CH 170

“Ina…?” (Souma)

I felt as if the blood in my whole body drained when I saw Ina not move an inch. 

I hurriedly ran to Ina and carried her limp body up. 

“Hiyah!” (Souma)

And threw a potion flask on her face at full power. 

And then…

“Puoh?!” (Ina)

Ina woke up while making a noise hard to believe came from a girl.

“Feh? Eh? Hm? W-Why did I…” (Ina)

Around 3 seconds since she collapsed.

It was a truly speedy recovery and she is looking energetic. 

“I am sorry, Ina. It was my fault.” (Souma)

Now that I think back on it, Ina has been fatigued the whole time since coming out. 

There was even a moment when she staggered and leaned on my shoulder. 

And yet, I didn’t notice those signs. 

“E-Eh?! N-No, I am the one at fault for not telling you when I wasn’t feeling well!” (Ina)

When I lowered my head deeply, Ina flailed her arms, flustered. 

She then forcefully raised my head and changed the topic clumsily.

“M-More importantly, my nose hurts somewhat. Do you know why?” (Ina)

I strain my eyes at what she said and the tip of her nose is red. 

I of course do have an idea as to why.

“Must be because you fell forward without mitigating it or doing anything.” (Souma)

“Really? Ah, now that you mention it, I felt a hard impact on my face right before I woke up. That might have been it!” (Ina)

“Yeah, probably.” (Souma)

Even if she has raised her level and has obtained a superhuman body, fall damage isn’t reduced. 

It is a truly strange mechanic.

“…Potion.” (Ringo)

Ringo muttered this from the back, but before there was any time to think about it, Mitsuki cut in. 

“It is great that there’s no issue with Ina-san, but that makes it even more important to concentrate on solving this issue. The state of this city is abnormal in every facet. 

I have no idea what’s going on here though. But don’t you have an idea as to why?” (Mitsuki)

As expected of the daughter of that Asahi-san.

The cat ears of Mitsuki are standing upright with even more presence than usual and seem to be burning with a sense of duty.

“…Got it. I will explain in order, so let’s go back to the library for now.” (Souma)

“That would be great, but can we really be taking our time here?” (Mitsuki)

Mitsuki twitched her cat ears and I nodded. 

“Yeah. There’s no doubt it is a bad situation, but it shouldn’t be the type that is an immediate threat to your life.” (Souma)

This may sound weird, but the situation was made clear thanks to Ina collapsing. 

It would be better to calm down here and sort out the situation.

“Also, we can’t just leave Leila and Seirie-san behind, right?” (Souma)

“…Got it.” (Mitsuki)

I added this to persuade her, and Mitsuki nodded. 

“Then, let’s go back quickly.” (Mitsuki)

Mitsuki must really want to solve this abnormal situation.

“Got it, got it. Then…” (Souma)

I had a wry smile at Mitsuki who was hastily walking to the entrance as I also headed to the library with quick steps…and onto the side of the library…

“Infinite Mirage—guh!” (Souma)

I was going to use a skill, but Mitsuki grabbed my collar, and not only did she drag me to the entrance, she forcefully made me pay the entrance fee. 

Mitsuki has been strict with me recently. 

…After that, I mumbled ‘it would be faster if I were to enter from the wall’, but Mitsuki looked at me as if looking at trash. 

Even though she told me to be quick and I was about to do that… This world is unreasonable on all fronts. 

Seirie-san didn’t wake up even after we returned to the library, but I raised her body and had her drink the contents of the potion flask, and she recovered soon after.

Seeing this, Ina said…

“I-I wonder why… Even though I don’t understand the reason, I feel like this is incredibly unfair…” (Ina)

She said this while wriggling her body, but anyways…

“It seems like everyone’s gathered, so I will explain the situation.” (Souma)

I arrived at the biggest table in the library and looked at my comrades that gathered around. 

Ringo, Mitsuki, Ina, Maki, Sazan, Leila, Seirie-san, and the priest who was buried in books just a moment ago. 

…I feel like a completely unrelated party is mixed among us, but well, that’s fine.

“I will begin with the conclusion first. We…no, this whole city is being hit by an MP Drain attack.” (Souma)

The moment I said this, the relaxed atmosphere tensed up in one go. 

I could also see a number of them get flustered at this. 

Ina raised her voice.

“T-Then, the people who have collapsed in this library…” (Ina)

“Yeah, the people here are not sleeping. They have fainted from their MP hitting zero.” (Souma)

Being incapacitated when your MP hits zero is a mechanic of this game. 

However, there’s rarely any attack that can deal continuous damage to MP even in the whole game, so it took me time to reach this conclusion.

