Read Novel Full Vol 17 Chapter 15
Vol 17 Chapter 15
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Chapter 15 – The Mythical Royal Capital
After a day of traveling through the dangerous desert, we arrived at a position where we could see the mythical royal capital while trailing a horde of monsters. We wanted to charge straight into the mythical capital, but we could not charge in with a horde of monsters in tow, so we had to take countermeasures.
“We managed to get close to the mythical capital, but it’s still a bit far away.
We were able to take advantage of the gap between day and night, destroy the remaining giant worms, and finish collecting the magic stone.
Then we moved quickly and tried to get as close to the mythical royal capital as possible, but the name of the desert danger zone was no joke, and the night-adapted monsters began to move, so we had to take shelter on the Hideaway.
“Yes, but if the night-adapted monsters are on the rampage, there should be a gap around dawn. Let’s leave at that time.”
I see. Alessia-san is right; I also feel that dawn is the most comfortable time to be in the desert.
But, well, that’s similar to the time of sunset, and considering that most monsters are specialized in their own way, dawn might be our best chance.
“Understood. So… how do you plan to explore once we enter the royal capital?”
Since it is a mythical royal capital, it is almost certain that the royal capital has been destroyed. I mean, it would be more frightening if the royal capital had not been destroyed in this environment.
And if it was the royal capital, even if it was destroyed, it must be quite large. As a fake merchant and a disqualified adventurer, I had no idea how to explore the city.
“Of course, we would look at the royal palace, but we would also want to check out the guilds, churches, and a few private homes. In fact, I’d like to check out every nook and cranny of the place if possible.”
Ilma-san suddenly interrupted the conversation between Alessia-san and me. I guess she is more interested in being a researcher than an adventurer. With a face full of curiosity, she glanced in the direction of the royal capital, which had been plunged into darkness.
It would take years to satisfy Ilma-san’s intellectual curiosity.
“We can’t go into every nook and cranny, so let’s focus on the royal palace first and then the larger buildings for our exploration. Ordinary private homes, if we can afford them.”
As an adventurer, Alessia-san’s opinion is the right one. I don’t know what’s going on inside, but the expected value of the treasure is an order of magnitude different between the royal palace and a private house.
“We can’t?”
Ilma-san pleads with Alessia-san’s denial with a cute, upturned look. It’s a terrible destructive power. If it were me, I would have nodded my head without thinking twice.
“You can’t.”
While I was horrified by Ilma-san’s fearlessness, Alessia-san clearly refused Ilma-san’s request.
As expected from the leader of an A-ranked party, Girasole. Her mentality is extraordinary. Even if I could make a living with Ship Summoning, I don’t want to live in such an environment for a year or so.
“Well, let’s take a bath, eat, and then rest.”
“Huh? Aren’t we going to talk about the search procedure and so on?”
I was surprised by Alessia-san’s words because I thought we were going to talk about much more than that, although I agreed to take a good rest.
“Wataru, even though it’s the royal capital, we have no idea what’s going on inside, and in our case, we have to rely on Wataru’s Ship Summoning.”
Well, that’s true. There is no way not to use the absolute protection.
“Then all we have to do is keep going. We will certainly go to a special place, but the exploration will be the same as usual, nothing special. It’s the same in the Demon Forest and the Royal Capital of the Desert. Well, as long as we have Wataru’s Ship Summoning.”
So I’ll just summon the appropriate ship according to the situation and move on? It seems that they were a little excited about the exciting situation in the mythical royal capital.
I guess the safest thing to do is just to act as usual without doing anything special. I’m glad that they rely on me to summon the ship.
“I understand.”
“Okay, so first we need to take a bath.”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t say that we should take a bath together at this time. Of course, we took a bath together at the barbecue, so what’s the difference?
＊＊＊
Just before dawn, we were ready and set off for the royal capital with the Pal and Pal No. 2.
The desert was quiet, and there was little sign of the monsters, so we considered proceeding cautiously on foot, but it would be the same if the monsters noticed us and caused a commotion, so our strategy was to rush into the royal capital before they gathered.
Since we were getting close, we could clearly see the mythical royal capital even in the dim light of dawn.
Fortunately, there seemed to be no monsters in our way, and we were able to approach the city without being disturbed by them.
“Huh? What are we going to do with this?”
I shouted to Pal No. 2, who was running beside me, stunned by the unexpected sight of the royal capital.
As I saw, the streets of the royal capital had been eroded by sand.
It is expected that the city has been destroyed, but it is unexpected that the royal capital has been buried in sand.
No, if you think about it for a moment, it is a desert, so it should be expected to be eroded by sand, but because I could see the exotic desert royal palace, I somehow mistakenly thought that the cityscape was also safe.
