A ray of violet light is rising from the stone, like a wisp of smoke. I watch the sphere carefully. I invoke my appraisal skill, but nothing comes out. It is just an "ordinary stone.
It is obvious that this is no ordinary stone. This means that this stone has some kind of a mechanism to protect me from my appraisal skill. I haven't been in a situation where I can't use my appraisal skills since I appraised Shenlong-sama, as far as I remember.
Linos-sama, get away from me!
I hear Sidney's voice behind me. I jump back and move away. The light grows louder.
"......"
When I came to, I found a human being standing there. No, it looks human, but it has long ears. Unlike Siljus of Soleil, his pointy ears point to the sky. She was about 24-25 years old. She gives the impression of a slender young woman. She is dressed in deep green clothes, which seem to be wrapped with some kind of long cloth. She is standing still with her eyes closed.
"Oh ...... that ......"
When I tried to speak to her, she quickly raised her right hand and struck a pose to control me. Time passed as it was.
While I had no idea what she was going to do, her eyes slowly opened. Her eyes were green and so beautiful that I felt as if I could be absorbed into her. While I was thinking that, she slowly came closer to us.
"What?
The woman went straight to Meek and brought her face as close to us as if she was going to kiss us. Then she began to lick her face and observe Princess Meek's face. Meek himself stood there in a daze, completely undaunted.
Eventually, the elf woman left Meek and came over to me. I thought she was going to observe me at close range as she had done earlier, but she stopped moving with her eyes fixed on me. A moment of silence fell once again.
"...... is this you?"
Suddenly, I hear a voice. I see a woman in front of me, glaring at me and pointing with her right hand at the staff of Latgis.
"What? I didn't want it to be stolen, just in case ......."
"Brilliant. I can't unlock it."
"Oh, thank you for ......."
At my words, the woman nodded slowly, without changing her expression at all. Then she began to twirl her right hand, which was pointing at the wand.
"......Linos-sama, I think she is asking you to release the warding."
Behind him, Sidi mutters in a small voice. He is as insightful and dependable as ever.
"...... is fine. He is not a bad person.
With Sidhi's words, I release the warding. The woman slowly takes the staff of Latgis and looks at it intently. Then she gives a small nod, turns on her heel, and walks to the purple-glowing stone. She glances at us, and then disappears like a mist.
"...... she's gone."
"......It's like he's asking you to follow him."
"......You know exactly what I'm talking about, Sidie."
"...... somehow."
"No, it sounded that way to me too."
"What? What do you mean?"
Meek, too, says he understands the behavior of the woman who just spoke. She says that although she cannot hear the words, she can somehow understand what the woman is thinking and what she wants to say.
"If you look at their faces and facial expressions, you can tell what they are thinking and what they are trying to say," she said.
Meek says this without a word. I turn to Sidie, who nods in agreement with Meek.
"Wow. You're like a top-notch actor. You're like a top-notch actor...you can convey your feelings without using words. ....... I wonder if you've lived long enough to be able to do that?"
"Is it really that difficult? I can figure out what even Linos-sama is thinking, can't I?"
I'm impressed, and Sidney says something like that to me.
"I'm hungry, I'm tired, I want to take a bath as soon as possible, I want to go to bed as soon as ...... possible. By the way, now you want to go back to your house as soon as possible, don't you? I want to be back by dinner if possible. And you want to make out with Mei at night, don't you?"
"Hey! Huh? That ...... is not ...... true, yo. What, what are they saying?
Princess Meek gave me a nasty look as I panicked. Am I simple? I didn't think Sadie could read my mind that accurately. No, let me assure you, I don't always have erotic thoughts in my mind. I just happened to be hoping to get home soon.
I cough, trying hard to calm myself down, and turn to Sadie.
"Well, let's get going."
At my words, both of them nodded their heads with a wry smile.
"......?"
I couldn't help but make a crazy noise. I remember that I was near the stone, but my memory lapsed for a moment and I found myself in a dark cave-like place. Even though it was a cave ......, it was not pitch black, but faintly bright. Is it the luminescence of moss? A beautiful faint emerald green light was leading me to the end of the cave.
"Ouch!
Suddenly, a shock hits my body and I let out an involuntary yelp. I look over and see Sadie clinging to my arm. Meek was standing next to him with a stunned look on his face.
"Where's ......?"
Sidi is looking around with a curious expression on his face.
"Maybe it's this way."
Suddenly, Princess Meek starts talking like that. She turns her back on us and walks off into the darkness, completely blind.
"Wait, Meek! Watch out! ...... that?"
I cast a light spell to light up the area around me, but the light didn't appear. While I was wondering, Meek appeared out of the darkness and opened his mouth with an expression of dismay on his face.
"Can't you tell by the atmosphere? There is no magic here."
"So ...... it is."
"And the exit is that way. It feels that way, doesn't it?"
"So ...... that's it?"
I look at Sadie. Princess Meek walks off into the darkness without a care in the world.
"You're a real ...... pain in the ass, aren't you?"
Meek mutters annoyingly. She is walking with me by her hand. I'm holding Sadie's hand as we walk. It's too dark to see at all.
The cave is a very difficult place to walk because of the rocks and other obstacles. I fell down many times and asked Meek for help each time. She was so fed up with me that she took my hand and started walking.
By the way, the wards I put on myself are working fine. If not for this, my legs would have been badly scratched by now. As I guessed, I can't activate magic in this cave, but the magic I cast before entering the cave doesn't seem to be affected. I don't really understand this specification, but as long as that's the case, there's nothing we can do about it.
"It looks like we are almost at the exit.
Checking our footsteps one step at a time, we heard Meek's voice. We could not see anything ahead, but it seemed that we were almost at the exit.
Suddenly, Meek stopped moving. She remains motionless, staring into the darkness. After a moment of silence, she turns back to us.
"I don't think she can do it. You have the power. Open this door.
I reached out to where she pointed and touched something hard. It seemed to be the exit door. I slowly push on the wall.
"...... is hard."
"What are you doing?"
"What? That's why I'm trying to open the door.
"What are you pushing for? What are you pulling for?"
"......, say it quickly!"
I look for something that could be a handle. Then I found a small but hollow-like place. I hook my finger there and pull it slowly.
...... Our surroundings gradually become brighter and brighter, and soon we are surrounded by a blinding light.