CH 234

“Is Hikari already sleeping?”

She was looking drowsy after filling her stomach, so Mia took her to bed.

It didn’t take long for Mia to return, and she says Hikari is fast asleep.

“Running around the mountain that much has to be tiring.”

Says Sera with an awkward smile.

Apparently she was running all over the whole time, looking for food. Rurika says so too.

Chris just looks puzzled.

“She was probably holding back yesterday because of you, Chris.”

Says Sera, and she explains what happened today.

It does sound tough. I’m sure I’d run out of breath if I had to chase her around like that.

“But what did you want to talk about?”

Right, I got sidetracked.

“I was thinking about what we should do from now on.”

If we’re going to be stopped like this and waste time, we need to look for alternatives.

For example, if we can’t get laurel tree fruit, we should probably get more cockatrice materials so I can make more of my petrification cures to extend Casey’s life.

That would buy us more time to get the laurel tree fruit so I can make a petrification cure with it.

But Chris, Rurika, and Sera probably want to check the slavers on the island.

Well, Marte also has slavers, so can we actually ask there? Although if they have a policy of confidentiality, we might need to travel not just to Altair, but to every town in the Dragon Kingdom.

“We should probably ask for more cockatrice materials.”

“Yes. And I’ve already asked the slavers. Eris… Elves stand out, so we should have an answer by the time we come back to Marte.”

Say Chris and Rurika.

So everything’s taken care of as far as the slaver business is concerned? It’d be better to check ourselves, but if that’s not possible, I guess this is the next best thing.

And Chris can tell when someone’s lying.

“And I think we should also decide where to go next. Do you want to go back to the Republic of Eldo, or head to Elesya?”

“I think we should stop by Eldo and tell everyone how we’re doing.”

Rurika says as she peeks over at Sera, but she disagrees.

“If we go back to the village, that’s going to make it harder to then head to the kingdom. And if we have to go to the Magic State, I don’t even know how long that will take.”

“But we can’t get cockatrice materials right away, right?”

“Still… Not to mention that we need to prepare if we’re going to the kingdom.”

Four sets of eyes then point at me.

Yes, it’s very risky for me to go near Elesya. And there might be people who know Hikari’s face.

We might need disguises on the same level as Chris’, not just masks.

“Just for the sake of argument, if there was a place there that could hold elves prisoner, where would it be?”

“The kingdom is big… Once you think of one place as suspicious, they all start to seem suspicious…”

“H-hum, can’t we ask Hikari?”

As Rurika crosses her arms and groans, Mia interjects with a question.

“Hikari’s memory is hazy. And I don’t want to push her and awaken bad memories.”

“Y-you’re right. Sorry.”

“No, I thought about it too.”

I see Mia shrinking back, so I tell her I had the same idea.

We don’t really have a lot of clues. The most obvious answer would be capital, but is it really that simple?

“What do you think, Chris?”

“…My bet would be on the capital. My spirits tell me of something awful centered on the capital… Or rather, they warned me. I think there is something there.”

“And it was summoned in the castle?”

“…Yes.”

Says Chris bluntly, as something terrible crosses my mind.

No wonder she’s looking away.

I also notice that she is gripping her spirit amulet tightly.

There’s also Sera’s case. I don’t have anything concrete to base this on, but I think that’s what’s supporting her emotionally.

“Then once we get back… We’ll go to the alchemist guild to ask Bozen and Will to get cockatrice materials. Then we’ll wait and see for a few days, and if there really is nothing we can do here, we’ll go to Elesya through the Magic State.”

Still… What are we even going to say when we return to Majolica after leaving it so soon?

Well, I guess we’ll just have to tell them we couldn’t find laurel tree fruit, and that we’re going to Elesya next.

“But if we are going to the kingdom, it might be easier to go through the Holy Kingdom after the Magic State.”

Says Chris, and I picture the map.

Yes, to go from the Magic State to Elesya we would have to go through a mountain… We can go by wagon, but it might take a long time, depending on the weather.

And it might be easier to plan our journey if we go through the Holy Kingdom.

I also want to see the capital of the Magic State, but we can do that when we have more time.