Chapter 7

“Klaus-sama! Are you okay? You’re okay, right!?”

I rushed towards Klaus in spite of myself .

I could finally see the face of Klaus who until now I could only see the back of, I was relieved from the bottom of my heart .

I guessed I was also relieved since I met a familiar face .

Gradually, the harsh expression on Klaus’ face disappeared .

“Aah, I have no problem . You are the one who is alone……You, what’s with that appearance?”

Uh, he got right to the point .

First of all, I thought about putting emphasis on practicality, and more than that I was in a hurry .

Regarding my coordination, it was quite appropriate .

“I borrowed the clothes of Edward-oniisama, thinking that you are in the ruins, because I couldn’t come to a place like this wearing a dress . ”

“Oh, that sort of thing……you, you suit this appearance better . ”

“Oh, it is a great honor to be praised by you . ”

Well, it was still impossible for me to wear a luxurious dress after all!

I thought that Erica’s face suits it well enough .

Was the femininity of my soul insufficient as expected?

No, it was good enough that practical clothing suits me .

Let’s feel good .

“I’m glad I found you, this is the most dangerous place in Aurelia territory, you know?”

“I’m aware of that, I just didn’t expect to waste my magical power to such extent by searching this ruins for such a short time . ”

Klaus had a hard face .

It was a dark and scary place, so I certainly felt like I was getting frustrated—

Had I had any difficulty in spending magic so far?

“Klaus-sama, what do you mean by that?”

“Erica, you, didn’t you notice it when you come to this place?”

“Not at all . ”

“……You’re dense . ”

“It couldn’t be helped because Western human beings are different from Eastern human beings . ”

A dense place with a good sense, that was the virtue of the human beings from Aurelia territory .

I might not have noticed it because my efforts and talent weren’t enough, though .

“The magical effect that absorbs magical power is working on this ruins, even the activation of lower tier magic took a heavy burden since a little while ago . ”

“Is there such a trap put on somewhere? Can you find out something if you use Glam Sight?”

“I already identified things that seem to be the starting point of the trap . But the spell to solve it doesn’t seem to be effective . I don’t know what kind of trap is this . ”

“Surely, metals and jewels that impede magic are physically embedded . ”

I heard that there were metals with such effects in Lucanrant .

Depending on the combination of minerals that I didn’t know, the same effect might be invoked, not only limited to the northern metals .

“It seems that wide area magic is blocked, and magic with effective range of 5 m or more in radius has failed . ”

“That said, I heard from my older brother that there is a trap that has been launched, but I don’t know the effect . ”

“Got it . ”

Although we from Aurelia didn’t mind the effect, people from Harvan seemed to be pretty incompatible with it .

Ruins of Visitor were like the culmination of the lost techniques of Aurelia of the West .

Unexpectedly, these missing technologies might be said to be ‘abandoned’ by choice because of problems, rather than being ‘lost’ .

Like a trap that obstructed the magical power that was not friendly to outsiders, for example .

“Because of that……I’d like you to see this for a moment . ”

Klaus spread a parchment .

There were large rectangular outline and the name of the god of wind was written in twelve directions so as to surround it .

It was the most commonly used template in this world’s maps .

But, except for the frame and several lines of Harvan’s magic language, it was almost blank, and things that seemed like maps were not drawn .

“I tried to use Auto-mapping and put spell cards along the route . However, thanks to the troublesome trap, even if I casted the spell it wouldn’t react at all . ”

“Oh, so it is a spell for that . ”

“If I knew a little sooner that Auto-mapping would be invalidated, I wouldn’t search so deeply . ”

Klaus shrugged his shoulders .

When the talk finished, I asked what I really concerned about .

“Well, Klaus-sama . Where is Ann-sama?”

“Wha—! Why are you talking about Ann now?”

Klaus’ body jumped in alarm .

Huh, this guy, didn’t he feel like a small animal?

