The Witch and the Doll Swear

The witch's narration came to an end for now.

A few minutes ago, the attendant of the airship was running around in the cabin, announcing to the passengers in each cabin that the airship was about to stop at a city on the voyage, and ten minutes later, after a slight shaking, the magic guide The highest achievement of engineering has stayed in the airport smoothly.

"Is half of the voyage already over..."

The name of the city is Falon, and it is located in a small kingdom that Tina has never heard of. It is the economic center of the kingdom and has a considerable scale.

Looking down from the airport, the canal divides the urban area into one-third and two-thirds in a straight line. , the old dilapidated houses seem to be a deformed tumor hanging on the city across the river.

It's a slum there.

As Tina thought about it, she couldn't help but think about how the people she was familiar with in Yansha City, the refurbished old city, were doing now.

It's not that she's homesick...it doesn't seem to be able to say that, because the story Liliana told about her efforts to return to her family when she was still young and powerless really aroused Tingna's thoughts of missing her hometown.

Maybe I'm really not suitable for traveling? Less than half a year has passed since leaving Yansha City...

The girl turned her head, feeling the touch of the wooden railing on the deck with sculptures of sirens and mermaids on her cheeks, and the profile of Miss Witch came into her pupils.

Holding Alice in her arms who was pretending to be an ordinary doll because there were other people on the deck, she looked like a graceful and luxurious little lady. Because the black dragon's blood had not been assimilated for a long time, her brown skin made people look People who saw her wondered where the petite girl wrapped in a fur coat came from.

"...It should be said that it will take a while to pass halfway, but..."

Liliana, who came to the deck with the girl, did not pay attention to the city and the slums. Maybe she has been here before, or it is such a uniformly planned, neat city without local characteristics, which is really uninteresting. , after the witch just glanced at it plainly, she turned her gaze to the distant sky.

"It's just that this trip may be delayed for a while... It's really troublesome..."

In her arms, Alice whispered.

The direction is west by south. Starting from the city of a thousand towers, they are heading towards the west and south of the mainland. The first destination is Olympion, which is located in the northwest of the mainland, but it is west of the city of a thousand towers. A small kingdom in the south, as Ai's mentor, Liliana is going there to break the marriage contract imposed on her by her parents for Ai.

After completing this, the next destination is the edge of the Great Sand Sea, known as Sinai, the oldest country of mankind.

The letters of the two emperors of the ancient magic empire pointed there. In that pyramid, the kingdom of desert and oasis, there might be clues related to Liliana and Alice.

Liliana and Alice's plan is to arrive at Olympian within a day, and then spend a few days to dissolve Ai's engagement peacefully and without causing any trouble in an aristocratic manner, and then immediately go to Sinai, but looking at it now , this plan will inevitably be postponed.

Far away from the city, at the end of the hilly horizon, heavy lead clouds are rolling over the skyline, like a stormy cloud wave.

Tina had seen such a scene on the grassland.

The roaring sea of ​​clouds was followed by a snowstorm that lasted for several days.

"A blizzard is coming, it's really unlucky, I chose a day with good weather to set off."

"Siva, I don't know how long this snowstorm will last."

"What are astrologers doing? I have an important contract to sign!"

"Continue to live on the airship during the blizzard, dear?"

"No, no, I asked the captain just now, and he said that he would arrange for the passengers to stay in the city, and their company would bear half of the accommodation costs. The hotel they chose was not bad. After all, this is the famous Saifeiya Airlines in mainland China. , rich and powerful."

Other passengers on the deck were also discussing.

Soon, the waiters and guards of the airship also appeared on the deck, maintaining order and began to guide the passengers to leave the airship.

"Miss Liliana, shall we go too?"

"...Why not, even I can't let this airship fly safely in the snowstorm, although the voyage will be longer...but there will be longer time to tell about my past, Miss Tina You'd be happy instead, wouldn't you?"

The witch holding the puppet stretched out a hand and grabbed Tina's clothes. Tina lowered her head, and Liliana just raised her head to look at her.

Even if it was a bright day, when she saw those eyes, Tingna always felt that she had fallen into the quiet night sky.

It looked like a noble girl who was afraid of being born and held on to her companion tightly, but Tingna knew that the meaning of this action was probably to worry about getting lost in the crowd accidentally.

Well, it's me, right?

"Even though you said that..."

Recently, Liliana seemed to have more expressions in front of her.

After being pressed on the heartbeat switch, Tingna turned her face away in some embarrassment.

"Then, let's go with them."

"……Um."

Keeping up with the footsteps of the waiters and security guards, took the prepared carriage to a mid-range hotel in the city, as if it was a matter of course, after the captain of the airship emphasized several times that they would not reimburse the expenses that were too expensive, Liliana still asked for the most expensive suite in the entire hotel.

“…give the best effort and enjoy the best things.”

For Liliana, this seems to be normal. Anyway, no matter what status she is, she is very rich, and one gold coin is a little more—as an accommodation fee, it is still a lot of money in this city, but for For Miss Witch, such expenses are natural.

