Volume 6 Chapter 10, Part 2 It's Not Good To Line Up Coffins And Build Ruins On Top Of Them. (Self, Part Reflection)
Randy examined the area around his face where the light would shine the most for a while...
"Ellie, this──"
Randy, rubbing the eyes of the goddess statue, called out loudly to Ellie below.
Though it was a height to look up to, it was Ellie.
She floated up as if drifting softly through the air, quickly reaching Randy.
"You... can fly up to the sky?"
"You called me, after all. Well, it's my first time, but surprisingly, it went well."
Despite Ellie's unusual laughter, Randy returned a wry smile, informing her that the eyes of the goddess statue were made of a different mineral.
"Hmm... I've never seen this stone before."
Ellie had examined it thoroughly, but even she couldn't figure it out.
With no other choice, she decided to chip off a part of the eye using Craft's disassembly and store it in the item box held by Liz.
"How about this──?"
While still holding onto the goddess statue, Ellie grinned and said, "Bingo!"
"It seems to be the Stone of the Shadow Moon..."
As long as they understood that much, there was no problem.
They returned the eye to its original place──messing with the magic medium too much could risk breaking the spell──and Randy and Ellie descended.
"So it's the Stone of the Shadow Moon..."
Lucius, deep in thought, spoke about the difference between the Shadow Moon Mirror and the stone.
The mirror, as its name suggests, reflects the shadow of the moon.
However, during the new moon, the moon is visible in the daytime.
Yet, the magical power of the mirror reflects the moon, which is directly opposite at midnight.
In contrast, the stone merely absorbs the moon's shadow and converts it into energy.
Moreover, the absorbed energy disappears after a night, making it not very useful.
"In other words, the trigger for releasing the absorbed energy is..."
"Standing in the shadow of the dark moon, inserting 2 orbs into the door, that's how it works."
On the night of the new moon, when the energy of the moon's shadow is at its peak, the gold and silver orbs are to be inserted into the door.
That seems to be the condition for breaking the seal.
However, the one sealed is not Ellie's body, but the ancient king.
No one would break such a seal.
Yet, Randy's sense of unease was growing stronger.
"I understand how to break the seal, but... there's another big mystery."
Everyone tilted their heads at Randy's words.
Randy shook his head and spoke to Cecilia, who suggested it was not particularly strange as a seal ruin.
"It's all mixed up. It seems like they want us to think it's hidden, but the truth is they want us to find it. The position of this goddess statue is actually correct."
Once again, it was Cecilia who tilted her head at Randy's words.
"To be found... isn't that to break the seal? If you're going to break the seal, the statue's position wouldn't be strange here at all. You move the statue to descend."
Everyone nodded again at Cecilia's words.
Then Randy crossed his arms and fell silent.
Indeed, Cecilia's reasoning held some merit.
However, it was also true that he felt a sense of unease.
Closing his partially opened mouth, Randy began to speak once more... going back and forth like that before finally saying something.
"Miss Cecilia... *please indulge me a bit longer*."
For a moment surprised, Cecilia nodded, saying, "Very well."
The fact that she instantly recognized Randy's true intention speaks to her exceptional intellect.
Randy aimed to refine the unresolved mysteries within himself through discussion with Cecilia.
In a way, he was seeking the insights that could not be gained from mere self-questioning from Cecilia.
Not Liz, not Ellie, not Lucius.
Among them, she was the most dynamic, unafraid, and possessed a talent for weaving words with instinctive reflexes.
Above all, she was a voice of reason.
It was precisely because it was Cecilia that an exchange of opinions, so similar yet utterly different from Randy's thoughts, was possible.
With preparation in full swing, Cecilia sat confidently, puffing out her chest.
In the current atmosphere, her intention to counter him was the perfect match for Randy.
"Then why hide it? If the premise is for us to find it, there's no need to conceal it."
"I couldn't possibly know that."
Immediately puffing her cheeks, Cecilia crossed her arms and turned her face away, saying, "It's not a precaution against grave robbers."
"Grave robbers... it's about the seal, right? Here?"
"But Lady Annabelle mentioned there were funerary items mimicking sacrificial burials."
Randy reached one of his discomforts with Cecilia's words, thinking, "That's right..."
"Why is there a terracotta warrior if it's sealed──"
"Terracotta?"
"It's a funerary object modeled after burial practices."
Catherine's translation comes in, and Cecilia steps up her offensive.
"Doesn't that mean it was greatly valued?"
"That man, really?"
Randy furrowed his brows, and Cecilia averted her gaze, uncertain, thinking, "Perhaps in his later years..."
"He's the type to obsess over Ellie and do something like that. After all, he created this seal because of Ellie... Ellie... right?"
──To strengthen the seal.
──A funerary object modeled after burial practices, indeed.
──Isn't this a measure to prevent grave robbers?
As Randy began to connect the discomforts, he tilted his head dramatically, saying, "Huh? Huh?"
With Randy's neck almost breaking, Catherine grimaced, saying, "You're creepy," while Cecilia clutched Luke's sleeve, asking, "Is it my fault?"
"It's fine. He's been an idiot for a long time──"
"Ellie! We can assume that this seal was made by that person named Charl, right?"
Interrupting Luke, Randy was met with Ellie's nod, "Most likely."
With Lucius confirming he had heard the same through word of mouth, it was completely established that Ellie's best friend had created this ruin...
"Ellie, you mentioned the door's magic was entangled..."
"That's right. I don't understand everything, but there were sealing magic formulas, displacement magic formulas, and also a broken concealment magic formula."
"Concealment...?"
Ellie informed Randy, who tilted his head, that the door itself had a concealment spell applied.
(I want it to be found, yet I want to hide it. No, perhaps...)
Discomfort began to connect within Randy.
Yet, the final piece was missing.
Logically, Randy's thoughts were likely correct, but without this, there was no way to prove it.
"Concealment. If only there were some kind of item to uncover hidden things..."
"How about using Shadow Moon Mirror?"
Lucius, tilting his head, says that the Shadow Moon Mirror is said to reflect the 'hidden shadow of the moon,' but in reality, it is only made possible by the moon's magical power.
In other words, if you reflect something that emits magical power, you can catch a glimpse of its true nature.
"That's it!"
"Little boy, bring it swiftly!"
Lucius, nodding at the two's enthusiasm, is hurriedly followed by Catherine, who exclaims, "Ah, those 2 are such fools!"
Though her tone is a bit frantic, Lucius smiles at Catherine's support and says, "Wait a moment," before disappearing with teleportation.
"...Oh no. I just inadvertently made the principal do my bidding."
"Liz is incredibly angry."
The two, sweating nervously, apologized profusely to Lucius when he returned, but that's another story.
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