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Sasori looked around the room as she said that. Their main priority now was rescuing Johann, who was a witness who could prove the connection between Melville and Chimera Clauzen.

They had found three options to figure out where he had been taken to.

One, they could wait until the ripples indicating the manufacture of black mist stones was in progress became evident, except that only Mira could do that.

Two, they could search for a place where the ripples’ effect had manifested, namely the disappearance of spirit power and destruction of Spirit Arms. If they were able to determine that had happened in any place, it would narrow down the spots to search considerably.

Three, they could try stealing the confidential customer data from the Ollflat Workshop, which they presumed detailed the places where magic sensing alarms had been deployed. With that data, they would be able to search for any important locations that were heavily guarded just like the warehouses, since they would certainly keep him under heavy surveillance. And if there was a lack of anything spiritual near that place as well, the chances of finding Johann would be high.

「I guess I’ll be in charge of searching the workshop then.」
「I’ll look for a place without spirit power.」
「And I’ll just keep watch around here.」

The three announced which option they would pursue, and finished drinking their cocoa at the same time.

Sasori was well experienced with infiltrating secure places, so she would go to the workshop. Hebi was a spellcaster so she was aware of spiritual power, and could search for places devoid of it. Mira was the only one who could see the black ripples, so she would keep watch in case she spotted any.

The only downside was that it could take a while until Johann resumed manufacturing black mist stones. He had been taken away from the mansion so suddenly he was likely missing most of his equipment, and it would take a while before he could work properly again. According to Mylenne, the whole process required some specialized tools which could not be obtained in just a single day. In other words, it would take a while before Mira’s role was helpful.

After that the three agreed on a time for their next meeting, they spoke to Angelique and Mylenne assuring them they would find Johann, and left the underground shelter.

When they were back at the Eabates’ prototype warehouse, Mira waited for the shelf to cover the hidden door, and then had Sasori explain to her one more time how to open it. She wrote it all down in a random piece of paper she found in her Item Box, given she was terrible at remembering things like that.

Still inside the dim warehouse with all the prototypes and documents, Mira let Sasori double check the notes she took, then returned the piece of paper and her expensive-looking fountain pen to her Item Box. As she did that, she noticed a group of documents stored there.

「Oh, right, I completely forgot about this.」

Muttering that, Mira took the documents out. It was a bundle of many dozens of pages.

「Ah, I remember.」

Sasori also recognized them, but Hebi was not there when they received them, so she just peered at Mira’s hand curiously while asking, 「What is it?」

「Some documents about the black mist stones Johann gave us.」

Mira manifested a light with Concept Magic to see better and began leafing through the documents. For a while, the three girls’ faces moved closer as they all read through.

It was a record of the means of manufacturing black mist stones, as well as how to bound them to other materials. There were also many notes of the research results from multiple experiments with different materials, as well as the properties exhibited.

The most interesting part was the latter half. Those pages detailed multiple means of neutralizing items with black mist on them, or how to properly fight someone with such a weapon, all described in immense detail.

They could almost feel Johann’s will there, trying to correct all the mistakes he made in an attempt to keep his wife and daughter safe. On top of that, there was mention of demons as well. Things very few people knew of the relationship between demons and spirits.

That raised the documents’ authenticity far more than anything else, and Mira’s group knew Johann truly wanted to set things right.

「This looks like information that could overturn the tide of war. We should bring it to that child… I mean Uzume, as soon as possible.」

With her fingertips to her chin, Mira grimaced seeing there was far more valuable information in the documents than she had expected.

「Yeah, that sounds good. There’s a lot of craftsmen in the headquarters, so the sooner they see this the sooner they’ll be able to recreate the tools mentioned here.」
「It’s urgent.」

Sasori and Hebi agreed again. Many of the tools to counter black mist were complicated and would take time to build. Studying the blueprints and gathering the necessary materials would also take time.

Considering they were at war, the sooner they could start working the better. The three could agree on that.

「Alright, I’ll go deliver it then. It’ll take days before Johann resumes manufacturing black mist stones too, and once production ramps up I should be able to see the ripples and other effects from outside.」

A roundtrip on Pegasus would take two or three days at the most, so Mira offered to deliver the documents herself.

The black ripples would increase in size the further along the black mist stones were, and even if it started that same morning, they would only be visible from a distance in a few days. There was plenty of time for her to leave and come back.

「That sounds good, you should go. Though we have better ways of sending things of that size!」

Sasori instantly agreed, but right after she mentioned something else with a proud voice. She then explained that the Fifty Bells had a special delivery system. That method was to essentially place the items on one of the branches of the Fifty Bells, which existed in many cities, which then would send the parcel through emergency mail. While such deliveries were costly, they would arrive at the headquarters in half a day.

「This city has no branch, the closest one is in Sentopolly, south of the commercial district.」

Once Sasori had finished explaining the method, Hebi spoke briefly as she took out a map and pointed at the exact location.

「Mm, got it.」

Mira looked at the map and made a mental note of the location, comparing it to the aerial image of Sentopolly she had gotten recently. She had a rough idea of where to go.

「Also, there’s a password, ‘Light in the woods, peace to spirits’. Tell that to the branch director and you’ll be given access to a communications device connected to headquarters. You should be able to request sending a parcel that way.」

「I see. Light in the woods, peace to spirits, correct?」

Repeating the words, Mira took out her piece of paper and pen and wrote it all down again.