Chapter 92 – Chapter 92 ― Decision (3)
Episode 92 ― Decision (3)
As soon as we entered the cave a few meters, there was a strong smell of excrement. The sound of footsteps disappeared from her already light body.
“… Black bear.”
After examining the footprints and the shape of the excrement, Lauca stepped further in. Deep, downward sloping cave.
They continued walking inward, downward.
Two small energies and one large energies are caught by ‘detection’ from afar.
Roan hesitated.
The cave was narrow enough to reach with an outstretched arm, so Fiora could not be taken out.
So all Roan could do to Lauca was to warn him.
“Be careful. There are several deep inside.”
“Huh.”
Magical power began to gather in Lauca’s hands.
It didn’t emit light, but Roan felt a shimmering power. A long, pointed shape like a spear. It was meant to be taken down as soon as something jumped out.
I could feel the mana being sucked into the wall, but the power that Lauca gave me was enough to surpass him.
And the shaking felt on the ground around the time the shape was visible with the naked eye.
Lauca, unable to throw her spear, suddenly burst into a flash.
“… !”
Roan, who was concentrating on looking forward even with his eyes narrowed, shouted like a thunderbolt.
“Aina! Witchcraft!”
The narrow cave that two people could pass through quickly became a mess.
Lauca fired a flash of light and at the same time shot a magic spear at the center of the shaking.
If it was the usual cave bear hunting, it would have been a success.
But it wasn’t a bear inside.
A ‘cave worm’, a worm-shaped beast that hunts small beasts or wild beasts while moving in and out of caves or mines and mimicking the hard stone floor.
Cleverly, the Witchbeast held the two bear cubs hostage and was waiting for the mother bear.
Almost at the same time that Lauca fired the spear and the Cave Worm rushed towards Lauca.
However, for worms that live on the ground or underground, flashes of light mean nothing.
Inside the cave, which was much wider than the passageway, the cave worm threw the two bear cubs it was holding onto the wall and rushed at it.
Despite turning quickly, Lauca’s magic spear hit the Cave Worm’s side.
Feeling the pain, the Cave Worm let out a silent vibration of rage.
The narrow cave walls rumbled and shook.
After the roar, the Cave Worm’s teeth rushed towards Lauca.
The body of a cave worm is large enough to fill a narrow cave. With no place to evade, Lauca hesitated for a brief moment.
For an instant, it was Roan who pulled her body. He lowered her body, holding her by the shoulders.
The cave worm’s jaw narrowly missed the two of them. Lauca frowned deeply between her brows and gathered her mana again in the meantime.
“Shit!!”
What was instantly fired from the forest fairy’s hand was an explosive sphere.
Even just passing by, the forest fairy’s agility was enough to push the orb into the cave worm’s mouth.
But very unfortunately
Explosion magic is not suitable for use in an enclosed space.
The cave shook with a loud explosion.
“… !”
Lauca couldn’t even scream as she watched piles of dirt and stones pour down. At that moment, Roan gritted his teeth and lifted one of her arms.
Spread out around his arm,
A semicircle of a cluster of stars that emits a soft light.
The ‘star cloud shield’ was deployed.
Through months of not-so-short training, the shield has become much larger than it was at first.
A group of star clouds surrounded the two of them like a semicircular igloo.
Roan crouched down, holding Lauca tightly, with her head bowed. More precisely, there was no time to raise her head.
I could feel the tremendous pressure pouring down and bouncing through the shield.
The ‘star cloud shield’ was translucent, so he could have seen through it, but Roan didn’t dare to do that.
How long has it been since I was just concentrating on it and not being able to think about anything? Finally, the pouring stones and soil stopped moving.
“… Aina.”
Roan called out the name of the forest fairy in a small voice and carefully raised her head and looked over the shield.
No movement is felt anymore.
Unexpectedly, there was a space with a radius of about 3 to 4 meters. The chiseled grain of the cave walls collapsed on both sides like pillars, supporting the ceiling.
What Roan had received with his shield was the rest of the broken pieces of stone and rocks.
