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At any rate, this lantern lights a blue flame without heat, and the shadows it casts can be controlled according to the wielder’s imagination. In other words, it’s an Unknown…or in this world’s terms, a magic item.

Magic items are apparently classified into divine relics, treasured tools, and magic implements, depending on their origin, history, and abilities. Where this one falls, I have no idea.

Magic implements and treasured tools can be made by humans, while divine relics are said to be those forged by gods in the age of myth.

“What’s that?”

Sufi reached out her hand toward the shadow animals. When I had them mimic the movements of real animals I traced in my head, she let out a shrill little scream.

“What is this thing?”
“This lantern’s effect—it’s probably a magic item.”
“A magic item, nya!? Let me try, nya!”

Curious, Noche reached out to take the lantern from me—but her hand sliced through empty air.

“…Nya?”

Noche reached out toward the lantern, which floated in midair the moment I let go of it, but no matter how many times she tried, her hand just passed right through.

“…I see.”

When I reached out this time, I could grab it normally.

“Sufi, can you try touching it?”
“This thing? …Huh? I can’t touch it?”

Even when Sufi tried, her hand slipped through. Just to be sure, I had Filia try as well, but it was the same.

Even when I willed “permission granted,” it didn’t work. It seemed no one but me could touch it. Yet the shadows it projected had solid substance.

It was like… like… what was it again? It was right on the tip of my tongue…

“So what can you do with it, nya?”
“I’m still figuring that out.”

It seemed the flame required mana to ignite, but hardly any was needed to control it. I could change its shapes and movements however I imagined.

But with the amount of mana I could put into it now, the size limit seemed to be just one little puppy and one little rabbit at a time.

The composition was probably the same as that black mass that gushed out earlier—and I think it was what protected us when we fell. Otherwise, there’s no way to explain how we survived that drop with all that rubble.

The texture of the darkness that had gushed out back then, and the shadows I could create with this lantern, were strikingly similar.

But the output was completely different. If I could control all of that mass, it’d be another story—but with this, not so much…

“Can you only make puppies and bunnies with it?”

Sufi, holding the shadow puppy I had made, sat down beside me, maybe finding some comfort in it.

“No… cough… anything I can… imagine, maybe…?”

…Wait. If I can shape things exactly as I imagine them, then maybe—

I pulled up from memory a transmutation circle used for stoneworking. The rubble here was a dense, dark material… probably close to andesite. I assembled the appropriate symbols and formed a shadow into the shape of the circle, then pressed it against the rubble.

“『Forge.』”

It looked like the shadow created by the lantern could also act as a kind of conduit for mana. The flow of mana poured in with startling ease.

The essence of alchemy is to let mana seep into the material through the circle and then use that as a base point for interference. The more precise the circle, the higher the accuracy. With a better flow of mana, control becomes much easier.

The circle’s precision was like the magnification of a microscope, or the fineness of a tool. And since the image was applied perfectly, the circle’s precision was extremely high.

Honestly, it might even be more accurate than something a professional craftsman could make.

I hauled a blade-shaped stone out of the rubble. What would’ve been really difficult to replicate by hand—such as the sharp edge and the pointy tip—came out surprisingly well.

A simple straight sword about forty centimeters long. It felt heavy in my hand, slightly big for a child to wield.

“Oooh!”
“…nope.”

Noche looked a bit excited about the black stone sword, but honestly it wasn’t any good. It was just stone shaped into a blade; the cutting edge was terrible, and if you used it in real combat it would shatter after only a few heavy strikes.

There was no way it could faze that weasel monster that wasn’t even hurt by a pretty sturdy iron sword.

“You made that with alchemy?”
“Yeah —cough— usable as an alchemy tool.”

At least we weren’t completely powerless now, but it was nowhere near enough. We gained a little mobility, but not the force to turn the tide of this situation.

“Well, then that’s a relief.”
“……”

Sufi’s relief didn’t change her resolve.

“Can I keep this sword, nya? Seems like I could use it.”
“…Mm.”

Noche was the same. The two of them still intended to act as decoys and get us away.

If nothing changes, it’ll be just like before. We don’t know how that thing produced such overwhelming power earlier.

I don’t want them to die— not Sufi, not Noche, not Filia. I won’t let that monster trample them.

Only now do I begin to understand, in some small way, how the people who risked their lives to collect and seal dangerous Unknowns in my past life must have felt.

There has to be something, some way to break us out of this.

We found the lantern, maybe there’s more…

“Alice… rest a little, then Sufi and I will go. After that, get on Filia—”
“I don’t want that, Sufi! I can’t anymore!”
“Filia, don’t be selfish, nya. You’re the fastest runner of us all. And thanks to younger wolf, we even have weapons now, nya.”
“We’ll get one made for Sufi too, then we’ll be as strong as a hundred men!”

Their ears were good, but mine were better — even though they tried to sound tough, I could hear the tremble in their voices. I couldn’t help but notice.

I staggered to my feet and lifted the lantern, casting its light wider than before.

I don’t care if it’s some deus-ex-machina, I need something, anything—

And then the blue flame revealed it: a smooth metal wall, dented and split with cracks.

In the cracks lay a toppled stone doll I remembered seeing before. Actually, isn’t that an Unknown discovered in some ruins on a Greek island?

A strange doll that, once activated, would endlessly dig holes and smooth stone, creating labyrinths without end.

Why was that here, of all places?

I shifted the lantern’s glow, and beside the crack I saw a door, marked with white letters. And I could read what it said. Of course, not only did I recognize it, it was written in the language of the country I was born and raised in during my previous life.

“Aha, ahaha… ahaha.”

A laugh slipped out before I could stop it. This was absurdly convenient, an unbelievable fantasy. It felt almost too fake to be real.

“Alice, what’s wrong?”

Sufi, noticing the dry laugh, moved close and steadied me, worried.

Fake or not, I didn’t care. So what if somebody set this up, it doesn’t matter. If it meant a chance for all four of us to survive, I’d take it.

“—Sufi, Noche, Filia… cough—I have a plan and a request.”
“What is it?”
“What, nya?”
“Sniff…”

They all gathered around, curious. Their gazes naturally fell on a single spot:

*‘Sector 0, Storage Room 3’*

Written there in *Japanese* was the label of one of the low-threat Unknown storage lockers I’d visited many times in my past life — the “Toy Box.”

“If we work together, we might be able to beat that thing.”