Chapter 149 - 150

Chapter 149 – It was a Haunted Mansion!?

We were walking down the hallway in the underground palace.

And then the trembling voice of Haines, who was walking behind us, rang in the air.

"…Ma-Master Heal…I'm surprised you can move so effortlessly here!"

"Hmm. I wonder why? Maybe it's because I spent so much time digging in empty caves… But thinking about it is starting to make me nervous…"

Everyone else talking about how scared they were was starting to make my feet feel heavy.

"Ah!"

This time it was Ashton who raised his voice.

Haines looked pale as he turned to him.

"Wh-what is it, brother!?"

"No-nothing…it was just a slime passing by."

"B-brother…you just took three years off my lifespan with that."

Even I had been alarmed.

That is, by their loud screaming…

"Re-really! You must be quiet…alriiiiight!?"

Haines turned his head back and his voice rose.

But it was just a Cave Spider who was passing by up on the ceiling.

"Phew… Haines. You are just as guilty as me."

"Shu-shut up! Never mind that. Let's keep moving!"

Haines said as he started to march forward. He was still shaking.

Of course, there was a Shield around all of us, so I was sure we'd be fine…

Huh?

"What-what is that!?"

Haines shouted.

A black mist had appeared in front of us.

The black mist then took the shape of a skull as it rushed towards us.

"AAAAAAHH! Ah!?"

Haines, and everyone else raised their voices.

However, as soon as the skull touched the Shield, it vanished.

"Wh-what was that? It was just like that Chimera from earlier…"

Like Haines said, it reminded me of the Chimera from the great hall.

The sudden appearance of weak magic, and then it vanished.

"It disappeared too…"

"I-in any case, we'll be safe as long as Master Heal is here! Hey, all of you! Let's go!"

Haines shouted.

But Ashton, Ril, and Mel did not answer.

Even Taran seemed like she was frightened.

"You can all wait outside if you want? Shiel and I will go look."

"N-no! Let's keep going!"

Haines said. And so I started walking again.

"Hey, Shiel… Isn't it strange?"

Shiel nodded at my voice.

"I feel like we're being toyed with… That's what it feels like."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

Haines asked me.

"I mean, this palace is playing with us like we are toys."

"I-I see. But who…"

"Besides, there was that shadow earlier… I'm going to try and search for some magic energy."

It was using some unusual magic.

This person must be decently powerful.

And so I searched the rooms along the hallway for traces of magic.

However, all I could detect were Cave Spiders and slimes.

And though I was curious about these slimes, they all had similar amounts of magic.

"I don't know… Wait. No, there is something different…"

As soon as I detected the energy, it disappeared.

And then it appeared again.

It was suspicious. Perhaps it was using magic to conceal itself.

"I found something suspicious. It's two doors ahead."

I said. And then we reached the door to the room where the signal was coming from.

It was just a plain, wooden door.

However, there was something abnormal behind it.

"Here we are…alright, I'm going to open it carefully."

"I-I will open it."

Haines said as he put his hand on the doorknob.

And then he opened it…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!? Oh, huh?"

Haines screamed. But then we realized that the only ones in the room were a hairy old man and a slime.

"Ma-Mappa… What are you doing here?"

I asked. Mappa scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed expression.

Then he looked at the slime. They seemed to be good friends.

Shiel approached the slime and started using gestures to communicate with it.

After a while, she turned around and made a circle with her body.

"Are you saying that this slime is the child we were looking for?"

Shiel nodded.

"I-I see… So he was conspiring with Mappa. Mappa, all this stuff you made is in rather poor taste, don't you think?"

However, Mappa did not seem to agree, and he then showed us something that looked like black cloth.

Apparently, it used a Magic Stone, and it allowed him to conceal his magic energy.

"Did Elto teach you how to do that? …I want to learn it too. But…what about that summoning magic?"

Mappa tilted his head in puzzlement.

"…What? You know, like the Chimera and skull. That wasn't you?"

Mappa shook his head.

"Then what were…"

"AHHH!? Master Heal! Right in front of you!"

Haines shrieked. And then a black mist appeared in front of us again.

This time it was in the shape of a child.

While everyone else raised their voices in horror, Shiel tapped the other slime on the head.

Then she took out the yellow Translation Stone and talked.

"Oh, stop this already… Lord Heal, this child is very gifted with magic. However, he is also known for being a prankster… I think his memories have become foggy and he wanted to play tricks on us."

"So this magic is from that slime?"

"I believe it is illusion magic. Long ago, there used to be entertainment facilities in this underground city that were called 'haunted mansions.'"

"Su-such facilities existed? And as entertainment?"

"They were enjoyed by some people. I suppose this child here was one of them."

"Well, people do enjoy different things…"

Perhaps it would be good to build such a facility once this city was actually safe.