The space above Roan’s shield was empty, and a wide stone pillar above it protected the space they were in, like a tent.
I was lucky.
I could only say that.
“… Your majesty. I am… Are you okay.”
Roan slowly released his shield. Lauka, who was buried under him, looked around.
“… It’s luck.”
“Hmm.”
“Is your majesty okay?”
“Okay.”
Lauca wiped her dust-covered face once. Her expression revealed fear.
“… How long will this pillar last…”
“It will be fine. If I don’t come back, the search will begin soon.”
Roan looked at the gap between the pillars.
The sun was there until just before he entered the cave.
Even though it was dark because there was no light because it was a forest, I wondered if it could be a clue to escape if I found out if there was a gap leading to the outside.
However, he could not detect it with the naked eye.
When Lauca calms down a bit, she will find her gap once again and let’s shoot at least some magic.
Roan gathered his thoughts and sat down on the floor.
Seeing Roan’s movements, Lauca also sat down beside him. It was a movement that seemed to have lost its energy all at once.
“… Sorry.”
After a while, the word that Lauca brought out was an apology. As if to say something, Roan turned to her.
“Don’t make an accident like this.”
“It was a narrow space, and it was a place where even I could not take out my sword. You made the necessary response.”
“But an explosion is stupid.”
“If you’re familiar with explosive magic, it can’t be helped.”
Roan tried to somehow lessen Lauca’s self-blame. Unclear whether it was her success or her failure, Lauca shut her mouth again.
Just in case, Roan used ‘detection’ again, but ‘detection’ was different from a bat’s ultrasound.
It is sensitive to the signs of moving creatures, but it was impossible to grasp the structure of the cave.
If there are even bugs, they might figure out a way out, but it’s midwinter now. There are no living creatures.
When Roan looked at the corpse of a bear cub from among the stones and wondered if it could be used instead of food, Lauca said.
“This is why I was kicked out.”
“Hmm?”
“There was no stupid forest fairy who used explosive magic.”
“… Ah.”
Thinking about it, I understand.
Forest fairies are a race that protects the forest, including the dark forest. It mainly uses water and wind magic.
To minimize damage to the forest.
“Isn’t elemental magic related to fire usually not taught?”
“Huh. I also learned from humans.”
“Why… ?”
“I thought it would be okay not to live as a forest fairy anymore.”
Roan frowned slightly.
“… Did you decide to live with humans at all?”
“Huh. For a while.”
After saying that, Lauca looked around. She started a small spark as she picked up some fallen twigs on the floor of the cave and collected them.
Smoke began to rise.
It was a collection of small branches and leaves, so we couldn’t expect the warmth of the fire, but it was enough to grasp the flow of the wind.
Lauca looked in the direction the smoke was clearing.
“It looks like there is a hole open to the outside.”
Roan focused and looked in that direction, raising her eyes.
It was difficult to determine the shape or size of the hole because there was not enough light.
“How about shooting magic over there?”
“Ah, there is a way. I think it will be fine as I still have enough magic power.”
Lauca raised a small light orb. The light, which floated along the smoke, continued to float towards the narrow ceiling, which was quite high, well over 4 to 5 meters.
The orb, which had squeezed through the gap for nearly 10 meters, disappeared.
“Maybe not as deep as I thought.”
“That’s right. It would be impossible for us to dig up the stone from the inside, but… We’ll keep the lights on so someone outside can spot us. It might be easier to spot at night.”
Lauca spoke in her bright voice and anchored her light orb to the ceiling of the cave.
Thanks to this, the inside of the cave was dimly lit.
Perhaps she felt a little better, Lauca laughed self-deprecatingly and confessed her feelings.
“In the end, because she was able to do explosive magic like that, she was kicked out while being rejected as a demon. I myself thought of giving up the normal life of a forest fairy.”
Lauca pulled on her cloak as if she was starting to get a bit chilly.
“Even so, coming here brings back a lot of old memories. Why do I still miss them?”
“… It’s natural to miss your family. Aina.”
At Roan’s words, Lauca widened her eyes.
