So, in other words, the demonkin were served these fruits, and then their stomachs acted up? Way to ruin a day.

“Sis, did you encounter this fruit before, too?”

“... I did.”

“Oh?”

“Back then… I, err… Well, I had the chance to eat some dried fruits… I was hungry… and I didn’t notice them among the dried fruits… It was hell.”

“... Somehow, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine… It’s from long ago.”

Karen smiled wryly… all the while maintaining the distance toward the plant. Guess this was a bit of a trauma for her.

“The demonkin often called it as the Demon’s Bane back then. That is how many have had to suffer it,” explained the Elder.

“I can see where they were coming from… and that only affected the demonkin?”

“The devilkin were affected too, I believe. And a few small beastkin tribes. But to the vast majority, this is just a delicious fruit.”

How treacherous a fruit this was.

“But the history of this fruit as a delicacy aside, I don’t want to eat it right now. There’s something else we’ll use it for.”

“Oh?”

The Elder plucked the fruit from the single branch, took a small bowl from Meela that had appeared from somewhere and then squeezed the fruit, letting the juices flow into the bowl.

“Mm… Meela, we might need another.”

“Yes, Miss Old Elder!”

A new fruit grew, was plucked and then squeezed dry by the Elder. The small bowl was now filled to the brim with purple fruit juice.

“You see, the juice of this fruit can make… certain things visible.”

“Visible?”

“Yes, in a way. And old blood is among these things. Even if we cannot see it anymore, traces remain… Anyway, I believe it will be quicker to see.”

It could make old blood visible… That reminded me, wasn’t there something that could do something like that in my old world? I vaguely recalled hearing something like that.

“First, we’ll pour it over this place…”

The Elder tipped the bowl slightly, letting some of the juice drip down onto the floor. Once a small amount of fluid had dripped down, she used a piece of cloth and wiped it away. What remained…

“Huh? It’s purple?”

Even though she had wiped it away, part of the floor had changed colour and was now purple… and it was fitting right into the drawing.

“The colour remains on spaces with old blood. Though, sometimes it sticks with other things, too. I am just glad it still works. I am not sure if it could have worked if it is too old, after all.”

“I see… But this is amazing. Wouldn’t you be able to restore the drawing with that?”

“I fear not. Look, the colour sticks but it is spreading around. It is no good for something as delicate as the script. Furthermore, there would be no point in applying it when the surface itself has been destroyed.”

“You’re right…”

“But it should help us with the lines… Look here.”

While we talked the Elder continued her work, restoring some of the faded lines. As well as recovering several lines of which there had been no indication whatsoever.

“Huh? Where did those come from?”

“I do not know. Maybe these have been wiped away instead of being destroyed thoroughly? Either way, they might be the very thing we were looking for.”

“...”

We watched as the Elder revealed more and more of the drawing that had been hidden. A single line, leading away from the drawing… As we watched, a voice came from behind us.

“This is… interesting… Purple Haze… I had… heard about… these properties… but I did not… think of this…”

With visible surprise on her face, Ria had joined us and was now watching as well.

After a while, the newly uncovered line ended near a wall. It was quite at the wall, but a step or so in front of it.

“This was… a valuable… lesson…”

“I am pleased to hear that you thought it useful, Miss Ria. However, it does not seem there is anything to uncover here. And, frankly, I don’t see anything here…”

We all stared at the spot where the line ended. No irregular mana, no visible peculiarities in the floor or the wall, nothing.

“Mmm… No… I think… this is… the right… spot?”

“Nn? Why do you think so?”

“They clearly… went out… of their way… to wipe… this clean… This part… bothered them…”

“But couldn’t they have just destroyed it like the remainder?”

“... It’s just… a line… Yumi… If it is… drawn on… the floor… or carved… out of it… won’t matter…”

“...”

Okay, that was a very fair point.

“Still… I wonder… what they… did… Mmm…”

“Well, yes… Maybe there’s some kind of trapdoor that we don’t see?”

“There should… be some… indication… if it… was just… a physical… hidden door… But… it might… be better… to ask… someone proficient… Mm?”

Suddenly, Ria froze, then turned around and looked straight at Karen.

“Uhm… Miss Ria?”

“... Karen.”

“Yes?”

“Can you… punch this?”

“...”

Karen’s expression turned exasperated, having expected that request.

