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Mira quickly reached a possible origin of this new sensation, the Spirit King’s Divine Protection. Either her body had gotten slightly attuned to it, or it simply took some time to manifest itself, but whichever way there was little point to ponder about it now.

「Sasori, there’s a spirit of light trapped inside that thing there, are lamps like that common nowadays?」

Mira pointed to the orb and asked. As far as Mira knew, only Spirit Arms had the power of spirits imbued in them, but as time had passed maybe it had spread to more common tools as well. That it was Mira’s first time seeing this did not mean it was uncommon.

But Sasori cocked her head and replied slightly confused.

「There’s a spirit in that light? No one would use spirit magic for something so mundane.」

Saying that, Sasori refuted the usage of spirit magic in common objects. There was constant conflict in this world, and spirits were a powerful ally. It was way too wasteful to use them for something like that.

「Hmmm, I see.」
「Though wait, I think Uzume once told me about someone born from a spirit of light and an elf, who was hired as something like a walking lantern.」
「I… I see…」

Sasori added that anecdote, which Mira tried to brush off as she looked away from the orb of light.

Uzume was the commander of the Fifty Bells, and her true identity was the wiseman Kagura. The person she was talking about was most certainly Mira, or Danbulf as she was known back then, and the half elf half spirit of light who was treated as a walking source of light was the vice-elder Creos.

(I should probably try to be kinder to him when I get back…)

Hearing that story from someone else she felt like she really had been a cruel master in the past, and maybe it was a bit too late to change that.

「But well, if that light is made with spirit power, then this place is even more suspicious. We already had leads about a connection between Melville and Chimera, and now we found an object with the power of a spirit sealed in it here. That pretty much settles it.」

While Mira looked desolated, Sasori’s lips twisted ferociously as she glared at the light hung on the ceiling. Usually spirit power was incredibly strong, so it would never be used for something so menial, and Chimera Clauzen were the only ones who would ever dare do something so baffling. Anyone with enough knowledge in those matters would be able to find the clear connection between Melville and Chimera Clauzen.

「I guess there’s little reason to believe they don’t have some relationship now. And we found this faster than I expected as well.」
「Ah, right. This is the entrance.」

Mira’s voice was resolute as she looked around before grinning while staring into the hole in the center. Sasori followed her gaze and peered down into the darkness and agreed with her.

The warehouse was empty except for the hole in the center, which continued down far below, the walls showing naked earth. The Graveyard of War Memorials was said to be a network of catacombs entombed underground. That meant this hole had a very high likelihood to be the excavated entrance to it.

With that in mind, the two girls nodded and stepped down the ladder.

Since there was a lamp with the power of a spirit of light atop the entrance, even after they descended for a couple hundred meters, the stone slabs placed for steps were still brightly lit. From what they could see, there were still a hundred meters left for them to go down.

「It just keeps going…」

When they reached the end of the steps, a straight horizontal tunnel vanished into the distance. There was light all along it as well, but it was so long the end was out of their view. Seeing that, Sasori sighed loudly.

Twenty minutes of walking later, they reached a dark wall stopping their progress.

「What’s going on here?」

It was a bizarre sight. At first glance it looked like a pitch black wall, but the border of the tunnel looked like it kept going.

Sasori knit her brows looking at it and hesitantly reached out to the wall. Once her fingertips reached it, they continued moving forward without any resistance.

「I guess this is as far as that light could illuminate?」

Pulling her hand back and seeing none of the darkness remained on it, Sasori looked ahead while saying that. She had been surprised there was light all the way down there, but this seemed to be the limit even for a spirit of light.

Even though behind them everything was brightly lit, in front of them everything was dark. Mira stepped right next to the shadows and used Concept Magic to create a light and see what happened. At first some of the darkness was dispelled, showing the contours of the corridor ahead, but then Mira and the rest gasped.

Everything that had been shrouded in darkness was black. Their path there had been carved into gray stone and dirt, but ahead of them the floor, walls and ceiling were all black.

「The Graveyard of War Memorials are buried catacombs, right? I guess this is where they actually start.」
「It seems that way, at least.」

The air itself felt different inside the black tunnel. Noticing that, the two girls smiled at each other. With things getting progressively more suspicious, they felt like they were inching closer to unraveling the secrets of Chimera Clauzen.

「Then maybe there’s another reason why the light ends so abruptly here.」

Mira said that looking at the abrupt way the light cut off. She felt like rather than it being out of the spirit’s range, there was something there blocking it from continuing.

「Umm, can I say something?」

As the two girls looked into the darkness, Worthramble, who had been silent until then, spoke up.

「Hm? What’s the matter?」
「I’m really sorry, but it appears I can’t accompany you further than this.」

When Mira turned around, she saw Worthramble had a worried look on his face.

「Are you sure..?」

Seeing him like that, she knew there was a serious reason why he refused to walk forward. After a bit of pondering, she nodded in understanding, having an idea of what had happened.

「You can sense that curse further inside, yes?」
「Yes. I have more than enough experience with it, I’m sure there’s more of it ahead.」

Mira voiced her guess, and Worthramble confirmed it. That was also the reason why the light had cut off so suddenly, the curse did not allow it to go on. In other words, Worthramble could not enter, and Mira would be unable to summon any spirits inside.

「Wait, does that mean we won’t have Complete Suppresion’s protection from now on either?」
「That’s the gist of it.」
「I see…」

It was deep in the night, but there was no sure way of telling if anyone was inside. Sasori looked moody, realizing the easy part was over. Usually she would be excited to show off how good her stealth skills are, but having experienced Complete Suppression even for such a short time, she deeply regretted parting ways with it.

「Well, no way around it then. See you when we get out then.」

Saying that, Mira sent Worthramble away and walked forward without a care in the world. If there was anyone inside, she would be able to notice them with Life Sensing. And if they had any sort of sensors placed inside, they would quickly notice them as those devices were very bulky.

They only had to be careful with their light so it would not be obvious, so Mira lowered the brightness of her Concept Magic light to the minimum and walked into the Graveyard of War Memorials. Sasori followed after her, sharpening her senses as much as possible.