The only thing that made Liliana dissatisfied was that the design of the best suite in this hotel was not tasteful, it just piled up luxury things in one brain, quite like a nouveau riche.

But the extravagant chairs and sofa beds have their own reasons for luxury. Although they look like an upstart, it is undeniable that these expensive things are still comfortable enough.

Even Ting Na somewhat agrees with Liliana's sentence, "It's too puzzling to enjoy the touch of these high-grade furs and flannels through a layer of clothing."

But as soon as this idea came up, Miss Witch seemed to notice it.

"Want to try it?"

Liliana said so

Alice also joked with a smile, "Tingna will also be conquered by Lily's ideas." In this way, the girl quickly dismissed this idea.

Either way, naturism is too embarrassing.

But it seems that the frank meeting is unavoidable. If you want to talk about why...

"...Do you want to take a shower together?"

Liliana had such an invitation.

No matter how you think about it, it's impossible to refuse, and it's normal for Naoken to take a bath together with girls who have a good relationship. They also take a bath together every day when they cross the prairie.

But today... Tina was a little distressed.

"Um, um, Miss Liliana and Miss Alice, please go to the bathroom first, that... I have to deal with it, um..."

"……Um."

Miss Witch looked at the girl whose arms and legs were clamped tightly, nodded, took off the fur coat and walked towards the bathroom.

After Liliana walked into the bathroom, Tingna sighed softly, took out the hair trimming tool from the space storage ring, and walked into the bathroom.

She is a very ordinary, ordinary girl without any characteristics.

Of course, it is also very common to have normal hair on certain parts of the body.

That's right, it's very common, and it's not something that would bother a girl in the first place, but...

However, after looking at Liliana's smooth and young body every day, Tingna felt that her aesthetics in this aspect had also been biased to the better side of being naked.

In addition, if those hairs fall off and stick to Liliana when they take a bath together in the hot spring...

"There will be an inexplicable sense of guilt... like tarnishing some flawless treasure..."

Sui Sui Sui Sui Nian.

The girl who was about to put foam on her armpits in the bathroom felt like she was committing a crime while talking.

"That's also the effect of Lily's [Magic Charm]."

"...Miss Alice, please don't scare me suddenly..."

Tingna turned around resentfully, looking at the little puppet floating behind her with a gentle smile, it took a long time to adjust her stopped breathing.

"Alice recommends using this instead of a blade."

However, Alice didn't seem to have any intention of introspection at all. The little doll took out a glass vial from her plump valley and handed it to Tina.

"With repeated use for four to five days, a semi-permanent hairless band can be formed. In this way, Miss Tina doesn't have to worry about letting Lily see it~~~"

"Ah, thanks, thank you..."

After thinking about it, Tina, who didn't intend to complain, took the bottle of plaster with a blushing face, and watched Alice smile and float towards the bathroom—as expected, nothing can escape the eyes of the Witch and the Doll. come out.

"Ah, let's talk."

Just when Alice floated to the door of the bathroom, the little doll suddenly turned around, nodded its luscious lips, and smiled mysteriously at Tina.

"Lily also really prefers the kind that is just like her, without any obvious body hair."

"..."

——Sure enough, nothing can escape, nah.

Tingna stared blankly at Alice who disappeared into the mist in the bathroom, as well as the heart-pounding, coffee-colored figure in the warm mist with the fragrance of lavender.

"..."

The girl raised her arm to her eyes, and after looking at it carefully for a while.

"...I hope Miss Alice has more..."

Gritting her teeth, Tina took off her clothes.

……………………………………………………………………………………

"...Naked."

"Naked~~~~"

"Please, please don't make fun of me, Alice, Miss Liliana!"

It took a lot of time to apply this ointment on everything except the scalp and eyebrows, and it took a lot of time to rinse off the ointment in the secondary bathroom.

Looking at the hair flowing into the sewer along the water on the floor, which was part of her own hair a moment ago, Ting Na couldn't help worrying about "whether it will block the water outlet".

——It's really embarrassing.

Tina didn't know why she was so shy, but when finally, when she stepped into the tub in the master bathroom, an eerie sense of shame that all cover was stripped made her cover her body with her arms.

"Y-also please don't stare at it, it's just that there is nothing good-looking about the ordinary body, the places that should be thin are not thin enough, and the places that should be big are not big enough..."

"...but naked."

"Miss Liliana!"

The witch ignored the girl's embarrassment with her usual calm expression. She calmly got up from the bath, went to a blue water bed next to it like a wriggling glue block, and put some bottles at hand.

"……come over."

"That...Miss Liliana, this is going to..."

"Some skin care products, to maintain the skin, shrink pores, lock moisture, and remove excess cutin...Miss Tingna has just used that ointment, so she must take good care of it."

"Well, I can do it myself...and it's so expensive! These are all high-end categories of famous brands in mainland China!"

"... That's why I was asked to come here... Miss Ting Na dare not use her own words, and she may not be able to use them well. These things can't just be rubbed on her body."