“Wait! Then, why are there people who are okay and some who are not?” (Maki)

“Because their max MP is high.” (Souma)

I easily answered the question of Maki. 

MP recovers with time just like HP, however, this is influenced by the max MP of the character.

The reason why the sharp Mitsuki didn’t notice something strange happening was because her max MP is high, and her natural MP regeneration is above that of the MP damage, so the attack is technically nullified.

Leaving aside the mage man that seemed to be compensating with MP potions, the priest woman being okay is most likely because her level is decently high and might have a magic related class, so her max MP must be high.

As for our party, the mage idiot Sazan goes without saying. Me, Ringo, and Maki who may be more in the physical side but still are high level, and Leila is just barely on the threshold of not being affected.

On the other hand, Seirie-san, who is a muscle-head character and has low max MP, and Ina, who has the lowest level in the party, must have been hit with the MP damage. 

“Uuuh, I really am the weakest in the party then…” (Ina)

Ina felt down here, but it is not like this is the end.

“I don’t know the exact time this attack began, but if we take Seirie-san collapsing as our baseline, it was most likely before we entered the library. 

It is most likely still happening, so I would like Seirie-san and Ina to be the most wary here and make sure to drink an MP potion if you feel anything off.” (Souma)

I warned them to be careful, and Seirie-san pushed the bridge of her glasses as if that was her nodding gesture, and Ina quivered and nodded profusely. 

“…What’s the method?” (Mitsuki)

That’s when Mitsuki, who was listening silently until now, asked this with an expressionless face that had a sliver of bewilderment. 

“I understand what you are saying here. It would make sense that they have collapsed from lack of MP. However, an attack that encompasses the whole city is something I have never heard of before. Just how in the world—” (Mitsuki)

“Magic circle.” (Souma)

I cut off the words of Mitsuki and answered bluntly. 

“Magic circle…?” (Mitsuki)

“Yeah, I heard from Sazan. The pattern at the stained glass of the Grand Church apparently has the ability to gather the energy around. 

That magic circle was most likely utilized here.” (Souma)

At the time when we went to the Grand Church to get the medal of honor, Sazan spoke a lot about that magic circle. 

I most likely wouldn’t have noticed how it was done without that. 

I don’t really like being grateful to Sazan, but this alone is thanks to Sazan. 

However, the one who objected to my words was Sazan himself. 

“W-Wait, are you talking about the mana congregation circle? But the most it can do is gather mana from what’s above it. A small magic circle like that—” (Sazan)

“Then a bigger one can?” (Souma)

I casually pointed this out and Sazan refuted strongly.

“That in itself is ridiculous! If a magic circle that big were to be drawn, the people in the city would notice! Also, in order to draw a magic circle, you need something like mithril which has special magic traits in order to show enough effect—” (Sazan)

“But what if that magic circle was drawn way back…since the time the country was founded?” (Souma)

“W-What are you saying?! Something crazy like that…” (Sazan)

“I am not lying. Here, look.” (Souma)

I pushed the [Evil God Great War ~The Birth of the Hero King~] on Sazan. 

What I showed him was the page with the drawing of the past capital.

The cityscape that has barely changed since it was founded.

“Isn’t that just a map of the city?! There’s no magic circle anywhere—” (Sazan)

“Really? Look properly.

…Hey, this shape, haven’t you seen it somewhere before?” (Souma)

I question him as if driving the nail on Sazan.

“The buildings…” (Ringo)

The first one to notice was Ringo.

She slowly moved her finger and traced the city. 

“What are you…Aaaaah!!” (Sazan)

Sazan, who knows the most about magic circles here than any of us, noticed right after.

Sazan was at a loss for words for a moment, but he looked at me with his eyes wide open.

“W-Wait a moment! What does that mean?!” (Maki)

Maki couldn’t keep up with the talk and raised her voice. 

If you think about it in an RPG perspective, you would get it at once -is what I thought, but I added an extra hint.

“Hey, Ina, when we were returning to the mansion, we were moving on top of the roofs, right?” (Souma)

“Eh? Ah, yes. That was soon after defeating the Demon Lord, right?” (Ina)

“At that time, you saw what the roofs were made out of, right? Do you remember?” (Souma)

Ina was flustered at the sudden topic being thrown to her and desperately turned her gears. 

“Uuh, if I remember correctly, mithril… Ah!” (Ina)

And she notices it too.

“That’s right. Most of the roofs in this city are mithril. The material that’s the most suitable for magic circles and magic catalysts. 

…You should be able to understand after saying this much, right? 

The lines creating the magic circle are these building roofs. 

In other words…” (Souma)

I looked around at the faces of my comrades that were coloured with surprise, and I said…

“This city itself is a giant magic circle!” (Souma)