“In order to follow Klaus-sama, I was using Urd Sight . Then I could see Ann-sama as well as Klaus-sama……”

“I have not brought my sister here . ”

“It seemed that she was pursuing Klaus-sama . ”

“But, I’m certain that I had put my sister to sleep with a sleeping magic……, no way, that girl, did she use a reinforced Magic Resist in anticipation of me getting out?”

In his own way, he devised a plan to make sure his sister didn’t come to this dangerous place .

I thought that he was cold to Ann, but he was a good older brother .

However, it seemed that his sister was one step ahead of him .

The young Ann was also an excellent mage like Klaus .

So, as a result of her insight and effort, she successfully Resist her brother’s magic .

This, Klaus’ secret affair was backfiring, wasn’t it?

The more he said that she couldn’t come, the more he hid it, the more she would be worried about it .

They were a curious pair of brother and sister .

“I didn’t see my sister on the way so far, it seems that she followed another road somewhere . ”

In the middle of devoting myself pursuing Klaus’ back, I neglected to confirm Ann’s whereabouts .

It was also because I was reluctant in using the expensive Wand of Urd Sight .

Perhaps it should have been used more finely .

“Would you like to trace our way back again, Klaus-sama? Let’s go find your younger sister on our way back . ”

“……That’s right . Apparently, I’m not prepared enough to get around these ruins . ”

Klaus glanced at my appearance and said that .

His gaze moved steadily to my alchemist’s leather gloves, to my leather bag that was overflowing with wands, and to my boots that seemed to be durable on the floor .

“If I’m not cautious like you, it is likely to lose my way in the ruins . ”

I was feeling a bit relieved at being obediently heard .

I couldn’t beat him if he said, ‘I will definitely not turn back!’

“If you decide so, let’s search for Ann-sama immediately . ”

“Ah . ”

“If we couldn’t find a way to find Ann-sama, we’ll go back to Spring Palace at once . ”

“Ah, this maze is too much for children to navigate alone . ”

“Speaking of maze, please dispel the Phantasmal Maze in Spring Palace . ”

I had to ask him not to forget about it .

It was no wonder that many maids were distressed at this time .

“Mmm, you noticed it, didn’t you?”

“If I didn’t notice, I wouldn’t bother to pick you up like this . ”

“I thought that you are much more enthusiastic in searching this ruins, so that is not really the case?”

“It’s not!”

It would be troublesome if it was misunderstood .

I had not come to explore like Klaus . I came to stop Klaus from exploring .

I didn’t even know if my father or Duke of Harvan would get angry at me, alright?

“While tracing our way back, let’s use Urd Sight at each branch . So we can see where Ann got deviated . ”

“Is it a Wand of Urd Sight? Will you also let me use it? I have been using Glam Sight until you joined, it seems that it will take time to recover my magical power because of that . ”

“I see . It might be more efficient for both of us to use Urd Sight rather than just me . ”

Eastern magic cut not only mental power but also physical strength .

No matter how much a genius Klaus was, he was still a 10-years-old boy .

The Ruins of Visitor had an intense magical power obstruction, and he had been using Glam Sight since the start .

Or rather, I admired that his magical power had been kept well until now .

Then, I was concerned about the amount of magic that was charged into the Wand of Urd Sight .

I had already consumed about 60 charges before finding Klaus .

The leftover was about 40 charges .

The Wand of Urd Sight was a wand created from ash tree1 .

The top of the wand was a yellow tourmaline, while the handle part was given a pattern that was weaved in gold .

It was the core material that was distinctive .

Silk weave of 10 meters in length stitched with gold and silver threads .

It was compressed into several millimeters by space magic, it was lightweight and used as a core .

Then, it was necessary to replace the core material when recharging the magic inside a wand .

What was my point?

In other words, this magic was incredibly expensive .

(Edward-oniisama, I’m sorry……!!)

While apologizing in my mind, I opened my bag for the second Wand of Urd Sight .

I wondered how many wands would I use overnight .

I was afraid of thinking about that for a moment .

1 Ash is a type of tree . In this story, it refers to Fraxinus japonica, or Japanese ash .