In short, I think we all got carried away.
“Let’s just keep going. Our destination is the royal palace!”
“U-understood.”
Following Alessia-san’s instructions, I stepped on the accelerator. The royal palace was originally the most important destination, and since it is still the safest place, it is a natural choice.
Normally, we would be moved or sentimental by the sight of the ruined royal palace, but we plunge into the mythical palace without restraint, trampling on the silence of the palace that must have lasted for hundreds or even thousands of years with the sound of our engines.
We pass through what must have been a main street.
The buildings on either side of us are surprisingly undamaged, and the upper floors that are not covered with sand are still in good shape.
The large buildings might be easier to explore than we expected.
With carefree thoughts, I continued down the main road.
Wow, the road ahead is getting wider. Is it a plaza? Hmm?
“Marina, isn’t there a fountain in the middle of the square ahead? And it looks like water is coming out of it.”
Is it a hallucination? It’s a strange feeling to see a ruined royal capital, and although it’s supposed to be buried in sand, only the plaza has been cleared of sand, and water is gushing out energetically.
My head must have been in the heat, no, that’s not it, because the air conditioner is on me.
Ah, I see, it’s a mirage. I saw it for the first time.
“I can see it too. It’s a fountain.”
“Master, I can see it too.”
Following Marina in the passenger seat, Ines in the back seat confirmed the existence of the fountain.
At least my theory that I was the only one hallucinating was disproved. And then there was the mirage… do all mirages look the same?
I thought the theory was about the theory of refraction…
While I was pondering the theory of mirages, the Pal continued on its way without stopping, entering the plaza as usual and arriving in front of the fountain as usual.
This means that the big fountain in front of us, spewing beautiful water, is real.
“It’s somehow very suspicious.”
Alessia-san presented us with very sympathetic words from Pal No. 2, who had stopped next to Pal No. 1.
Yes, it is strange, no matter what you think.
It was a royal capital, so it is not surprising that it was a place with abundant water sources, but that does not mean that it is strange that the plaza is still maintained even after it was destroyed and that the spring that receives the gushing water does not have a single grain of sand mixed in, let alone moss.
Even if the people had survived and made it to the spring, at least one grain of sand would have gotten in. Because this is a desert.
“What should we do? Should we ignore it?”
I have a very bad feeling about it, and since we have plenty of bottled water, I think it’s okay to ignore it.
“That’s not going to work. Just wait a minute.”
Alessia-san said, starting to rummage through the pouch on her hip.
“Is this okay?”
She picked up a copper coin. She threw the coin into the fountain.
Is there a culture in this world that throws money into fountains?
As I watched the copper coin fly by, wondering at the strange resemblance, the moment the copper coin made contact with the surface of the water, the water swelled and swallowed the copper coin.
…Hey? Not water?
While I was stunned, the copper coins that were supposed to be swallowed were spit out of the water. Apparently, this fountain does not like copper coins.
“Is that a monster?”
If it is a monster… would it be a slime, given its shape? If so, it would be a super giant slime.
That means that if I could take on that giant slime, I could enjoy its soft and shiny body as much as I want.
My dreams expand.
“Is it a slime?”
Dorothea-san said with a twinkle in her eye. As expected, we think the same. But I won’t give up my tame. If it’s slime, I’ll take it. Hurray for the privilege of being an employer.
“No, the flow of magic power is completely different from that of ordinary monsters. This is… more of a magical creature, in the category of alchemy.”
The tension dropped sharply at Ilma-san’s denial, but the powerful word “alchemy” brought it back.
“Ilma. Is there really such a thing as alchemy?”
“Eh? Yes, there is. It is a rare skill, but in a big city, there are people who have it.”
Huh? Is it a skill, not a study or a systematic skill? Is this too much for me?
The tension that had risen so high dropped again.
I wanted to try some dubious experiments with various apparatuses and stir the cauldron, but apparently, it was too difficult.
Slime would have been ten thousand times better. It was disappointing.
I felt like I didn’t care anymore, so I leaned back in my seat and listened to Alessia-san and the others without interrupting them.
But that’s the thing. Normally, in such an unusual situation, I would immediately distance myself from the situation. My faith in Ship Summoning is amazing.
Heh, do magical creatures have a core just like monsters?
Huh? Is the core that should be there not in that fountain? If it is hidden and installed in the fountain, there is no problem because we can just destroy it, but if it is not in the fountain, it is very problematic, right?
It sounds pretty tricky since Ilma-san is so serious about it, but what’s the problem?
Or rather, Ilma-san has an atmosphere of anticipation that there is a high possibility that there is no core in the fountain, huh?
It seems that the exploration of the mythical royal capital is not going to end peacefully.