Because it’s not like a demon.
“How can you easily break your heart from people you have been attached to since childhood?”
“… Unexpected.”
“I have people like that too.”
“To Your Majesty?”
Lauca looked at Roan with a surprised expression.
Roan’s voice sounded a little lonely. He was thinking of his family in reality.
“Hmm… It’s useless or… Even those who hate me.”
A light could be seen in Roan’s eyelashes as he closed his eyes slightly.
Even if it wasn’t, the long eyelashes looked even longer because of the shadows, making the vague expression dramatic. Lauca was staring blankly at his face as if she were lost.
“When something difficult happens, I think of it without even realizing it. When you are sick or when you are lonely. What can I do That’s what people are.”
Roan’s smile was a bit bitter.
“It is a creature that cannot live on its own. I think so.”
“… Me too, a forest fairy?”
“If it’s a creature that feels nostalgia, wouldn’t it be like that?”
Roan looked at the fading flames.
“After all, you have to be with someone.”
“…”
Lauca was chewing on Roan’s words with a complicated expression.
A forest fairy wanders the forest alone all her life.
If he had a companion, he would travel to the forests of the continent together, but Lauca didn’t have the opportunity to do that.
Eventually, he
She couldn’t bear the solitude she had to accept if she were a forest fairy.
Is it already a disqualification as a forest fairy?
Rauca looked at the ceiling of the cave anxiously as she recalled the question.
The fire subsided, and Roan once again applied the warming magic by stacking ‘Star’s Blessing’.
It was the last warming magic that could be operated with Roan’s magical power. Magical power continued to be sucked into the crystal and was decreasing, and in the case of Roan, who didn’t have much magic, it was already showing the bottom.
Fortunately, the decisions in this mine did not affect the Holy Power.
However, there are only three magics that can be performed with holy power. ‘Starlight’, ‘Star’s Blessing’, and ‘Star Cloud Shield’.
Knowing this, she should have learned a lot from Helen. Don’t forget to go back
“Aina. Are you okay?”
Feeling a bit sad, Roan asked Lauca, who was visibly more haggard than the first time.
“What is the state of your magic?”
“I can still last about half of it.”
Lauca’s voice seemed to pretend to be confident.
After being trapped in the cave, more than 20 hours passed.
Anxiety crept into Roan’s heart.
Before coming to the forest, I informed the West Blood Lord of the location of this place.
If the emperor does not return after 20 hours,
It’s time to start the search right away.
However, even with lights and starlights on, it is hard to feel the presence of people.
‘What is going on?’
There might even be a collision with the forest fairy.
But if it’s the West Blood Spirit Lord’s personality, he’ll come here even if he goes to war with them.
‘There must be a reason. They will come soon.’
“Now… What time is it?”
“About 20 hours have passed. It is morning now.”
“… How do you know?”
“I’ll just let you know.”
I can’t say that the long quest clock keeps running. Lauca laughed.
“Your Majesty has many secrets.”
“Because he is the emperor.”
“It’s been almost a day…”
Lauca’s voice faded.
She was the one who saved her words to hide her anxiety.
“… I don’t know day or night…”
She swallowed her words.
Her word she couldn’t get enough of was ‘I’m afraid’.
Roan felt her fear fully by ‘listening’. So he wanted to cheer her up somehow.
Roan cast ‘Starlight’ on himself with ‘Star’s Blessing’ on him.
A warmer and brighter light than usual rose from Roan’s hand and headed towards Lauca.
Lauca smiled as she took his light into her hand. It was the first smile she saw after being trapped here.
“Your Majesty’s magic is really beautiful.”
Lauca sat on her knees and stared at the ‘starlight’ she held up with her hands.
“Warm and kind. Like divine magic.”
Lauca’s pupils suddenly widened as she gazed at her starlight.
“… Uh?”
Seeing Lauca’s expression, Roan looked around her and immediately noticed what surprised her.
“… This.”
At least one worry was relieved.
She didn’t seem to have to worry about not finding the crystal or not being able to pry it out.
