Chapter 442 – The Shining Leaf Sticking to Rollodeen’s Nose
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“An idea, huh? The thieves’ gang member was caught by Divine Beast-sama to begin with, so I’ll hand him over to you, Shuuya.”
“Thanks. Well then, I guess it’s time to go down this hole and chase after the friends of this guy here.”
Higlia placed a finger on her chin, adopting a thinker’s pose. And then she extended her index finger.
“――We’re going to round up the thieves gang alone, right!?”
“Right.”
“Shuuya-sama, I shall do my best.”
I nodded at Jody’s comment.
“Shuuya, are you going to interrogate the noir runner?” Elza asked, her eyes shifting to her left arm.
Is she indicating that she possesses some ability allowing her to extract information from someone else? Well, her look could also be coincidental, I suppose.
“…It’d stand out too much in this place, so it has to wait for later. Also, I saw noir runners, who seemed to be his friends from the same gang, pass us earlier. Because of that, the number of gang members trespassing through the underground tunnel should be low. Or it could even be just one person. Hence, we’ll search the underground. With that said, Rollo, place that noir runner on your back――”
“Nyaa.”
Rollodeen moved her head up and down as if nodding, and then used her tentacles to carry the small beastman on her back as instructed.
“Elza, Aris, are you going to come with us?”
“That’s a foolish question. We were able to get to know you, Divine Princess, so we want to cherish that bond. And we also want to exhibit our power so as to show you what we’re capable of.”
“Yep, it’s just as Elza says!”
“Kyuu!”
“Itasha seems to be willing to accompany us as well,” Jody translated Itasha’s weasel tongue.
Though I don’t know whether something like a weasel language actually exists.
『Vessel, I also concur! Some sort of divine remains are mixed in the rock and soil the divine beast dug up! However, the rock which managed to stop me isn’t here!』
Hoh, so the soil, leaves, and limonite-like stones also contain something divine, huh? In that case, the stone, which stopped Divine Sword Saraten and which I collected, might be quite valuable. Even Eva couldn’t dissolve the stone that’s currently in my chest pocket.
I guess I’ll have Pelneet’s Suloza appraise it for me. Or I’ll pass it to Mysty…
『…Our objective isn’t to obtain stone or rock materials, you know?』
『I know…still I wud liek you to use me…』
Saraten suddenly switched to a telepathic message, with a trace of mispronunciation.
『I’ll use you when the time to use has come』
I wrapped up my conversation with Saraten.
Rollodeen sent one tentacle towards Aris and coiled it around her small body. Immediately following, she carried Aris towards herself. She apparently misunderstood that she was to carry Aris once we went down underground. Now the beastman was on her back while Aris was held up on the side.
“Rollo, we’ll visit the grilled meat seller over there in our spare time. And I also bought some extra dango and bean tea.
“Nyaooo,” meowed Rollodeen while shaking her head in joy.
The shining leaf stuck to her nose trembled. I want to take it off for her, but let’s postpone that for now.
“Anyway, I’m going to check the hole first and come back――”
With those words, I focused on <Chain> and extended my chains from both wrists while leaping down the hole. For an instant, a damp wind licked my face before I landed at the bottom of the passage with a dull thud. The ground beneath Arzen’s Boots felt solid.
While fixing my posture, I checked my surroundings. It was dark, as typical for the underground, but…thanks to the shining leaves that kept falling underground through the hole, there existed a dim illumination down here.
The width of the passage here was…well, I suppose you can call it wide.
Eerie noise reached my ears from caves in the front and back of the tunnel. The place was crammed with spiderwebs. But the air down here was stagnant.
A chilly breeze, characteristic of the underground, grazed past my cheeks. At the same time, the scent of moist soil penetrated my nose. It gave me the impression of this wind coming straight out of a mausoleum.
An underground system similar to the Under Cities of Pelneet and Holkerbaum might exist here as well. Well, although this city is located in the Sea of Trees, it’s situated at a far lower elevation than Cydale. Maybe this underground is actually connected to the Great Pel-Heka-Line. It might also be connected to the territory of the Orc Empire or many other forces living in the underground.