“I can try but… don’t expect too much.”

“Mm…”

The four of us retreated a few steps and watched how Karen prepared herself, checking her gauntlet. After a few seconds of preparation, she drew back her fist… and smashed it into the floor, causing an ear-deafening crash. The impact was so loud I closed my eyes and turned away on reflex.

“Ouch! Ahhh, shit!”

When I reopened my eyes, I saw a cursing Karen jumping up and down, flailing her hurting hand.

“Sis, are you okay?”

“Uhhh… Kind of… My hand hurts a little… Ahh, the gauntlet…”

The gauntlet had taken some damage from the collision but it wasn’t destroyed or anything. But the metal plates on it were bent and scratched.

“Mm… That didn’t… work…”

In the meantime, Ria was examining the result of Karen’s attempt. A beautiful fist-sized imprint on the floor, barely the width of my finger in depth.

I don’t know, but just seeing that she left a mark on a stone at all worries me a little…

I knew her strength but seeing it on display like this sure hit differently.

“It felt just like I was punching the wall… It didn’t feel like there was anything behind it either… Ahh, this hurts…”

I mean, you did punch a wall… or the floor, in this case.

Karen removed the gauntlet, revealing her petite hand. Her fingers were red but other than that, she didn’t seem hurt. Though they still seemed to hurt as she repeatedly opened and closed her fist.

“Are you all right, sis?”

“Yes, I think so. It’s already a little better now.”

It reassured me a little to see Karen smile at me. She put the gauntlet back on, taking a good look at it.

“I’ll have to apologise to Mr Wormaz, won’t I?”

“Ahh… Well, you only did as Ria wanted so… It’s a work accident?”

“I hope he thinks so as well…”

Hopefully, he wouldn’t get mad about this. He didn’t strike me as someone who would. He cursed a lot but he was, in essence, pretty friendly.

“Either way, you shouldn’t punch any other walls with the gauntlet for now…”

“I didn’t plan to.”

“Glad to hear that.”

Unfortunately for us, Ria might have different plans… Speaking of Ria, she was suspiciously quiet.

“Nn? What is Ria doing?”

When I turned back around to take a look, I found Ria sitting on the floor, examining the spot where Karen had punched the floor.

“Ria?”

“Mmm… This is… odd…”

“What is?”

“I was… sure that… this would… work…”

“It didn’t.”

It only hurt Karen, in fact. That annoyed me a little. And broke her gauntlet.

“Mm… Karen.”

“Yes?”

“You said… it felt like… you were… punching… a wall?”

“Yes, I did?”

How else would it even feel like?

“So, this spot… didn’t give in… even in the… slightest?”

“It didn’t.”

“Mmm…”

“Miss Ria, is something the matter?”

“I might… have an… idea…”

Wait, she actually reached some conclusion based on that? How?

“The Worshippers… many of them… are magicians…”

“Haa…”

“What if… there never… was a… trap… or door… or any… hidden device…”

“Nn?”

“Miss Ria?”

We both tilted our heads, a little confused about Ria’s question.

“They erased… the traces… then… what if… they erased… the ‘door’... as well?”

“... The door?”

How would you erase a door? Anything short of filling up the…

“Wait… Ria, are you suggesting they closed it up? With Earth magic?”

Ria nodded in response.

“Everything here… has been… moulded… by Earth magic… There would be… no difference… if they… used it… to close it… That’s why… we couldn’t… find anything…”

If they used Earth magic, it’d be just like the rest of the walls and the floor. It wouldn’t be out of place because it was the same. Impossible to find.

“Miss Ria, if that’s the case, how are we even going to get in?”

“Mmm… I wonder… I don’t… think that… I can… blow it up…”

“...”

Yes, we would all like it if she could refrain from that. Korwen probably the most out of all of us. Not like he was here to confirm that.

“Wenners… Mmm… No… I don’t think… He could… Krutz… is no good… Maybe… Wendl could…”

“Nn…”

How would we be able to get in there… If neither Ria nor the other magicians could do it, we’d be stuck.

“Miss Ria.”

“Mm? Miss Elder… What is… it?”

“Wouldn’t it be wise to first confirm whether your theory even holds true? I believe we all would like to avoid fruitless endaveours.”

“Ahhh… Of course…”

Good point by the elder. It would be a little disheartening if it had turned out to be false.

“So, how do we confirm that?”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“Great.”

