Chapter 87: The Floating Sanctuary (2)
After meeting Yuto, Perin returned to the village in the evening.
She was carrying a water bottle filled with water.
She was late because she had been playing with Yuto, and she got scolded for it.
But she was prepared for that, so it wasn’t too hard to endure the nagging.
Besides that, Perin had a lot of things to tell the fairies.
It was about her encounter with Yuto today.
She couldn’t summon spirits with the mark, but there was no problem playing with the spirits that were already summoned.
Perin wanted to tell the villagers about that fact, so she waited until the nagging was over.
After the nagging went on for a while, Perin went to find Rendel.
“Hello, Rendel!”
“Perin. What’s up?”
Rendel was the elder of the village who took care of the fairies who had lost their families.
He was also one of the few fairies that Perin could talk to easily in this village.
Rendel was reading a book when he looked at her.
Perin organized what she wanted to say to him.
Her adventure today was interesting and exciting even in her own opinion.
She wanted to tell Rendel everything that happened without leaving anything out.
“Rendel! I met a new spirit this time! There was a spirit who didn’t run away from me.”
“You met a spirit?”
“Yes! I was a bit late because of that…”
Rendel frowned as he listened to Perin’s story.
Did he say something he shouldn’t have?
Perin stopped talking and looked at Rendel’s expression.
Seeing her like that, Rendel took off his glasses and put them on the desk.
He turned his chair to face Perin and asked her.
“Perin. Where did you meet the spirit?”
“I met him at the spring where I went to fetch water.”
“The spring… So you were the only one who saw him and not the others.”
“I went late to get water and that’s when Yuto came to me.”
Rendel’s eyes moved to the mark on Perin’s hand as he heard Yuto’s name.
He stared intently at the mark engraved on Perin’s hand.
Perin felt embarrassed by his gaze and unconsciously covered the mark with her hand.
When Perin hid the mark, Rendel continued to question her.
“Yuto. Is that the name of the spirit?”
“Yes. It’s the name I gave him.”
“What does Yuto look like?”
“He’s a huge pile of soil. If I had to guess his size, um… He’s about as big as a small island.”
The Yuto that Perin met was only big enough to fill up a fairy.
Perin gestured with her hand to show Yuto’s size, and Rendel’s eyes sparkled.
Was it because he heard about the spirit?
Rendel seemed more interested in Perin’s story than usual today.
A vague sense of unease crept into Perin’s chest as she faced Rendel.
Rendel measured the size that Perin gestured with his hand, and compared it to himself.
He looked at Perin with an ambiguous expression and said.
“That’s pretty small for a spirit. He must have a weak grip.”
“…”
“What other features does he have?”
“Yuto can fly very well. He’s also very fast…”
“A spirit of earth that can fly?”
Rendel’s expression changed drastically as he heard that Yuto could fly.
This time, he smiled brightly at Perin.
Perin felt uneasy by his creepy smile and instinctively stepped back a few steps.
But Rendel got up from his seat and grabbed Perin’s arm.
Perin was caught by both arms by Rendel in an instant and pleaded with him in pain.
“Re, Rendel… It hurts if you hold me so hard!”
“Sorry. But Perin, who else did you tell this story to?”
“I only told you so far…”
Perin had come to see Rendel right after she was scolded.
She was late to fetch water because she was playing with Yuto, so she had no time to talk to the other fairies.
This was the first time she mentioned Yuto to anyone.
Rendel listened to Perin’s story and turned his head to look out the window.
He checked the surroundings for a moment, then looked at Perin and warned her.
“Don’t tell anyone else about this today.”
“Why not?”
“If they find out that you have a mark and you’re friends with a spirit, they might try to threaten the spirit.”
It sounded unbelievable, but Perin had no choice but to nod at Rendel.
Rendel’s reaction was not good.
She wanted to sneak away and meet Yuto quietly, but she had to get out of here and go home first.
She couldn’t refuse Rendel’s words outright.
“Okay, I understand.”
“Tomorrow we’ll go to the spring together and check out the spirit you met.”
“…Okay.”
“Then go back for today. And be careful what you say about the spirit on your way back.”
That was the end of Rendel’s words.
Perin said goodbye to Rendel and left the building.
She still felt uneasy in her heart.
She wondered if she might lose Yuto to the other fairies if she made a mistake.
She decided to go to the spring early in the morning and walked home.
***
There is a border line in the north of Centrius that leads to the royal territory.
Around that border line, there are information dealers who sell various information about the empire.
They were pushed out of the system and could not handle information within it.
They were not as detailed as the first-class ones who sold information in the system, but they knew a lot about various information of the empire.
Evan, who wore a hood to hide his face, stopped in front of a building with Eutenia.
It was where the information dealer he was looking for was located.
“This is the place I told you about.”
“The building is quite big.”
“It’s safer to hide something in a crowded place.”
The shop that Evan visited looked like an ordinary tavern from the outside.
It was a place that the Allemier family, who couldn’t enter the center, sometimes used.
Evan grabbed the door of the tavern and opened it wide.
Creak.
