Chapter 117
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 . ”
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“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 .
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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 .
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“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 .