"Hmm..."

The small pile of bottles was lined up, as if a barrier called money had been opened around Liliana, making Tingna, who was a nobleman in name but a commoner in essence, dare not approach at all.

In the end, it was Liliana who seemed to be a little impatient in waiting, and pulled her over, pressing her on the gel water bed that also had a massage function.

Then……

"Wait! Wait a minute! Miss Liliana?!"

"...?"

"Isn't it '...?' Ah! Before you do this, don't remove the three words 'use your body' in the middle when you said 'Let me come'!"

"……dislike?"

"It's not that I don't like it, but, but... yes, yes, has Miss Liliana done this to Ai?"

Incoherent.

But if anyone can keep calm in such a situation, Tina would really like to see him.

Although it is the skin and body temperature that I am used to, but I rubbed it on my back in such a slippery way, and said it was applying skin care products——

No matter how you think about it, there is a problem!

"...No, generally speaking, apprentices are the ones who should serve mentors."

Liliana stopped smearing, and Liliana, who was sitting on Tina's back, tilted her head, not understanding why she suddenly mentioned her new apprentice.

"Yes, is that so... I'm a little happy... Ah, that's right!"

The girl, who was a little happy to hear the unexpected answer, soon realized that she had to divert her attention.

Whether it's your own or Liliana's.

Otherwise... I'm still not mentally prepared, really!

"Speaking of which, after that—did something happen to Miss Liliana and Alice on the way to the flame altar? Or did they arrive at the altar safely without saying anything?"

"...After that..."

"Alice remembers that nothing happened. If you have to say something, you must understand how Lily was brought into the ruins of [Sith], because during the drift, we were in a dark enchantment that had completely failed. I saw a large group of human-faced bats in the ruins."

"Human-faced bat... ah, the one who captured Miss Liliana into the [Sith]..."

"...That's right, it's also a common monster in Maja Tower and the abyss below. At the beginning, all magicians didn't know where these monsters came from. They speculated that they were summoned by the tower's defense mechanism to randomly summon monsters. , they were not wiped out, and built a nest in the abyss below, but in fact, the source of those human-faced bats is [Sith].”

Liliana nodded.

Not only that, but the number observed with the naked eye is extremely large, so the competition within the species will also be fierce.

This can explain why the human-faced bat that captured her didn't bite immediately and didn't bring her back to the lair. In all likelihood, it was intended to be used as a food reserve.

And the reason why I came here is also because the lairs of these monsters are here.

"Those human-faced bats also came to attack Lily and Alice, but compared to the shadow beasts, these bats are much easier to deal with. Lily used [Siwa's Frost Scepter] to condense a barrage of ice bombs from the river water, They can't even get close to the river."

"...But the consumption of magic power is relatively high, because the water in the river is high-salt seawater with a relatively low freezing point... After drifting for a thousand or two kilometers, these monsters stopped following, and after that..."

Leaning down and pressing her body tightly against the girl's back, Liliana moved slowly, applying the skin care lotion on her body evenly on the girl's back, recalling and continuing to talk.

After that, controlled flow into the tributaries of the channel, through ruins and remains of varying state of preservation, at the end.

When passing through the dark curtain, the firelight almost burned the girl's eyes.

"In the beginning, the world was dark. Although there was sky and earth, there was no light and no vitality. In the chaotic twilight, only the eternal dragon watched over the barren land..."

Eyes accustomed to the slightly dark world under the moonlight suddenly saw the scorching fire, and Liliana couldn't help covering her eyes, but the myth of the sect of eternal fire emerged in her mind.

Until one day, the first fire fell from the sky. The fire was a gift from the Creator Mother. It fell from the starry sky above, bringing light and warmth as well as darkness and cold to the earth. During the fall, the fire One-third of the sky stays in the eastern sky, and since then there has been dawn and dusk, day and night, and people call it Saigon in awe.

The remaining flames fell on the earth, clearing away the chaotic twilight. The fire burned for ten days and ten nights. Even the eternal dragon retreated and dared not set foot. The continent was burned, but in the ashes, there remained The seed of life.

And the flame, the first flame, after completing its mission, the last embers burn through the earth, and in the depths of the earth, burn out an ocean of lava that will never be extinguished. The Passover, the age of life and pastoralism begins.

Slowly, the girl's glasses got used to the fiery red light leaking between her fingers, she moved her hands away from her eyes,

The dazzling illusion has disappeared, but the shock is far from gone. The girl's dark pupils are staring at the lava lake sinking into the earth, staring at the black iron totem pole standing in the tumbling red magma—— The sculptures of eagles and humans cast on it came to life under the firelight.

flame.

Although I don't know why I can't feel the scorching wind beside this lava lake, but the tumbling thing is undoubtedly a flame.

Liliana whispered the stories she knew.

That is the belief of flame, the myth of the first fire coming. In the far north, in the belief of ice and fire, fire is the eternal fire. Since ancient times, flames have been a symbol of purification and power, so even now that the Holy Church rules the continent, this belief has never faded.

