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Translator: Barnnn
Pochi held her belly and rolled around on the floor as she laughed.
I gave her a blank stare, while Eigul seemed quite surprised as he looked at her reaction.
“Hey, you’ve laughed more than enough.”
“AHAHAHA! But it’s so funny! I mean… hehehe…!”
I can tell that Pochi has recalled something… And in fact, I also know what she’s thinking about.
It was from the time I lived in Polco’s mansion in Kugg Village.
Right after dealing with the Blazing Dragon King — Goku’ryu the Hell Emperor — Polco Adams praised me and said he would commission a bronze statue of Poer… that is, me.
The other residents of Kugg Village also considered me the village’s savior, so I could not refuse.
The process of modeling for it was… humiliating… but it was my legacy nonetheless.
So, in other words, Polco’s message to me — ‘Dig beneath the feet of the legendary Holy Warrior Poer’ — means to dig beneath the feet of that bronze statue.
That’s why Pochi is still laughing, and also why I’m facepalming.
Eigul, seeing us like this, seems quite relieved.
“…It seems that both of you have an idea what it’s about.”
“Hmm…”
“AHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Master is… pointing towards the future…!!”
I want to erase Pochi’s memories right now, especially the part where I’m ‘pointing towards the future’.
But since I don’t have any arcane energy, I can’t use Memory Edit.
So instead, I clenched my fists and–
“–NOOOOO!! You can’t do that, Master!”
Tch, this furball is too perceptive.
“Ha… hahaha… You two seem to get along quite well.”
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
After finishing the conversation with Eigul, I finally went to get a change of clothes, and then we headed to the classroom venue. Idéa and Midors had returned there as well, so I asked them to draw a Teleportation Spell Circle for us.
“But are you sure we want to let them into the Resistance? We just met, you know?”
“Well, Warren did give his permission — shouldn’t be a problem.”
The two of them stood in front of the two Spell Circles that led to the hideout.
“Both of them will take you to the mess hall. When you get there, ask one of the staff how to use the Limit Breakthrough.”
The members of Eddo Boars nodded to Midors’ explanation.
While I waited for everyone to teleport away, I made some small talk with Eigul while also asking for information about the local happenings.
“You know, it’s quite a surprise. Your team has not been on the Resistance’s radar, admittedly, but it’s impressive how you made your way to T’oued without having used the Limit Breakthrough at all.”
“Guild Master Scott did recommend that we teleported here, but we wanted to see how well we could handle those monsters at our current power level.”
They had a similar thought to Warren’s — a thought that not many people would actually follow through.
Traveling such a long distance to come here, in the midst of high-ranking monsters, really shows that they actually are strong.
Their basic combat prowesses might even surpass that of Team Silver General.
“So, what are your thoughts on the trip you’ve been through?”
“Hahaha… I was hell, honestly. Several villages have already been destroyed by monsters. It’s terrifying to think about what could happen to a big city.”
Saving any village they could — maybe that was what Eigul was going for when he chose to take this path.
They probably were also confident that they would be able to escape. Their addition to the Resistance is sure to give a big boost to our military strength.
While I thought about that, Pochi’s ears twitched.
“Oh, everyone is here!”
Following my instructions, Pochi had used Telepathic Calls to summon everyone who was in the southern area of Eddo.
“Kugg Village… Then let us head to the temporary hideout in Lunariel Forest. I had one of my Teleportation Spell Circles left in there.”
Lunariel Forest, huh?
I went there once to carry out a mission for my rank-up evaluation trials, as ordered by Jacob the Demon Blader, one of the Six Braves.
The mission was to eliminate a group of bandits in that forest, but as it turned out, they were no bandits. Instead, we met the Resistance, led by Warren and Jennifer at the time. It was then that I heard about the ‘location that marked my beginning’.
The forest itself is located to the north-west of Royal Capital Regalia, and the place that was Kugg Village is now a deserted location located to the west of Regalia.
Considering that, we’ll be able to get there by going south from Lunariel Forest. It’s quite fortunate that Warren has left a Teleportation Spell Circle there.
“All right, the connection has been established. It seems that the Spell Circle on that side has never been discovered.”
That’s good to know. It’s quite far from Radeata, our next closest location.
“Now then, who will be going with you, Asley? I’m busy with other things, so I’ll only accompany you to the old hideout. Hmm, let’s see… Any volunteers–“
“”ME!””