I looked up to the hole above my head. A faint ray of sunlight was visible. The shining leaves beautifully danced around that ray. It was a pretty spectacle, but I felt like looking at the sky from the bottom of a well.
For the time being, I’m going to prepare a proper light source for everyone.
I focused on the ring, with the triangle lining up on its flat surface, and touched it with a finger. As soon as a light source came into existence, I checked the walls. They had cavities with bubbles and thin water rills that zigzagged inside the wall. Cobbles resembling pretty pearls were filling the long and narrow cavities. Even fossils akin to Debonchicchi were buried there. Rocks shaped like wands could also be seen.
Does this also contain divine remains?
『Let me out and try stabbing the wall for a brief entertainment!』
『No need right now. I’m only appreciating the structure!』
『Uuugghhh』
The patterns sure look beautiful.
I created a simple, pedal-like foothold with my chains, and after invoking <Magic Hand guided by Thought>, I kicked off the mana hand, leaping towards the upper part of the wall in one go. I placed the sole of my right foot on the surface of the hole’s wall and kicked myself upwards. While twisting my body, I jumped out of the hole and, at the same time, assumed a pose that imitated Helme, thus returning to the surface.
“――It’s all clear down there,” I declared while twisting my waist.
『Your Excellency, that is an outstanding posing! Hehe――』
Helme looked very happy.
While releasing the pose, I gestured with my hand, “However, the distance from the hole’s end to the bottom is surprisingly big. Higlia, Elza, get on this. Jody, Rollo, you guys will be alright as you are, I guess.”
“I made a chain-based skateboard head underneath their feet.
“Okay.”
“We’re going underground. Itasha, you too.”
“Kyuu!”
Immediately after Itasha squealed her approval, Elza looked at the skateboard-like foothold I had created for her.
“…Quite the unusual foothold, isn’t it?” She asked.
“Worried?”
“――No, that’s not it. I guess I’ll go along with your kind offer,” Elza answered with a faint laughter coloring her voice before placing one foot on the chain skateboard.
At the same time of feeling Elza’s presence as a fighter, I could also perceive the lightness of her body as a woman when she leaned in.
“Aris, are you okay?” She asked.
“Yep! This tentacle is warm and springy!”
“Nyaa.”
“Uuuhh, I won’t talk about the location of my comrades!” The small beastman howled while caught in Rollodeen’s tentacles.
I think a thieves’ gang is a sort of assembly of robbers and bandits, but it seems like they have bonds among themselves. For starters, I guess we’ll lightly question him after arriving down there.
“Nn――”
“Well then――”
Rollodeen went ahead after purring, probably saying that she’d go ahead.
Next, Jody leaped into the hole with her hair ornament swaying. You could hear the screams of Aris and the small beastman from the hole.
Elza turned her black eyes at me, looking anxious. I dealt with it by answering her with a reassuring smile.
Well, she’s got no choice but to trust Rollodeen anyway.
Suddenly, Higlia energetically thrust a fist into the air nearby, “――Everyone, keep this whole matter secret!”
She wasn’t standing on a platform, but she still made such a cryptic declaration to everyone while looking as if she was giving a speech.
Right now, we’re smack down in the middle of a street. No matter how you look at it, I think it’s asking a bit too much to “keep it secret”…
There’s also the matter of Rollodeen having dug a hole as a divine beast. It feels like it’s road works. On top of that, we had the impromptu musical going as well.
So I doubt that people will keep quiet about it.
Being beyond any such doubts, Higlia smiled in satisfaction, “Alright, Shuuya, I just need to get on this, right?”
“Yep.”
Higlia appeared to be happy. Her eyes were sparkling vividly, and she was brimming with motivation. Upon my nod, she lightly skipped with her tail wagging. She landed on my <Magic Hand guided by Thought> with one foot.
For an instant, Higlia stared at Elza on the other side. Just then, she could see the eerie magic threads extending from Elza’s outlaw mask, causing her to narrow her eyes in a bad mood.