As soon as Evan opened the door and entered the building, he saw men who were already drinking beer heavily.
Evan passed by the men who were tilting their glasses and headed to the counter of the tavern.
There was a man who was wiping a glass with a blank expression on his face.
“What can I do for you?”
The man who was wiping the glass asked Evan and Eutenia as they approached.
Evan put his hand that was not wearing a gauntlet into his pocket.
Clang.
A silver coin came out of Evan’s pocket and landed on the counter.
It was the cost to enter the space where they sold information.
Evan handed it to the man in front of him and said.
“I want to rent a room.”
“What kind of room do you want?”
“I want a big and fancy room. It would be inconvenient to have a shabby room with a mage accompanying me.”
“You can go to the third room.”
The man handed Evan a key.
It was the key to enter the space where the information dealer was.
Evan took the key and nodded, then went up the stairs that led to the upper floor.
Squeak. Squeak.
Every time Evan stepped on the wooden stairs, an unpleasant friction sound echoed around.
Eutenia, who was following behind Evan, looked at the key in his hand and asked.
“They seem more careful than I thought.”
“It’s a fairly reliable place.”
“I hope he knows a lot of things.”
Evan nodded at Eutenia’s words.
He had to stay with her until this journey was over.
He also hoped that the information dealer he was going to meet knew a lot of things.
That was why he chose this shop.
This shop was the place where Evan compromised as much as possible without excluding the system.
“If it’s the third room, it should be here.”
Evan reached the second floor and headed to the third room from the left.
The squeaking sound did not stop even when he reached the second floor.
He frowned at the noise that irritated his ears and inserted the key he got from the counter into the keyhole.
Clank.
When he turned the key all the way, the lock was released with a crisp metal sound.
Evan opened the door that was unlocked and looked at the empty room.
“It seems like no one is here. Is this the right place?”
“We need to close the door first.”
“Okay.”
Eutenia, who entered the room with Evan, closed the door.
Darkness fell on the windowless room as the door closed.
At the same time, a small hole appeared on the right wall of the room they entered.
There was an information dealer who was smoking a cigarette with a lantern on in the small gap between the walls.
He looked at Eutenia and Evan with a bored expression as he smoked.
Rattle.
Evan dragged a chair and placed it in front of the information dealer.
He sat down facing him and said.
“I came to buy some information.”
“What kind of information do you want?”
“Information about the system or the mages around here…”
Tap. Tap.
The information dealer pointed at the wall between them with his finger as he heard Evan’s words.
Evan frowned at his attitude.
He was interrupting Evan’s words before he even started talking.
Evan glared at the information dealer who was tapping the wall with his finger.
“What are you doing?”
“If you want to talk about that, I’ll have to take a gold coin first.”
Clank.
As Evan tried to move his gauntlet, Eutenia grabbed his shoulder and shook her head.
She then handed him a gold coin.
Huff.
Evan sighed and handed the gold coin to the information dealer.
The information dealer smiled and put it in his pocket.
“I’m glad you’re smart. Those things are all high-class information, you know.”
He praised Eutenia for stopping Evan.
Evan looked at the information dealer who was eyeing his pocket and then turned to Eutenia.
He asked her in a relaxed tone.
“Eutenia. How much longer do we have to wait?”
“It’s done now.”
“So the barrier is finally ready.”
Evan got up from his seat as he heard Eutenia’s words.
It was the time he had been waiting for.
This mission required him to change his target several times depending on the situation.
He had no intention of solving it quietly from the start.
The information dealer looked puzzled by the conversation between Evan and Eutenia.
“What are you talking about…”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Crack.
Evan’s fist broke the wall between the rooms and created a space.
In an instant, Evan smashed the wall and reached for the information dealer’s head with his gauntlet.
The information dealer, who was caught off guard by the surprise attack, widened his eyes and looked at Evan.
Fear rose in his trembling eyes.
Evan slowly told him his purpose.
“I’ll ask you once. I’m looking for a mage. A mage who is skilled in alchemy but not in combat. Is there anyone like that around here?”
“L-let go of me! You can’t get away with this…”
“——Astraphe.”
Zap.
A lightning bolt erupted from Evan’s hand.
It was the Astraphe he was wearing that emitted a weak current.
The information dealer screamed in pain as the blue current ran through his body.
“Aaaahhh…!”
“——Astraphe.”
Zap. Zzzz.
Evan unleashed another bolt of Astraphe.
The information dealer’s scream shook the room again.
But no one came to this place despite his loud cries.
It was thanks to Eutenia, who had set up a high-level soundproof barrier around them.
Eutenia’s barrier not only blocked the walls, but also the vibrations that could spread through the floor.
“Ugh, ugh…”
The information dealer’s body convulsed from the direct hit of Astraphe.
Evan had lowered the output and used the shock, so the information dealer did not faint.
But Evan’s gauntlet that was holding the information dealer’s head was still intact.
The information dealer looked at the other side of the gauntlet with half-opened eyes.
Evan, who was holding the twisting information dealer, asked him the same question again.
“This is the second time. Is there a mage who is good at alchemy around here? Preferably someone who is quiet.”
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