The doctrine of the eternal fire warns believers that when they die, their souls will fall into the sea of ​​lava under the earth, where there are temples of black iron, where the embers of the first fire burn forever, and they will be burned away by the embers of their sins. Thoughts, regrets, sorrow, pain and despair will be burned away, and finally will be transformed into the Holy Spirit, becoming a part of Saigon above the sky, protecting the earth with warmth and light.

The scene in front of me was just like what was said in the teaching.

Liliana didn't have any special beliefs, but in front of this miraculous and magnificent scene, she still couldn't help but feel a desire to worship.

"Although the whole article is wrong except for the part of Chuhuo, but it really fits the occasion, huh..."

"...Is this here? The altar of flames..."

"The altar is just a statement marked on the design drawing. The altar of the earth where Miss Liliana met the doll is more like an opera house than an altar, isn't it? But this..."

This building is indeed an altar.

There is a square building in the center of the lava surrounded by black iron totem poles, which is also made of black metal that is not afraid of lava. On the ten steps, four columns divide five round arches. From a distance, In the center of the hall of the altar, a cluster of bright flames, different from the light of lava, flickered.

Since it is an altar of flames, it should be built on top of flames.

"Miss Doll, can you feel which part of your body is stored here?"

"No...the distance is too far, but what is certain is that there are many alchemy items related to fire, including the scroll of [Inner Flame]... Does Miss Liliana know this magic?"

Shake your head, shake your head.

Liliana's knowledge in the field of ancient language magic can only be said to be superior to those students who almost don't care about this aspect, mind flame... She has no idea what kind of magic it is.

"Your heart will eventually ignite a fire-this is the famous magic of the spiritual school, which can stimulate spiritual power and ignite a fire in the soul. It can be used as a courage spell to inspire people, and a cowardice spell to make people lose their fighting spirit. It can directly cause burns to the enemy's mind in battle, and it is especially effective when fighting against spirit bodies. With that, all the spirit bodies on Miss Liliana can be wiped out."

This little puppet is always extra excited when sharing knowledge.

"...But there is a problem..."

"what is it then?"

Because she knew that she could solve those souls lurking in her body, Liliana showed a relieved expression on her face, but soon.

This expression was replaced by another worry.

"...how are we going to get there?"

Standing on the high embankment, overlooking the lava and the black iron palace in the middle of the scorching fluid, Liliana was silent and sighed again.

In front of the opera house, there is still a [Shinto] for people to walk, even though it is a road to hell.

But here, on this lake of lava, there is nothing.

There are no roads, no bridges, and black iron totem poles are scattered in all directions, rising and falling, and there is no path that can lead there.

"...Ah, about this... it should be flying over..."

"……fly?"

"Because the magicians who can be selected here can all fly...Although flying is indeed a very difficult magic..."

The doll also seemed to have suddenly thought of this, and asked Liliana.

"Can Miss Liliana fly?"

"...people can't fly."

Got an answer right away.

[People can't fly. 】

This is the unchanging truth of the mainland for generations.

Even with the development of magic, the research of magic that makes people fly in the sky, and the creation of floating cities, human beings have never been residents of the sky. Flying magic has always been known to be extremely difficult, let alone Liliana is just an apprentice , Even if she becomes an official magician, the girl does not have the confidence to learn it.

"Is there no other way but the sky?"

"At least, it's not on the design drawing in the puppet's mind."

"...Can I use the [Ability to Seek the Truth] again?"

"It's [Power of Investigating the Truth] Oh, um, of course it can, the function of the doll is to be used by people."

After correcting the girl's little slip of the tongue, the doll softly sang the same ballad it had sung in the opera house.

On the blue gemstone, the crest of the ten-pointed star lit up.

But Liliana saw nothing.

There is no magic circle, no glow of magic power, there are quite a few gathering points of magic power at the bottom of the lava lake, but the distribution is extremely irregular, not like man-made magic settings, if you want to say, it is more like some natural condensed Gems of magic power or elements, such as lava crystals, are dangerous gems that can easily become unstable after being injected with magic power...

Even standing in the magma, there is no sign of magic on the black metal totem pole, only the blue magic luster can be seen from a distance on the square altar, but it is too far away, because there is always Staring at the books with relatively small text at night, Liliana, who is a little short-sighted, couldn't see the structure of the magic clearly.

Obviously, there are no seagulls, sparrows or other birds passing by here. Give yourself the opportunity to use the [Eye of Birds and Beasts], and even the human-faced bats can't see it.

"...I have been thinking, why is such a powerful [Ability to Seek the Truth] put in a store as an ordinary sapphire..."

The light of the decagram disappeared.

Liliana stared at the blue gem on her chest, and couldn't help asking the doll.

"... This ability to directly see through the composition and structure of magic is what every magician dreams of."

"Although I say so... But these are the eyes of the doll, a part of the doll. Although the name contains the word power, the essence of this ability is a [function] of the doll."

