As soon as you arrive at the residence of the great-grandmother, the big gate in front of you opens silently. No matter when I arrive, this gate opens automatically. Wondering what kind of a mechanism it was, I entered the gate and found a familiar lady waiting for me. She then leads us to the grandmother's room.
"I've missed ...... the magic circle."
When I tell her this, she stares at me. Her tail is wagging, and she seems to be in a good mood. But why is she silent? I wait for her next words without taking my eyes off of her.
"...... master, master."
Gon pokes me on my back. Apparently, he wants me to bring him a souvenir as soon as possible. I cough and pull out a souvenir from the endless storage.
"...... With all due respect, I have brought you another tribute today. This time, I made a new one, Kinako Mochi (soybean flour cake). I hope you like it. ......"
"Huh? Hohoho, soybean flour rice cake is ...... not bitter. I'm not in pain.
My eyes are completely focused on one point. He seems to be concerned about the contents of the huge box placed in front of him. Apparently, he was worried about what was going to happen this time, since he usually took out a souvenir as soon as he entered the room. I bring the box with the kinako mochi (soybean flour cake) to her side and open the lid.
"Oh, what a ...... first time I've seen it!
The princess's eyes light up. It's just a rice cake sprinkled with soybean flour mixed with sugar, but it's actually a little something I'm proud of. I used rice cakes from Doki's store and researched the perfect combination of soybean flour and sugar to create a very elegant taste. I am sure you will like it.
"By the way, don't you have any ...... red bean paste?"
Don't worry. We have brought it. I brought o-hagi again. I also brought sponge cakes and a cake my wife made.
"Mm-hmm, no hard feelings. You are a very thoughtful man. Now, since you're my concubine, you should be this considerate too! You came empty-handed. ......"
The princess is happy to see him, but she is mumbling to Gon. He, too, is flattered by this.
"Well, magic circle and spatial magic. Well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well. If there is anything he doesn't understand, I will teach you. He should be in the other wing. I'll tell him about you and the others, so you can go there and ask him.
You won't tell me? I was about to rush into the room, but after thinking it over, I realized that she probably wanted to eat the kinako mochi as soon as possible. I understand her feelings and leave the room. While I was looking for the annex where Sandille was said to be, I heard a strange voice coming from inside the room.
"Mwahhh.... Yum! Yum! Here, Chie! What's that hand? I won't do it! I won't do it! Left branch! Don't eat my cake without permission! No! Mek!"
With a wry smile on my face, I walk down the hallway that leads to the other wing. After a while, I saw a large building at the end of the corridor. It seems that Sandille is there. I slowly opened the shoji in front of me, and there was Sandille, sitting neatly on the edge of the room, but dozing with a cocked head. Well, what should I do? I felt sorry to wake him up, when his eyes suddenly opened and met mine.
"Oh, hi. ......"
"You're a crook! Meet me!"
"Hey, hey, hey!"
I try desperately to make myself known to him.
"...... Oh, I'm surprised to see you out of the blue. ...... So, what can I do for you?"
...... look extremely annoyed. As you can guess, it seems that we have not been able to coordinate information from Ohihi-sama at all. Well, that was somehow expected. I tell Sandille about the conversation I had with the princess. Then he folded his arms and thought about it, saying, "Umm.......
"No, what is spatial magic and magic circle? Magic circle is a nostalgic word. But I don't understand it. You don't even teach me about spatial magic yourself, and you ask me to do it for you. ....... If it's spatial magic, you should know more about it than I do. Because I cannot use spatial magic, but you have level 4 skill. Why should I ......?
I guess they wanted to eat their souvenirs as soon as possible. ...... I was convinced alone and asked Sandille to get my mind back on track.
I understand. I'll ask your highness about spatial magic, but could you tell me about magic circle?
The skill of magic circle was destroyed long ago. No, it had many uses, but drawing the patterns is quite complicated. If you make a mistake even in one place, the magic circle will not work. That is why so few people tried to acquire the skill, and as a result it died out.
"What effect did the magic circle have?"
The main effects are transference, summoning, and warding. However, in addition to the complicated and difficult magic circle, summoning requires a huge amount of magic power. Transference works if there is the same magic circle at the source and the destination. Warding protects those who are inside the magic circle. Either way, it is not very useful.
"I see, so this summoning, for example, using my magic power, what kind of person can you summon?"
"Mmmm......I have never heard of anyone as powerful as you in all ages. I cannot tell you exactly what to do. ....... It is possible that you will summon a great calamity that will harm this world. But now that pattern has perished. Until recently ......, say 200 years ago, the elves used the magic circle. But I wonder what they are doing now. ......"
"Elves? Elves, you know, the long-eared ones? Do they say they live somewhere deep in the woods?"
"Deep in the forest? What are you talking about? Elves, of course, live on top of mountains."
Sandille's eyes are wide open. Did I say something so crazy? That's basically the way it was in the romanized version I called it, but apparently it's different in this world.
"Master, the elves are the ones who live in the Filcon Mountains, which are said to be the highest mountains in the world. It is said to be a world closed to the ice, and the environment is so harsh that it is impossible to even approach them.
"Why are you living in such a harsh place again?"
The elves cut off all communication with the lower world about 700 years ago. They sought refuge in the mountains for the pure air and water. I do not know the details, but I noticed that one day, all the villages of the elves in the world disappeared without a trace. I was very surprised at that time.
Sandille nodded nostalgically as she crossed her arms.
"So, why are you so obsessed with this ancient skill called magic circle?
Sandille-sama, the other day there was an incident in Miedai where four magic sucking stones, a prill stone, and a user of spatial magic were kidnapped. The culprit may have drawn a magic circle with a black stick and stole the stones. And he also took the spatial magic user with him. ....... Some call this a world crisis. ......"
"What! Why didn't you say that earlier? I can't let this happen."
Sandille stood up quickly. When I asked him what was going on, his eyes widened and he opened his mouth loudly.
"You said you drew a magic circle with a black stick! It was indeed the treasure of the elves, the staff of Latgis. It is a staff that can create a magic circle with little magic power. I heard it was stolen 500 years ago, but I never thought I'd hear its name here! I must report this to my great-grandmother. I'll leave you for a moment."
With these words, Sandille left the room at a quick pace. Just as well, we should follow him and ask him to tell us about the magic circle and spatial magic. I looked at Gon, got up and followed Sandille. .......