But, then she brought he face close to my side as if to sniff my scent and hugged me.
“Shuuya, you smell nice…,” she muttered.
Her mood had improved right away.
With silver-grass-like patterns surfacing in the eyes, Elza uttered, “Heh, you sure are popular…”
I didn’t answer her since it felt awkward. With Elza and Higlia hugging me, I jumped down into the hole.
『Helme, come out――』
『Okay!』
While we were falling, Helme shot out of my left eye as a liquid and instantly took on a humanoid shape mid-flight.
The crowd of shining threads extending from both her hands brightly illuminated the cave’s interior. Although we also had other light sources, her <Lapis Lazuli Flower> was quite handy.
However, Helme also used her threads to prank Higlia’s tail.
“Spirit-sama! My tail is no toy!”
Higlia turned around and protested while bowing. It looked kinda funny.
For starters, I focused on <Nightvision>, checking the cave in its entirety. The patterns on the walls were the same everywhere.
Should I release Adombrally and have him scout the area in front or back like a drone? Lisana would be unreasonable in regard to size, I guess.
Suddenly, I felt Rollodeen pushing her head against my legs. She was appealing to take off the shining leaf that was still stuck to her nose.
Aris had already been released by the tentacle, and now she was talking with Elza and checking the surrounding walls while standing next to Elza.
They were whispering.
“The path of the chalice…”
“It does resemble the Path of Alder.”
I could only hear those parts. But I could tell that Jody was pricking up her ears.
Those two girls sure have lots of secrets. Since my curiosity never runs out, I’ll befriend them more. I’d also like to try communicating with that Galassus bug.
The small beastman was looking rather pissed as he dangled in the air. His appearance reminded me of Souther, but I think their characters couldn’t be any more different.
Now then…
“Rollo, I’m removing the leaf right away.”
“Nya, nyaan.”
Rollodeen meowed with a cheerful, innocent voice, standing up on her two hind paws. And then she extended her pink tongue towards the tip of her nose. At the very same time, I reached out of the leaf as well.
However, the leaf suddenly emitted a rustling sound. As if reading Rollo’s and mine intentions, it gently floated up from Rollo’s nose tip.
Wait, does this thing have its own consciousness?
Thereupon, the leaf began to emit white and black flashes of light in alternation. A part of those flashes took the form of mistletoe. Those mistletoes started to revolve, creating a vertical, curved line in midair. Then they transformed into a rectangular frame that released black light as if to surround the remaining vertical flashes.
“This is…”
Jody looked surprised. She made her long-handled scythe manifest in her hand. While swinging that weapon, she adopted a combat stance.
“Kyuu.”
Itasha, on Jody’s shoulder, also extended silver needles, err, toothpicks, from her chest.
“Hooh…,” Elza muttered in admiration while placing a hand on the hilt of her greatsword.
She also pulled her left arm out from underneath her overcloak. The snake-like magic cloths extending from the lower part of her outlaw mask surrounded Aris.
“Whaaa…leaf-san turned into a black tree and then into a rectangle!”
Aris extended a hand, excited as usual for a small child.
“The tree before the frame went away…and now it’s a small moon-shaped wood spear? Don’t tell me, Ury…,” whispered Higlia.
It had changed its shape into a black frame, but apparently Higlia identified it as something close to a tree.
“Your Excellency, that is…” Helme was also surprised.
“Nyao~”
But, for a shining black wood frame to appear in a moonless dawn sky….the inside of that frame, with its somewhat strong metallic impression, was densely packed with vertical patterns similar to the scan lines of a TV.
As I stared at that frame, the leaf, which had been releasing the light, vanished as if being swallowed by its own flashes. The flashes then converged in the center of the frame.
Immediately afterward, bubbly shapes in pale colors began to surface within the frame. Those bubble shapes formed a mysterious, spherical film as they overlapped and mixed with the vertical patterns.
And although I thought this would be all, the change continued.