The ones who raised their hands were Lina, Fuyu, Haruhana, and…
“Me, me, me!”
Bruce. Huh.
“M-me too!”
And also…
“Ah, Hornel. Indeed, your addition will make the party quite well-balanced.”
It’s quite rare for Hornel to want to tag along… and for Betty not to.
Betty, seeming to have noticed me thinking that, started chucking.
“What’s wrong, Asley? You want me to go or what?”
“Nah, just wondering why you’re not jumping at another adventure like you usually would.”
“Man, can’t you take a joke? I’m not going because I’ll be sparring with those guys, that’s why.”
Ah, I see.
When the Eddo Boars are done using the Limit Breakthrough, they’d need some training to get used to their new power levels.
Team Silver General would do the job just fine, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want all the help they can get.
In other words, Betty just happens to be more interested in helping on that front.
And Bruce is the Captain of the Silver Special Forces, so his absence wouldn’t have much of an effect on an anti-personnel combat training exercise like this. Or maybe Blazer ordered him to go… Actually, no, that doesn’t seem to be the case, judging from Bruce’s enthusiasm.
“Now, let us get going, Sir Asley.”
While I was thinking about things, Haruhana grabbed my right arm.
“Y-yes, let’s go!”
“Hehehe!”
Lina grabbed the index finger of my left hand.
And the Fuyu pulled my ring finger.
…What’s going on here?
“G-get going already!”
And so Hornel kicked my back to position me on top of the Teleportation Spell Circle. Come to think of it, this might be the first time I’ve actually teamed up with him.
As we faded away, I saw the happy smiles of Pochi and Betty. For some reason, that image really stuck in my mind. I wonder why.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
Teleporting to the cave in Lunariel Forest, we then proceeded to run south — toward Regalia’s west.
After a little over ten minutes, we reached the location of Kugg Village.
“So this is the place?”
“That’s right, Hornel. It’s the village where the Adams family estate was once located… well, what’s left of said village, anyway.”
“There’s no record of it in any of my household’s books. But I do know that the Adams household has existed during the era of Holy Warriors.”
“Yeah. The head of the household at the time… really had me help him out with a lot of things.”
For a brief moment, Hornel’s knees twitched.
“I thought HE helped YOU out!”
“Hmm… He DID help me, but I was hired at an unfairly low salary, had to do a lot of things that weren’t in the contract, and got pushed around a lot as I took care of the household’s heir… so me helping him out sounded more correct, you know. Sorry if that came off as offensive.”
“Well, that’s fine. So where’s the bronze statue?”
“This way~~!”
Pochi replied to Hornel before running deeper into the abandoned village.
…Oh, I see! The last time we were here, what Pochi ran after was…
[…Hearing something, Pochi?]
[No — no sound, but I smell something… suspicious.]
…MY smell! That stuck for thousands of years, somehow!
…Yeah, no, smells don’t stick around for that long, damn it.
But it’s true that Pochi reacted to some sort of smell back then, so she’s probably going the right way.
“Here it is!”
Yup, same place as last time.
Near the west exit of the abandoned village — that’s where the bronze statue is.
“This is a statue of you, Sir Asley? I guess too much time has passed, after all. But at least it seems to retain its human shape…”
I’m glad neither Lina nor everyone else here gets to see what it originally looked like…
“Heh! So this is where we gotta dig up, right? Sounds simple to me!”
“Yeah, you got this, Bruce!”
“You’re digging too, damn it! Hell, you’re the strongest one here, Asley.”
Tch, this guy is perceptive.
“Here! This spot looks suspicious!”
I turned to Pochi and saw her wagging her tail just like last time.
Pochi, Bruce, Harunana, and I broke our way through the hard rocks under our feet.
Hornel, Lina, and Fuyu used the Earth Control spell to steadily expand the hole.
After about an hour of digging through the ruins of the village square, we finally found a hidden underground entrance that Polco must have left behind.
“It’s a strong door. And this is… someone’s signature, isn’t it?”
“I cannot read the last name, but the first name, I can — Garm. Do you recognize who it might be, Sir Asley?”
…I see, I see. I’m beginning to understand.
Back then, God said this to me…
[I have only one more thing to say: You still devote yourself to your studies, so I will not tell you to do things… But I do believe that your ‘records’ hold the potential to change the world.]
…My ‘records,’ huh…
