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Emera and the others also reported on their findings, and then the conversation shifted to their future plans.

Arlon, Sero, and some of his men, would conduct a thorough search of any place where an entrance might be hidden. Mira would leave Sentopolly in their hands, and resume her search for Johann. Uzume would return to the Fifty Bells’ headquarters, where she would study the documents obtained through Mira and see if they could start working on contingency plans using them as a base. At the very least she wanted to procure anti-black mist stone equipment for the people in the meeting.

「Anyway, I’m not really in a position to talk, but will it be ready on time? I leafed through the documents myself, but it all seemed like professional jargon and gibberish to me.」

Black mist stones were a new product that had never been used in that world before. Even with documents detailing their properties and uses, it would take a while to decipher and understand everything. Mira doubted it was possible to prepare countermeasures using that information with the limited time.

But hearing Mira’s doubt, Uzume just smiled confidently.

「I don’t think there will be any issues. I already have a group of experts in many fields at my disposition. They should take at most a day to read and understand the documents, then two days to prepare the equipment for all of us sitting here.」

She said with a proud pose.

「Oh, that’s rather impressive.」

According to Uzume, there were people in the Fifty Bells that could study and understand documents about a brand new item in just one day. On top of that, they could also build countermeasures in a short time. Mira was deeply impressed hearing about such skilled individuals.

「I know, right! After all, we have Albatinus, the founder of the Magnus line of alchemists and known as the wisest of them. He’s really amazing.」

Uzume seemed elated being praised by her former comrade in arms, and smiled brightly. But there was someone else who also showed a strong reaction to that name.

「Albatinus the Magnus alchemist? That Albatinus?!」

It was Fricca, she stood up and closed in on Uzume, looking very shocked. It was rare seeing her approach anyone other than Mira like that, but it made sense this time. Anyone with minimal knowledge of alchemist knew of Albatinus the Magnus alchemist. He was a vampire, which gave him a very long lifespan and had lived for more than a thousand years, making him a living legend. Almost as famous as his name was his eccentric personality, and how hard it was to get him to cooperate with anyone.

「Yeah, I found where he was hiding and asked for his help. He happily agreed to it.」
But Uzume spoke of it like it was no big matter. 「He even made this for me,」 she added, pulling up a pendant from her neck. It was black with a colorful shine depending on the angle of the light reflecting off it, made of Albatinus’ most prominent and valuable magic material Eternanolite.

「Ohh, that looks like a rare item!」

Mira leant forward and took a closer look at the pendant, and some time later spoke with a slightly jealous voice. She knew little about alchemy overall, but Eternanolite was famous as a priced material so even she knew of it. Mostly because it had a strong affinity for Refining, Mira’s only manufacturing ability.

「I knoww, it’s so cool.」

Showing it off, Uzume began dangling the pendant in front of Mira’s eyes. Mira just groaned slightly as her eyes followed its movements. At the same time, Fricca regained her usual attitude towards Mira, and Emera barely managed to restrain her before she jumped.

Arlon and the rest watched that with frustration. A billion Rils were nothing compared to the value of the pendant, but only Mira and Uzume seemed oblivious to that fact. Meanwhile Sero was once again impressed at the size of the organization she led, and her composure when handling such invaluable items. In a way it showed just how prepared and resourceful the Fifty Bells were, giving him the certainty that they actually had a chance at destroying Chimera Clauzen.

「Either way, we should have no issues with producing any material. Hmm…I guess we’d only need to figure out what kind of equipment to build. I know Arlon favors axes, and Mira…a long staff should be fine. What about you all? Do you have any preferences?」

Uzume produced a notepad and held it as she asked those present. From the looks of things, she wanted to make sure the anti-black-mist weapons were all shaped according to the preferences of the team. Since everyone would need new weapons, it made sense to Uzume for them to be shaped in a familiar way for the users, since just a few days would not be enough to master completely new weapons, but that such a variety of weapons could be built so quickly showed once again how well prepared the Fifty Bells were. Arlon had no complaints, and Mira was okay with the suggestion too.

Then Emera asked for a sword, Asbar a hammer, Zef a dagger, Fricca a wand, and Sero wanted a longsword.

「Alright, got it. I’ll ask them to make these first then.」

Uzume noted down everything they asked for, then asked for the height of each of them and closed the notepad.

「I’ll go back to the headquarters then. If you need me for something just tell Piisuke.」

Uzume had nothing else to do there, and after those words her body began glowing. After a flash, she transformed into the suzaku Piisuke, though to be more precise, they had switched places.

「Wha-! Uzume turned into a bird?!」

Emera said loudly in shock. Anyone who did not know her skill would think that. So Mira had to explain in her stead, saying that she had an onmyoji skill that allowed her to exchange places with a shikigami.

And she had used that to return to the Fifty Bells’ headquarters far away.

「Thanks for explaining! That’s exactly it, and I’ll be back to Piisuke’s place soon enough. Until then, I hope you’ll take good care of Piisuke, Mira. Just tell me if you need anything though.」

When Mira was done explaining, Piisuke spoke with Uzume’s voice. This was shocking to Emera and the others as well, but they had just seen her switch places with a shikigami, so it was not as impactful. But Mira looked annoyed, being put in charge of Piisuke.

「Anyway, see you later.」

Before anyone could fully comprehend what happened, Uzume’s last words rang and Piisuke began glowing. Then he gradually turned smaller, until he was small enough to fit on the palm of a hand. He looked like a miniature suzaku.

「Ohh, he turned small.」

The small Piisuke began flapping its tiny wings, flying up and landing on Mira’s head.

「Aww, so cute!」

Fricca was the first to react. Everyone agreed that a small plump Piisuke was really cute, but Fricca meant something slightly different. She was highlighting the fact that Mira’s cuteness had been heightened with the presence of Piisuke. Cute girls and small animals were always a perfect combination.

After that the meeting focused on the smaller details.

Sero was in charge of searching for any places where an entrance to Chimera Clauzen’s was likely to be, but they still had to decide exactly how he would look through them.

There Mira told them of the magic sensing alarms she found in Melville’s warehouse complex, and that it was likely the entrances were also protected with similar devices. After all, the main base was the most crucial building for a group like that.

It was only much later that night that everything was decided and everyone knew where and how to search, and there were no more questions. Everyone stood up, and Mira yawned loudly before saying, 「I guess I’ll take a bath and call it a night then.」 That made Fricca cling onto her, which made Emera follow the two to the bathroom.

The three girls made a lot of noise as they headed there, and the men were spurred by them and also followed to take a bath in a good mood.