After all, there was less space for children to play on the surface these days.

Ril and Mel had been so frightened earlier, but now they were telling each other that they had had so much fun.

Maybe it wasn't a bad idea?

However, Shiel continued in a rather unsatisfied voice.

"But children are not taught illusion magic. Though, it's possible that he learned it from the library… In any case, I will turn him back into a human and ask him about it."

"Yes, thank you… I see. The library, huh?"

I still hadn't checked to see what was below the library.

But now that the people of the empire were awake, it was probably a good time to look into that.

Perhaps we could learn magic that people from the continent didn't know about.

"Regardless, this case is finally solved!"

"Yes! I'm so glad we found him!"

Haines said happily.

Everyone looked truly relieved.

"Now, let's go back!"

"Aye! …AAAHHHH!?"

Haines turned around and screamed.

He had seen the giant face of an old man in the doorframe. It was Coppa, the Manticore. He must have come to take us back.

However, Ashton fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Br-brotherrrrrrr!!"

And so I had to treat Ashton with magic before we returned to the surface.

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Chapter 150 – Sent off!

The day after we rescued the lost slime from the underground city.

I was in the Commercial District.

"Well, we got what we came for, so I think it's time to head back."

Said Roydon the Earth Dragon, as he shouldered his large bag that was now stuffed with branches and leaves from the World Tree.

The other Earth Dragons were behind him.

They all wore satisfied expressions. It seemed like their time on the island had been very pleasant.

And we had also been able to hear some valuable opinions.

We knew that the World Tree tea was quite popular among them, and that they felt we needed more entertainment facilities in the Commercial District.

Yesterday, we had been shown some illusory magic. So perhaps creating a place where we could scare people would not be a bad idea. Of course, I myself would stay away from such a place…

Roydon suggested we should have a place where one could sing at the top of their lungs… But I wasn't confident any building could contain the voices of dragons at their loudest.

As I pondered on all of this, a red dragon came towards us, looking rather frantic. It was Elto.

"I overslept! Sorry, Roydon!"

"Young lady, are you truly coming with us?"

Elto nodded at this question.

"I'm sad that I have to leave everyone on the island, but then again, I can easily return in a day."

"Oh, well…that is true… Very well. Let's go then."

"Yes! But first, I must say goodbye to my master and the others!"

Elto turned to Rienna and me and bowed.

"Master. I am so grateful to you for rescuing me from that cave… And to everyone on this island who treated me with such warmth."

"You taught us magic and about the past. Thank you, Elto. We will do everything we can to support you."

I answered. Then I called out ten of the Golems that were standing behind me.

They were all wearing Mithril armor. They would be Elto's guards. Though, it was likely that she wouldn't need any…

"They are also carrying Teleportation Stones. I'm sure they will be useful to you."

"Thank you, Master. By the way…"

Elto had noticed that Fal the Fire Dragon was moving towards her.

Fal looked very sad.

Perhaps it was difficult seeing Elto leave, because they resembled each other so much.

And so I turned to Fal.

"Fal. Do you want to go with Elto to the Elto continent?"

And then Elto said,

"Ma-Master! But don't you need Fal to help guard this island…"

"Fal isn't the only one here who can fly. Besides, wouldn't you feel better if you had a friend from this island go with you?"

"Well, that is true…"

"And I think that Fal being on the Elto continent might help change people's perception of Fire Dragons. Perhaps it will help smooth out the difficulties between the different tribes. In any case, it's up to Fal…"

Fal listened to all of this and seemed to be thinking hard.

And then after a short moment, Fal nodded.

"I see. So you will go."

"Fal… Thank you."

Elto's voice shook as she hugged Fal tightly.

And then Fal patted Elto on the arm.

…Perhaps Fal was just going because Elto would be lonely. It was Fal's kindness.

Ril and Mel were crying as they watched Elto and Fal.

They had been present when Fal hatched, and had played with the dragon. So I understood why they were sad.

Then Rienna said,

"Elto. Please take good care of Fal… And don't hesitate to pay us a visit when you can."

"Yes. I will gladly accept that invitation. After all, we can return in a day, so Fal won't be too sad."

Fal nodded at these words and wiped away the tears.

I was sad too… But now that I thought about it, perhaps we could use the Teleportation Stones to travel in a much shorter time?

"Elto. I want you to take more of the Teleportation Stones with you. And could you place them at equal intervals on the road back to the continent?"

"Teleportation Stones… I see! We will be able to move much faster if we have them!"

"Yes, that's what I mean. But we don't have that many of them, so I want you to spread them out as far apart as the travel limit allows. It might not take you all the way there, but it could shorten the journey."

"Leave it to me. I will place each one down and test them."

"I see. Thank you."

"Yes, I won't let you down!"

Elto said. And then they said farewell to everyone on the island, before going back down the passage that led to the Elto continent.