Upon hearing the word Holy Mana, Katy happily started examining the relic. With no other Japanese writings left and Selica being there, Hikaru went back down together with Lavia and Paula. He needed some time to organize his thoughts.
The radio station was built to broadcast to a large number of people. A lot of people helped with the construction of this place. But these ruins were “discovered” at a later point. So what happened to the people here? Is removing something from history that easy?
The first question was the mystery behind the radio station and the missing part of history.
There’s the holy mana, too. Was the use of holy mana common in the past?
The second question was what exactly is holy mana.
If they knew about radio, they would have to be at most just a little over a hundred years old. There weren’t any old characters on the wall. But this place was built centuries ago. That means the timeline is off.
The third question—which he already had an answer for—was the difference in the flow of time between Earth and this world. Not a lot of time passed between Hikaru and Selica’s travel to this world, yet the latter arrived here a year ago.
「Hikaru.」Lavia called.「I know you agreed to help Professor Katy. But was it all right to tell the Zuburan Count as well?」
「It’s best if this country is in order. I just thought rather than letting strife remain, we should be more generous. Also, I’m curious about the relics my fellow countryman left behind.」
What should he do in this world? Coming up with something was one of Hikaru’s goals as well.
「If I offer my help, they’ll bring documents to me. I won’t have to do anything. If I read those, I’ll find out what he was trying to do.」
After arriving at another world, alone all of a sudden, what could they do? What would they do? Hikaru saw himself in the man.
「Hikaru.」Lavia held his hand tightly.「I’m right by your side.」
「I know. Thanks.」
It might’ve been Lavia’s way of making him feel he wasn’t alone. After all, she knew Hikaru came from a different world.
「I-I’m here too, Hikaru-sama!」
「Yeah. Thanks.」
「Wha?!」
Paula was taken aback, not expecting Hikaru to actually thank her.
「D-D-D-D-Don’t mention!」she said, blushing as she took a few steps back.
「All right. There’s a lot less stuff than I expected. I suppose it makes sense, since they already took most of the items here.」
Katy continued her examination. Hikaru didn’t have anything to do now. He’d just let Selica handle things.
Hikaru surveyed surroundings. A string of low-lying mountains streched along in a line. Below them was a coniferous forest, and in the distance they could see the town of Catford.
「Hikaru. Is this, uhh, radio thing pointed towards Catford?」
「That’s what I thought at first, but the dishes seem to be pointing somewhere else. No, wait. Judging by the dish’s shape, maybe it’s a receiver.」
「Hmm?」
「I think you use metal antenna to transmit radio waves… Hmm, not so sure. Based on where the dishes are pointed…」
Hikaru peered at the direction the dishes were pointed, to a valley located between cliffs.
The valley again…
It caught his attention on the way here as well.
「Let’s check the valley out.」
Hikaru started walking, holding Lavia’s hand, and Paula followed them.
「Might I ask where you’re headed?」a guard asked.
「We just want to take a look around the valley.」Hikaru replied.
「There’s nothing there.」he said.「This whole area’s been examined already. There should be a sign there. Beyond that, the ground is a bit loose so be careful.」
The guard wasn’t there to stop them. They walked down a gentle slope to the valley, quite some distance away from the tower.
Oh, there really is a sign here. A signboard was fastened on a dull golden rod that had rings around it. The fact that the rod and the signboard were of different make bothered Hikaru.
『Loose Ground Up Ahead』
As he was studying the writing, Hikaru noticed something.
「I think this rod was here from the start.」he said.
「What do you mean?」
「Which means…」
Hikaru examined the sign to find that it was only tied to the rod with a string. It was most likely the guards’ doing. Wrapped around the rod were rings, fifteen centimeters in diameter, evenly spaced. A metal lump sat on top which showed traces of being snapped.
「I think this rod is part of the roof…」
Hikaru had seen this shape before. A sorin. A vertical shaft made of metal, which topped a five-storey pagoda or a temple.
The rod before him didn’t look like the right form, perhaps because whoever made this only had his memories to work with. In other words, it was made by the Japanese person who lived here before.
「Did you say a part of the roof? But it’s buried underground.」
「That’s exactly it.」It came to him.「The building itself is buried underneath.」
Hikaru hesitated whether or not to tell Katy about this right away. Given that it was only a theory, he decided to look around some more first.
Something’s buried here… If it was done on purpose, then it makes sense that the ground is loose.
Hikaru resumed his trek down to the valley. He took a detour around the steep slope and cliffs, and eventually found a sloping path. It got darker as he went down, and his ears caught the sound of water. Light couldn’t reach the bottom of the valley. A few newt-like monsters appeared, but after Lavia roasted one with her magic, the rest scampered away.
「The path is well-trodden. Looks like that guard was right. People have been here countless times.」
「Why would they come here often?」Paula asked.
「Probably patrolling. They protect the ruins not only from humans, but monsters as well. They’re probably checking the bottom of the valley too and killing monsters they find.」
「I see.」
「That means we can safely check the place out.」
The bottom of the valley was only about ten meters wide, with a small stream flowing through. Hikaru could hear the gentle flow of the water in places.
「I think that signboard was somewhere around here. Be careful, you two. Footing’s not so good.」
It appeared that the soldiers hadn’t actually walked the bottom of the valley. It was hard to walk properly with all the stones scattered about. Hikaru didn’t know what was up ahead. He simply followed his Instinct and got all the way here, but hunches could be wrong sometimes.
They had walked down the stream for five minutes. Hikaru lent his hand to Lavia as she was about to fall over, and his feet dipped deeper this time, wetting his shoes. He glanced around and found nothing.
「I guess that guard was right.」
「That there’s nothing here?」
「Yeah. All right, let’s head back.」
「Hikaru-sama, there’s a slimy lizard-like monster over there.」
Paula spotted a friend of the monster that Lavia roasted earlier. Clinging to a slope, it scurried away as soon as it saw them.
「What?」Hikaru couldn’t believe his eyes. The newt just vanished.「I-It disappeared? How? Oh!」He quickly activated his Mana Detection.「I see a cave!」
It appeared to be a plain, steep slope. One could call it a cliff, even. Anyway, there was nothing out of the ordinary, at least at first glance. But his Mana Detection clearly picked up a blue curtain covering the cliff.
「Lavia, is there magic that can hide caves?」
「Yes. Even magic items.」
「All right. Wait here a bit. I’ll check it out first.」
Hikaru left the girls and approached the blue screen alone. Before him was an ordinary steep slope. But when he stretched out his arm, it went in easily. Steeling himself, he took a step forward and made it in.
「Hikaru?!」
「Hikaru-sama disappeared!」
「It’s fine. I just entered the cave.」
Light streamed from outside the cave, illuminating the cave somewhat. Hikaru could see Lavia and Paula scurrying towards him.
The three entered the cave. The cave seemed to go deeper, the path clearly leading to the place where the signboard was placed.
「Whoa… So there’s a cave down here.」Lavia said.「It’s like being in an adventure story, and we just found a treasure.」
「This is a great discovery!」Paula exclaimed.「We might actually find treasure in here!」
「What now, Hikaru?」
Hikaru smiled.「I’ll tell Katy about this, of course. But not until after we take a quick look around. Let’s just call it a special right of the first discoverer.」
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