Compared to Liliana's confusion, the puppet didn't care.

"If there is no puppet, this function cannot be used. Without a puppet, it is really just an ordinary sapphire. According to the data, the puppet has many replaceable parts that are scattered and stored in Majege Tower. Do some It is inconvenient to make adjustments in the [Sith] world, after all, this is a small world that is artificially fixed by individuals, and some laws are not stable enough, so don’t be surprised if you find other parts of the doll outside, okay?”

"... Then we have to find a way to go back outside..."

"That's right..."

What can be judged so far is that this lava lake is not maintained by magic. Even those totem poles stand in the magma relying on the high melting point of the material itself. Although there is no heat and no highly toxic rock steam rising, these two points must be a masterpiece of magic. , but the magic that caused this part of the phenomenon probably lies in the altar, it is too far away to see clearly...

The above is the information that can be roughly deduced through the [Power of Investigating the Truth], and the conclusion is that it is of no use.

As the puppet said before, not all traps and traps can be broken through knowledge.

Even if you know it, you can't do anything about it. If you want to say it, it's more normal.

"...The result is the same as before Shinto..."

"I'm really sorry, I can't help..."

A small bonfire was set up beside the rock, and the girl who roasted the dry food until soft and ate it with clear water was at a loss for this sea of ​​lava.

The mysterious magic trap I was worried about did not appear, and what lay in front of me was the natural landscape, which was insurmountable.

"... Is there really no other way than flying over..."

"...Dolls don't think there are any. All the residents here can fly, so they didn't consider how the people who can't fly will arrive. Such a situation."

"...What if someone is in a bad condition and cannot fly but wants to come here for urgent matters..."

"Probably ask a colleague to go instead of me."

"..."

"Hey, Miss Liliana, is there really nothing you can do?"

"...No, there are actually things I want to say, but..."

"only?"

"...Miss Puppet, do you know the coordinates of the Wind Elemental Plane—the Peak of the Storm Without Breath? Can you use the elemental door to release a very strong wind? It's directional, the kind that can blow people away."

"...The puppet thinks this is unrealistic, the element door...there was also such magic in the empire period. If I remember correctly, there is no way to move with the caster's movement...and it is too dangerous."

The puppet stared blankly at the expressionless girl. If she had a neck, she really wanted to shake her head desperately to show that the plan was too messy.

Although there is indeed a terrifying storm that can blow people thousands of meters away in one breath on the top of the mountain where the never-ending storm is blowing, even if it is supported by a magic shield, it may not be able to survive the tyrannical atmosphere .

But Liliana shook her head.

"...I don't need such a dangerous wind... I can use Feather Fall, which can make me as light as a feather, so the wind speed only needs to be strong enough to bring me to the lava lake before my spell slots are exhausted." Central will do."

"……Eh?"

Liliana looked at the puppet making a surprised sound in disbelief, slightly frowned and beautiful eyebrows.

"An old saying...isn't there such a usage in the period of the magic empire? Use the feather fall technique with strong wind to achieve the effect of gliding."

"Well... maybe there will be, but no one has written this usage in the doll's data, so the doll has no idea. But... Well, although the magic system is no longer the same, the effect of the same name magic is still similar, In this case...indeed, it might be feasible..."

"...However, experiments and verification are needed. After all, if it falls..."

But there is no chance to come back.

Liliana shook her head.

Use feather fall to lighten your body, and then use the wind to literally float like a feather across this lava lake-maybe this is the only way under the current situation, but calm down and think about it, such crazy It's far more inconceivable that the action can be said by oneself than that the puppet doesn't even know the most common application of Feather Fall.

Anyway, the experiment started.

First of all, the principle of [Feather Fall] is to reprogram [law and reason] on the caster's body, so that the weight of the person becomes like a feather within a certain period of time—or a leaf, or a scarf, depending on when the spell is cast. The casting material used - generally light.

After becoming lighter, the speed of descent will also slow down, but the path of movement is still downward after all, which means that if you don't want to fall into the magma and be reduced to ashes, the position of the element door that blows the gale must be below, In order to float far enough, the door needs to be opened at a suitable angle.

"...The wind at the top of the breathless storm will reduce the concentration of elements due to environmental factors after it comes to this world, the airflow will quickly escape, and the wind speed will rapidly decay in a short distance. In addition, the quality will become lighter Finally, the influence of air resistance becomes larger, without a strong push, the speed of lateral translation will become very slow until negligible."

"We must not wait until that time to open the next door. If we are too close to the lava lake, there may be no chance of recovery if something happens."

"...The biggest problem is still my spell slots. Even if I use all [Elemental Gate], I can only use it ten times. In the horizontal wind direction, I can be blown away in the feather fall state... um... Is it such a distance?"

"Adjust different angles to test. The maximum distance from the starting point to the end point will increase a lot, but it is more than 100 meters. This is already the limit. If you increase the wind speed, the wind blowing is likely to mix into the Dangerous vacuum blades that can cause damage."

