Cleanup and a Search
After seeing the vampire turn into ash, I decided to organize the information I had gathered.
The mirror that the vampires had risked their lives to break was something that was connected to the palace of their most high king.
And this ruin contained a machine that could produce the Fool’s Stone.
And there were other places with such machines.
“So they are searching for ways to make the stone without Philly…”
That had to be stopped.
But this palace also bothered me. Who was this ‘most high king?’
I thought in silence for a while.
And then I felt a presence moving behind me.
I turned around to see Grulf’s tail poking out of the shadows.
“Hey, Grulf. Your tail’s sticking out.”
“Grr?”
Returned Grulf.
As there was concealment magic, he could make quiet noises without being heard.
Even his tail could remain hidden if it was just a little.
However, he was wagging it so much that it would be seen regardless.
“Nia. Grulf. You can come out now.”
“…”
There was no reply. Everything was quiet.
“Oh, that’s right.”
I deactivated the illusion.
And then Grulf came out.
Nia followed after him.
“You were both great and stayed calm.”
“Thank you.”
“Groof.”
I patted Grulf on the head.
“Mister Locke. What kind of spell was that? Our surroundings changed all at once…”
“Ah, it’s an illusion that Luchila taught me.”
“That seems like a very useful spell.”
“It is useful. But it’s not that effective if the other person has a strong resistance to magic.”
It’s not that hard to deceive someone through sight.
But when it comes to smell, sound and pain, it becomes very difficult.
“I understand. I will keep that in mind.”
“Groof.”
I patted them both on the head and asked,
“Were you listening to what we were saying?”
“Yes. They said there was a machine that could make the Fool’s Stone.”
“Apparently. We will go check once we have dealt with these bodies.”
“Yes.”
“Groof!”
We searched for the magic stones within the ashes.
There were no medals this time. I guess they were Arch Vampires.
“So there was one Lord and two Archs. And a Goblin Lord and goblins.”
“…Yes. May I ask a question, Mister Locke?”
“Ask anything you like.”
“My father told me that it was very rare for vampires higher than Arch Vampires to use goblins…”
“That is usually true, yes. Perhaps they didn’t have enough servants.”
And then I told her about that time I met Shia in the cave.
That Vampire Lord had had all of his thralls killed by her father, Danton.
Without any thralls, the Lord had no choice but to use goblins instead.
“But there was an Arch this time.”
“That’s right. You would think that there would be a few lessers at least.”
“Maybe there is a reason that they can’t use lessers.”
“Perhaps. I don’t know any of the details. But it’s good to keep in mind.”
“Yes.”
“Groof!”
Nia and Grulf replied energetically.
A reason they couldn’t use lessers, huh?
Perhaps they were being used elsewhere.
Lessers were able to move around to a certain degree even within a divine barrier.
And the dark ones had a tool that could fool the barrier. But it was supposedly rare.
If they wanted to send a great number into the city, they would probably use lesser vampires or lower.
We would have to consider the possibility that there were some in the city now.
I thought on this as we moved to the next room.
There were three goblins and a strange-looking machine.
“Nia! Grulf!”
“Yes!”
“Groof!”
Nia and Grulf quickly disposed of both the goblins. I also took one down.
Perhaps these goblins were workers who kept the machine running.
I looked at the machine. It was not very big.
It was smaller than Grulf.
“So this is the machine that can make the Fool’s Stone?”
“I think it is…”
“But how do you use it…”
“Hmm… I have no idea.”
I didn’t know how to operate it.
“You would think it would be quite simple, since goblins were able to do it.”
“Grr?”
Grulf began to sniff at the machine.
“Well, I might as well put it in my bag then.”
“What? Would it fit?”
“It’s a very expensive magic bag.”
And the capacity was immense. The entrance could also stretch a great deal.
Something that was too huge wouldn’t fit, but a Grulf-size machine would fit just fine.
And so I put the machine in my bag so it could be studied later.
The magic bag remained the same weight regardless of its contents, which was very convenient.
After that, we took the magic stones from the goblins and cleaned up.
That included picking up the fragments from the shattered mirror.
Then we dragged the goblin corpses out of the cave, where Kathe was waiting for us.
“You took long enough!”
“There were not only goblins, but vampires.”
“…How horrible. Vampires inside a dragon ruin… Unforgivable!”
“Indeed. Now, I would like to ask you about this machine…”
I said as I took the machine out of my bag.
“Oh, but you must not go around moving things in the ruin.”
“Sorry. But the vampires were up to some mischief and they were going to use it.”
“Then you are forgiven.”
“Do you know how to use this thing?”
“I do not. What is that, anyway?”
Apparently, Kathe did not know what it was.