| Author: Kisasaki Suzume | Original Source: Syosetu |
| Translator: Mui | English Source: Re:Library |
| Editor(s): Deximus-Maximus | |
Viola swung her staff, causing the earth to pulsate and swell like pastries in an oven. In an instant, it transformed into a simple box-shaped building.
This was the result of earth elemental magic, shaping and molding the soil and rocks. In practice, the most cost-effective and user-friendly building material was soil. It was used as the foundation for constructing buildings, improvised fortresses for knights, adventurers’ camps, and various other purposes.
While Kafal had done something similar on Mount Kuguse, Viola’s creation was smaller and more delicate. The size of the entrance and windows was appropriately calculated, and it even had rain-shielding eaves. Inside, there were built-in shelves, chairs, and sleeping platforms—all made of soil, of course.
“Yup! This would do the job as our tent. It’ll be blown away when the real thing comes anyway.”
“Alright, I’m claiming this room.”
Monica had already inspected the interior, quickly selecting the room that seemed to have the best sunlight. She unloaded her belongings and tossed her sleeping bag onto the bed.
“…Is it really okay for you to be here, Monica?”
Viola questioned as Monica, in the midst of pulling out a change of clothes, stopped at the inquiry. Without turning around, Monica shrugged.
“Sis, you’re asking the same thing as Lucella, huh?”
Monica felt an impulse to throw all her belongings into the freshly made room out of frustration. She was surprised by such childish thoughts crossing her mind.
Monica took a quiet deep breath to calm herself and then pondered on what she was feeling. The answer came quickly. Monica’s next thought was how to convey her immature emotions to Viola in a stylish way.
“Failure here means death, right? For you, and Lucella too.”
“Well, that’s… pretty much the case.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
With the demeanor of a pretentious philosopher, Monica chuckled disdainfully.
“Living and dying are the same. I don’t believe that just being alive makes you happy at any time.”
It was certain that Monica didn’t hold much value in the act of living itself. She had at least two people who she wanted to live and die together with, and couldn’t imagine a world without them.
But to be more honest and straightforward, it was a simple matter; she didn’t want to be left behind. That was the crux of it.
The thought of the two facing danger in an unknown place was unbearable. If it meant she might die as a result of following them, it was still better than being left behind. She might become a hindrance, but in that case, she even wanted them to die with her. It was a selfish and childish attachment, hard to call rational. Yet, unable to stop these feelings, she did her best to mask them as noble thoughts.
Viola said nothing. She quietly approached and tightly embraced Monica.
Through Viola’s flat chest, Monica could hear her heartbeat. She marveled internally at what it meant to become an adult. Feeling as if Viola had seen through everything, Monica felt an itchy embarrassment deep within her.
In the ‘villa,’ plants were rapidly growing at an alarming rate. Initially, there was a fair amount of vegetation around, but after a night passed since Kafal’s arrival, the entire area resembled the overgrown garden of a dilapidated mansion. Trees stretched like bamboo shoots, dominating the landscape.
Tim skillfully swung his greatsword, clearing away the overgrown grass. Undoubtedly, it was the easiest opponent he had faced among the recent kills.
“I get what we’re doing, but the logic behind it is a bit hazy.”
“Let me explain it in simpler terms. What is ‘dragon aura?’—It’s the raw mana from nature that dragons absorb and rearrange within their bodies, something not usable by the human race.”
While piling up the cut grass as fertilizer around the base of specific trees, Viola began to share her knowledge.
“Creatures can also absorb dragon aura and use it, but only dragons can generate dragon aura itself. The Regalia saturating the human realm with mana is an application of this mechanism. Mana1 is like a highly diluted dragon aura that humans can use.”
Around them, streams of fire intersected with existing rivers. Fissures in the earth marked where flames erupted, and lava flowed from them. Lucella diligently crafted paths for the flowing lava, while also preparing a meal by skewering fish on a stick and placing it over the molten lava.
Wein was fishing in the mountain “stream,” dangling a long fishing line. When he pulled up the fishing hook, it was crushed with an incredible force, and he made a bitter face. It seemed that a river monster, rather than a fish, had taken the bait.
“Dragon aura is the energy stored by dragons. In essence, it’s like body fat,” Viola explained.
“That makes Mom sound like she’s chubby!”
While waving around a fish-like creature with eight legs and ten eyes, Lucella protested Viola’s words.
“For wild animals, ‘chubby’ is a compliment. It’s proof of the ability to acquire a lot of prey and resistance to hunger.”
“That’s not the point!”
“But unlike the body fat of animals, dragon aura can be stored externally,” Viola continued.
Viola picked up freshly cut grass and observed it. The grass had taken an unimaginable silvery color, like fresh snow illuminated by the morning sun.
Plants require less energy to exist than animals or monsters. With just a slight addition of energy, they seemed to undergo significant changes. It could be described as the ‘Variant’ of plants. At the moment, they needed to efficiently utilize dragon aura, so Viola was redistributing the dragon aura that the weeds had absorbed to the designated places.
“Groooooaaar!”
A mighty roar shook the heavens and the earth, briefly staining the sky red. Birds, struck by the thunderous sound, fainted and plummeted to the ground. The breakfast menu expanded.
The erupting lava cooled and piled up, forming a volcanic stone altar. Standing on it, Kafal roared, causing flames to surge even higher each time.
The inherent nature of this land was originally ‘water.’ However, Kafal was now invoking the ancient buried power of flames, attempting to create a state of mixed attributes similar to Mount Kuguse and reshape the territory to her liking.
Furthermore, she absorbed the power inherent in the land, transforming it into dragon aura. She aimed to generate as much dragon aura as possible, release it as much as possible, and increase its concentration.
The inspiration came from the sight of Shurei that Lucella had once witnessed. When Lucella fought Shurei, the human-disguised Shurei was enveloped in the dragon aura of intense pressure.
In human form, there was a limit to the capacity as a vessel. To control the excess power, Shurei let it imbue the atmosphere, wearing it like an extra layer. He could even control that excess dragon aura.
Lucella wondered if she could replicate that on a larger scale. Not creating a ‘hazardous land’ born from the scattered dragon energy, similar to a dragon’s territory, but rather, a reservoir, so to speak.
“Dragons can manipulate natural phenomena. If dragon aura, once released into the outside, is stored in a form close to natural phenomena, it can be controlled,” Viola explained.
“So, we’re transforming this place into a reservoir of dragon energy for me and Mom. Turning it into a fortress… to confront the rampage of the Regalia,” Lucella added.
Lucella carved the flame stream into a circular pattern, almost like drawing a magic circle. Despite the season heading towards winter, the air here felt suffocatingly hot. The mounting pressure of dragon aura felt like static electricity bursting on the skin.