Nobody had an idea.

“Actually… Yumi, I do have an idea,” said the Elder after a short while.

“Nn?”

“There is a certain technique that lets you feel the sensations with the help of mana, is there not?”

“... You mean, the one that the High Priest used during the examination? That examination magic?”

“The very same. It might be possible to feel behind the wall with it.”

That certainly might work… would it?

“Yumi, do you think you could do that?”

“Nn… Wait, me?”

“You are the only one who would be able to, yes.”

“...”

All the eyes rested on me.

“Ehh… But… I didn’t even manage to do it back then…”

“If it… won’t work… I can… make some… preparations… and attempt… as well… It would… however… take some… time…”

“I see…”

So, it wasn’t too much of a problem if it didn’t work out? That was a relief to hear.

“Then… I’ll try.”

“Mm…”

I got down on my knees and put my hands on the floor, around the spot where the mark of Karen’s fist was left. Then, I closed my eyes, gathering some mana.

What did the High Priest say again… He tried to explain it… Mm… Like a recording? That’S what he said, right?

A recording… so, did that mean that I had to keep the mana’s form when taking it in? Like, the spot I was looking at, I’d pull in the mana without making it change shape and then determine what it was like?

Well, all I can do is try.

I sent the gathered mana into the floor… and was immediately met with incredible resistance. The mana in the stone was so thick, so… solid… that I could barely push it through. However, I somehow managed to push it aside nonetheless, penetrating through the bedrock.

It’s all like this, though… So hard…

It was like trying to move through waist-high mud. You barely made progress and even that little bit you moved exhausted you.

Come on, I can do it!

The mana moved further until it was quite a bit down already. Yet, the mana was still thick and nearly impenetrable. It was already more than a whole step in length down and I could feel my control over it growing weaker. But this wasn’t far enough yet. I was looking for the place beyond the mana-laden stone.

Then, suddenly, like a plop, mana I controlled plopped out, catching me by surprise.

I’m through… Seriously, this was way too hard…

It went nearly as deep as I was tall. That was quite a bit.

Anyway… Let’s get the mana back in its form. Back should be easier now that I got a path.

The mana returned to me. It was a little difficult to retain its shape and form but I somehow managed. Or, at least, that’s what I believed. Because it felt like there was… nothing.

“Did you find something, Yumi?”

“... I am not sure. I found… nothing? I mean, like, there was nothing there? I think?”

“... If there’s a cave, that would be a reasonable result.”

“I guess?”

So, maybe that meant there really was something?

I stood up again, patting my knees and getting rid of the dirt.

“So, how deep was it?”

“Nn… About this much?”

I held my hand at around the height of my shoulders.

“That’s... deep. How are we supposed to get down there?”

“I don’t know…”

Just as I was answering Karen, I heard the sound of a hammer hitting the floor.

“Err, Ria? What are you doing?”

“Look… at this…”

In Ria’s hands were a small hammer and chisel… as well as a piece of stone, broken off from the floor.

“Huh? How did you do that?”

“Yumi…”

“Yes?”

“The mana… in the stone…”

Ria looked at me, a slight smile on her lips.

“Absorb it…”

“...”

“...”

“What?”

Absorb it? Like, the mana?

“This piece… it was… from the spot… where you… used the… magic… you pushed the… mana aside… and the… stone… became brittle… If you… absorb… the mana… then… we should be… able to… get through…”

“...”

It would become brittle? Just like that? Simply because I could absorb some mana?

“That’s… surprising.”

“It very much sounds like a valid plan,” commented the Elder.

“Nn… It does.”

If it really worked like that…

“Let me try this.”

I got down on my knees once more, put my hands on the floor and closed my eyes. This time, I gathered mana again. But not the mana in my surroundings, or from my body, but the mana from the stone. It was similar to how I passively absorbed mana from my surroundings, after all. It was pretty simple.

After I was into this for a few seconds, I could hear the chisel in Ria’s hands again. When I opened my eyes, I could see Ria breaking the rock with surprising ease.

“Mm… It works… we can… get through…”

“That’s… great.”

Not only did we find what might possibly be the spot we were looking for… but we even found a way to get in. Assuming, we weren’t mistaken at any point.

“Yumi… Keep going…”

“Nn, I’ll do my best.”

With renewed vigour, I resumed absorbing the mana in the floor.