Next, the contours of a pale person appeared within the clack frame… and eventually it became an illusion of a woman made of a strange material that seemed to use darkness.
That woman was wounded all over. Initially, she wore a fairly formal, red outfit, I think. Maybe a goddess? At least I feel like her face is similar to the divine woman I saw a little earlier.
She looked similar, but her whole body was covered in such terrible wounds that it’d cause any woman to faint if they saw her wretched state. Seeing all her wounds and going by the black wood frame, I mistook this illusion for Varmina for a second there.
But my neck wound hasn’t reacted. So it’s probably not an interference by Varmina.
The Holker splinter in my chest pocket has been shaking for some time now, though it often does. I don’t think that the splinter and this illusion are connected.
The illusion in the frame appeared to be a still image. But then she suddenly started to move. The motions inside the frame that reminded one of a picture story slowly turned into an animation. It was funny because it had the feel of a pop-up book.
The blood gushing out from various parts of her body also added to the animation. But because it was a monochrome animation, the blood didn’t register as too realistic. Even so, it made her pain awfully obvious.
I wonder just how many weapons have struck this goddess’s body…and yet, her expression looked calm. It’s so serene that you wouldn’t even think that she’s ailing. A mental state similar to a full moon.
Her eyes are full of affection. She was looking at us as if kindly observing common people.
Next, a divine woman appeared, supporting the first one while staring at her with sad eyes. Unlike the first one, this woman was pretty and completely unhurt.
Oh, this woman…she resembles the illusion shown to me by the shining leaf. Maybe it was her?
The woman pointed to the cave in front. Does that mean the new woman is yet another goddess? She’s wearing a very formal dress, like the injured goddess’s, but half her body is covered by a see-through fabric, like Lisana’s.
It allowed a good look at her moderate chest. As a man, I had to react to her erect nipples that seemed like they’d shoot a beam at any moment.
My eyes met hers. They clashed. She was a goddess with enticing freckles.
At that moment, that beauty’s eyes suddenly widened in surprise. At once, she hid her breasts with a hand and swiped her arm after putting on an angry expression.
In response, crack-like effects ran through the air from her hand, and space twisted simultaneously. In the blink of an eye, a dark curtain manifested from the twisted space. No, it wasn’t dark. It contained something like a universe, including the brightness of stars.
A sparkling that seemed to be created by the stars kept appearing from within the curtain. The stars shone dazzlingly.
Is this a display of the erect nipple goddess?
At this point, it didn’t look like a picture story show anymore.
A cluster of silver leaves, which had rainbow colors with the quality of a unique mana mixed into them, formed all sorts of moon shapes before disappearing as quickly as they appeared.
Thereupon, the calm goddess suddenly smiled at the unhurt goddess.
『…Ruler of Chaos tho senses fate and has seen mine chest, and one emitting the sacred scent of Holker. Beyond this…』, she pointed ahead.
Something akin to silver dust danced down from her fingertips. Moreover, a change occurred in the walls ahead of where she was pointing. Something with a long handle and ivory-like color grew out of a wall. Was a spear buried in there?
The instant such mysterious illusion continued, 『Uooon, uooon, uooon』
A series of wild wolf roars resounded, and the two goddess illusions disappeared. Rollodeen had apparently heard the wolf sounds, too. She moved around with her ears perked up.
She was gazing at the space where the goddess illusions had vanished.
Is this also an effect of my Easing Progress of Divine Illusions? My title has power beyond this sort of effect, too.
“Nyaooon.”
The leaf had disappeared from her nose, but Rollodeen’s meow sounded somewhat lonely.
“The phenomenon just now…”
Jody had been surprised for a while now. Her cramped cheeks were twitching.
“Those were the Twin Goddesses Uraniri-sama and Uryou-sama. And the roars came from God Wolf Hurley-sama and his kin.”
Higlia’s face possessed an intensity befitting a divine princess. And as everyone paid attention to her words, a very blurry illusion of a huge silver wolf manifested behind her. Moreover, white wolves also emerged in droves in her back.
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