"...What if you change wind into water? If it is a substantial substance..."

"Although that is also a method, the water column bursting out under high pressure is the prototype of many lethal magics such as [Sword of the Sea King] and [Abyss Breath]. The lethality of water that is much larger than air at the same speed is very big."

"makes sense……"

"In addition to this, there is a matter of timing...Miss Liliana can't cast magic instantly, right? If it doesn't happen in time..."

"There is also the consumption of magic power. Even if I use all the magic scrolls for Feather Fall, I can only open up to ten elemental doors... Well, this is not a problem. There are still many magic potions, and I still have the most critical one." The backhand of the situation... The problem is my mental state..."

"Then there are possible accidents..."

Facing the opposite direction to the lava lake, the puppet and Liliana kept trying how to increase as much as possible each time they used the [Elemental Door] to make themselves float farther, and practiced to open the door accurately when it fell to a certain level. Blow yourself up again.

After spending a lot of time on calculations and experiments, Liliana carried out a rehearsal with Alice who also had the Feather Fall technique added. In the only case of 0 mistakes, the distance traveled after using up ten spell slots . as a result.

"...Basically, it is longer than the radius of the lake."

"There is a possibility of success, but..."

"The question is whether it can be so perfect in practical application."

Beside the campfire, Liliana, who had gotten used to the hard rocky ground and the pillows piled up with her own arms, rubbed her aching head.

"My sense of distance in three-dimensional space is not strong..."

Unexpectedly, it was completely hit by my father here.

Now I am still an apprentice, and there are only so many spell slots every day, even if I use up all the magic power, I may not be able to use up all of it, and the process of drinking the magic power potion to recover will bring pressure to the spirit, but will reduce the efficiency.

Restricted by the composition of the original scriptures, the maximum diameter of the door that can be opened by [Elemental Gate] is only one meter in diameter.

In addition, if you want to open the door to the maximum extent, the consumption of magic power will become quite large, and correspondingly, the maintenance time will become quite short.

This is a safety measure set up by the magician who created this magic. After all, in addition to the harmless elements of humans and animals in the elemental plane, there are many unsafe monsters.

Because of this characteristic, in the trial, if you open the door three to four times at most, Liliana's magic power will bottom out and she will need to drink magic power potion.

The principle of the magic power potion Liliana holds is to stimulate the mental power to meditate constantly to speed up the recovery of magic power, which will cause considerable mental pressure.

Almost every mistake is a misjudgment of the distance after drinking the magic potion.

It would be fine if the misjudgment was early, but several times it was not until she crossed the position where the elemental door was about to open that she failed to break the situation that led to the fall, which made Liliana deeply worried about the feasibility of this plan.

"...Now, I have some regrets."

"Miss Liliana?"

I began to regret it, because I was worried that the baseless rumors that "adding monster bones to the potion would be unhealthy and would turn people into monsters" would have a bad impact on the family, so I persuaded my brother to let the alchemy workshop produce the magic power of the traditional formula The potion is gone.

That new formula is at least much less stressful on the mind, and the speed of mana recovery will be faster.

"...'Even if I drink it, it doesn't matter, the offspring may not be safe'. How did such baseless rumors spread...Human beings have eaten monsters and plants for thousands of years, but no one has turned them into monsters. What's more important is that human beings are originally a race born from the mixed blood of many kinds of monsters, and they are themselves a kind of monster..."

"The puppet can't understand."

"...Miss Doll, in the old saying... In the era of the magic empire, how do people think that people are monsters?"

The aching head couldn't sleep well, so in order to distract her attention, Liliana simply turned her face to the side, looked at the little doll's head, and asked.

"The origin of human beings, about this, the upper level—at least the magic emperors know it well. After all, the goblins have preserved a complete set of specimens from the earliest human beings to the present human beings in the thousands of years of mythology. That is an undeniable fact no matter what, but the mainstream theory in the empire period was that elements created man, has Miss Liliana heard this eulogy?"

After clearing his throat, the little puppet sang a melodious melody.

——Man, born of water——

——Wisdom and soul ignited by fire——

—Get up from the ground—

——Guided by the wind——

—Watched by light and darkness, until—

The melody chanted is the common language.

This is the language that has been used in mainland China since the first era. Of course, Liliana has heard this ballad. In various operas, this ballad appears very frequently. The biggest difference is that the first word at the beginning is not "Person" is "life".

"...I've heard the saying that elements create man... It is a saying that human beings are directly conceived by the great elements that make up the world, and they are of the same level as giant dragons and goblins... But the churches of the current era are preaching It is the theory of divine creation, claiming that human beings were created by the mother of the world, the youngest child in the world."

