CH 77

I have a pendulum in my hand, and activate a 《Transcribe》 scroll. I need to investigate why we aren’t seeing any monsters in these ruins.

I start investigating, but don’t find anything strange in the most conspicuous buildings. They’re all just normal abandoned buildings. I guess Taula is tired of this, because she went off on her own to take a look around this place.

Next, I slowly walk around while examining the ground in this entire area. Roa follows me, although she looks a bit bored.

“Oh! I’m getting a reaction. Isn’t the concentration of magic elements here a bit too high?”

I say to myself a while after I started walking with the pendulum hanging from my hand. I crouch while paying attention to the movements of the jewel in the tip of the pendulum.

The closer I am to the ground, the more it oscillates.

I look at the ground closely, but it’s just a stone pavement with nothing to set it apart from the rest. Even the 《Transcribe》 scroll isn’t showing me anything strange.

I crawl on all fours while moving the pendulum in all four directions, starting from the spot where I first saw the reaction.

“Did you find anything?”

“Yes, down here! There’s a line of magic elements. The magic elements are more concentrated below the pavement in a straight line from here in that direction.”

I say to Roa while pointing at the ground and the direction of the line.

“Is that rare?”

“No, it actually happens a lot. Magic circles in particular are made of lines of magic elements. Magic elements float in the air, and you could say that magic circles are formed with parts that are particularly dense. Kind of like gathering sand in a sandbox to make a drawing.”

I say while pointing to the active Transcribe scroll.

“Hmm. So there’s a magic circle down here?”

Asks Roa, sounding less interested in the explanation and more in the conclusion.

“Probably, but if this is a magic circle, it’s a pretty big one.”

“Does that mean someone is maintaining it?”

Asks Roa while suddenly upping her level of caution.

“No, I wouldn’t go that far. It’s probably the type that’s set for continuous use. Let’s just follow the line for now.”

We walk while I hang the pendulum close to the ground.

◆◇

“It continues beyond the ruins…”

Apparently the line of magic elements isn’t actually forming a magic circle. It doesn’t seem closed like one.

“Should we go back and tell Taula?”

“…Yes. I don’t know what’s happening beyond this point. Let’s go back just in case.”

I leave a mark so we know where we were, and turn back with Roa to meet up with Taula.