"In fact, no matter which one has nothing to do with the facts, after all, the giant dragons, goblins, and demons who ruled the mainland before humans, one is the eldest son of the world born from [law and reason], and the other was born under the light of twelve bright moons. The most beloved children of nature, the remaining one is a great race from another world that has been recognized by the world. Even the ruler of the Eastern Kingdom, those monsters named fantasy species and fantasy species are also a certain race in the mainland. The embodiment of this kind of law. But human beings are just ordinary races, and it is impossible for such ordinary races to rule the continent on an equal footing with what they once were, so the ruling class of human beings began to fabricate the origin of human beings... But in fact, as far as the puppet knows, Goblins, dragons and demons don't care about such things at all, it's all human beings who are sentimental. As a result, this ballad is very popular with elemental elves. They think this song vividly illustrates the relationship between life and elements on the mainland. I took it and changed it, and it has been sung as a song of bestowing blessings."

"...Is there such a history...I'm really curious, how much of this unknown history..."

"The puppet is also very curious about what the mainland looks like. I really want to go around, go sightseeing, and see the scenery printed in the knowledge."

As soon as he said this, the little puppet's voice couldn't help but rise up, into the flame-like red pupils.

"That's right, I still have to go to the maker of the doll and ask him what the doll is! Ah——I really want to grow wings and leave here in one breath, so there must be a way. Please do tell me."

"...Yes, it must be..."

The girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

...Must, get out of here.

………………………………………………………………………………

In this world where there was no day rising and night setting, Liliana, who didn't have the habit of wearing a pocket watch, could roughly infer the elapsed time only by the number of times she rested.

The sleep cycle that was as stable as possible brought about the stability of the daily spell slots. After falling asleep several times, and confirming that her spell slots had recovered to ten through meditation, Liliana came to the edge of the lava lake and put the puppet The long golden hair was bundled up and wrapped around his arms, and finally, he clamped the doll's head under his armpit.

"...Is it really okay?"

"It doesn't matter, is the doll just a doll? It won't hurt or feel uncomfortable. Those hairs are very tough monster hairs, which are deeply fixed in the scalp, and you don't have to worry about being torn off. It's not possible. , Miss Liliana can still put the doll into the space storage ring, can't she?"

"……Um."

Liliana looked at the doll under her armpit with a somewhat complicated expression. In terms of morality and etiquette, the girl couldn't accept how she treated an intelligent, thinking, and conversing object.

But in the previous attempt, he made her fall from his arms in a hurry. With this lesson learned, Liliana didn't want such an accident to happen when she actually crossed the lava lake.

Putting it into the space storage ring is an option, but the puppet thinks that she can act as a sentry to guard when Liliana focuses on calculating the opening point and movement trajectory of the door. This reason makes Liliana unable to shirk.

only……

"...Why did you do this for me..."

"Miss Liliana, are you talking about something?"

"...Nothing, let's go."

Leaving aside the inadvertently revealed words, Liliana tore open two [Feather Fall] scrolls, and stopped by the lava lake.

"[With sulfur, pearl, azure stone and deep gold, I pay homage to the elements of the four directions, from the summit of the breathless storm, the vast and boundless azure sea, and the roaring current of the atmosphere!]"

A pinch of powder of sulfur, pearl, lapis lazuli, and gold melted into a pale golden magic light in the girl's hand. Standing on a small stone platform piled up with stones, Liliana stared at the night sky illuminated by the fire. Breathing deeply.

Behind the girl, the magic circle lit up obliquely at an upward angle.

"[Come on, the torrent of the atmosphere, the door to the dimension is already open!]"

[Interpretation] Sing broken.

Liliana didn't look back at her magic.

You don't need to look to know that at this moment, in the center of the pale golden magic circle, the barrier between dimensions is suddenly opened. It comes from the elemental plane of wind, the azure mountain that blows the never-ending storm, straight in a canyon. The wind that enters the torrent will pass through this one-meter-diameter door, and the speed that belongs to the wind——

Not even a second to think about it.

From Liliana's back, the wind blew.

"Well!"

Worthy of the name of the endless storm, in an instant, the figure of the girl and the doll disappeared from the lakeside of the lava lake, together with the small stone pile built with stones to provide an elevation angle.

The stones collected by the girl and the puppet were blown away by the invisible hammer of the atmosphere. After flying in the sky for a few seconds, they succumbed to the authority of the earth and fell downward, splashing fleeting waves in the churning magma. fireworks.

"Sure enough, it's very strange..."

"...Does Miss Puppet have any idea?"

In contrast to them, the two people who are literally as light as feathers are flying in the sky at this moment.

The speed of the wind became the initial velocity of their soaring, and Liliana and the puppet, who had not yet reached the highest point of the parabola, had raised their vigilance to the highest point, and were now even more vigilant.

"...There is still no trace of magic at all. At least so far, there is no magic covering this piece of lava. Leaving aside the rock vapor that may have condensed during the ascent process, the updraft that is heated by the lava should exist... ...how could there be none at all?"

This is obviously abnormal, even if Liliana has never been to a volcano, she knows that she is floating on a piece of lava with a radius of at least one or two kilometers, but she can't feel the slightest increase in temperature, and there is no steaming heat . There is absolutely something wrong with this.

Originally, they expected that the rising heat would provide extra power, but now, only the night wind with an uncertain direction sometimes brought them closer to their goal, and sometimes became their hindrance.

There is obviously a problem with such a chaotic wind direction, but neither Liliana nor the puppet had time to think about the reason for this.

"If no trace of magic can be seen, then the doll thinks there are two possible answers."

"two?"

"One is that there is a natural space fault between the lava, Liliana, and the puppet. [The power of seeking truth] is only applicable to magical products and magical phenomena. Natural space distortion cannot be seen, and it is heated. The transpiration airflow is swallowed up by that fault, so it can't rise up at all."

Caught under the armpit, the soft skin on the face was slightly deformed due to squeezing, and the doll was not so sure about the first guess.

"Such a large natural space fault only affects the air above the lava...?"

Liliana shook her head. Her knowledge of space magic is very simple, but even she finds it inconceivable.

"...And there is the most direct evidence - those black iron totem poles."

With the help of the light from the lava, it can be clearly seen that the bottom of these giants is not inexplicably twisted or lost out of thin air. As for a natural space fault that happens to be the same area as this lava lake, it happens to be at the center of these totem poles. One hole after another is opened in a tight position, the possibility of this situation...

Basically it can be ignored.

"...What is the other possibility?"

"Another way...Miss Liliana said that you can see the magic circle on the temple-like building in the center, right?"

"...Well, but the distance is too far, I can't see clearly."

Liliana nodded and began to concentrate.

Their first "floating" has already crossed the highest point of the parabola, and the speed in the vertical direction given by the wind elemental plane has been exhausted by the gravity of the earth, and they began to slowly move forward while descending.

"The puppet thinks that it is probably a force field magic of the protection school. The characteristic of this type of magic is that it does not require a large area to cover the magic circle, and it can also protect a large area in the form of a force field. There are still some magic in the current magic. Is there any? Like [Arrow Protection Force Field], [Elemental Sloth Force Field], or the forbidden curse [Eve's Heart Barrier]."

The puppet also realized this, and her speech rate became very fast in response.

"...the first two are still there, and the last one... It is said that the Association of Magicians is rewriting the powerful forbidden spells with modern magic, but it seems that there is no result yet."

Liliana also responded quickly, and then.

Estimate the time I chanted, the distance I fell, correct the direction deviation and angle brought by the night wind that is not strong but can push myself as light as a feather at this moment...

After completing a series of calculations in her mind, Liliana began to chant softly.

The material for casting the spell melted into the pale golden magic light, and the first relay began.

"[Come on, the torrent of the atmosphere, the door to the dimension is already open!]"

Just after dropping down to almost the same height as the tops of those totem poles.

Read and sing.

The moment before Liliana and the puppet descended to the position corresponding to the obliquely emerging magic circle, the girl quickly broke through the interpretation.

After the door is opened, it takes about a moment to go from the other side of the door to this side.

It was like two perfectly fitted gears biting each other precisely, and the turbulent airflow threw the girl and the doll into a higher sky.

"Success! Miss Liliana!"

"...This is just the beginning, troubles will come later."

Although she responded to the doll's excitement with indifference and calmness, a smile still appeared on the girl's face, and even her suppressed mood became open.

Even under such circumstances.

No, even under such circumstances, why can't you laugh?

There is boiling lava under your feet, and the everlasting moonlight above your head.

The light of the white moon and the flames of the lava illuminate the sky, the wind blows through the short and torn skirt and gently caresses the skin, while she is flying in the sky, overlooking the ruined land.

An indescribable sense of spaciousness.

Involuntarily, want to shout loudly.

"...Then, is it because a certain force field magic in the temple is suppressing all the heat and heat?"

Resisting the urge to not only be meaningless but potentially dangerous, Liliana turned her face to look at the doll, and continued the once interrupted topic.

"It's very likely, so there is a question, does this force field have other functions? For example, to prevent entry?"

The puppet's expression was a bit worried.

The reason is unknown, the four altars of earth, water, fire and wind were not installed with gesture locks during construction, and were replaced by four magic mechanisms for security.

She explained to Liliana.

"For example, the Earth Altar—the Shinto in front of the opera house where Miss Liliana found the puppet. It wasn't until Miss Liliana fell into it that the puppet recognized what kind of magic it was through the form of its expression. The other altars must have the same The organization of this flame, this altar of flames... is probably this force field."

After speaking, the puppet looked at Liliana worriedly.

"I don't know if the puppet can help this time..."

"..."

Liliana didn't answer.

The girl silently looked away from the doll's face, looking at the temple in the distance.

Then.

Perhaps it was the sense of openness when flying in the sky, and the confidence to successfully float up the first "relay".

"...Don't worry, and don't always think about doing something for me...I must go home, and I will also bring the doll to the mainland, to see that beautiful world...together..."

Liliana hooked the corners of her mouth, but failed to show a smile.

"……give it to me."

So, she just stared at the temple in the distance and buried her thoughts in her heart.

8 spell slots remaining.

So far so good.