29 - Into the Underground Canal

This morning I felt like I had a nightmare, but I guess it was just my imagination

Anyway, I did the usual chores with Aya, cooked lunch and dinner again today.

Today was the day that my sister’s group would be going to the western forest, but I’m not particularly worried about them since they’re a certain amount stronger than me.

Finally, I checked the mail Taku sent me.

According to it, the players who entered the north and west forest overnight yesterday were crushed.

The player who entered the Misty Forest was attacked by a giant of light when he died, or something like that.

The player who went through the southern grassland area saw a city from a distance, but the moment he stepped into the field, he was attacked by a scarecrow and died.

I can see the reason behind it, let’s just log in.

◇◇◇

When I woke up, I saw the same ceiling as in the library, and it seems it wasn’t the old man’s bed that I always monopolized.

“Fufufu.”

“?”

I looked towards the direction of the voice and saw Tia. She was lying on my side, staring at my face.

“Good morning.”

“Yes, good morning.”

She came to the library to look for me after I didn’t come back, but it wasn’t time to take me home, so she brought me to a place like a guest room that Tia used before and slept there.

Is that okay with you, princess?

I left the drawing room, which was apparently inside one of the several doors in the library.

I’ll log out here next time.

Tia had some business to attend to, so she quickly left. I prayed that it wasn’t the underground canal, and I started to move.

Whilst i walked, I reviewed what I had learned from yesterday’s investigation.

First of all, the northern forest seems to be a long forest running north to south.

The main inhabitants are Wolves, which are the same as Uluru, Wild Wolves, which are a higher species, and Wild Wolf Riders, which are even higher.

Then there are wild rabbits and horn rabbits. Living alongside them are Wild Boars, Wild Snakes, Wild Deer, Wild Foxes, and so on.

Whilst there were a number of dangerous beats there, the most fearsome beast is the wild bear that lives in the northwest forest, with its high vitality and powerful attack power, and its body protected by strong muscles and fur, which cannot be harmed by ordinary attacks.

Which meant that the only place to go is the center, where there are ruins and a large gate.

The only place to go is the center, where there are ruins and a large gate.

It seems that the main beasts inhabiting the area are slime and goblin.

There is a fairy forest in the southwest, a wild dock forest in the southeast, and a mining city in the center.

When I say that the guy was attacked by a scarecrow when he entered the field, I think that they were probably attacked by a golem called a guard scarecrow. Most likely, they were trying to steal vegetables from the fields or something like that.

If you go northeast, you’ll find a port town, and if you take the long road east-southeast you’ll find ruins on a cliff.

If you go straight east and cross the sea, you’ll find a group of small islands, and if you continue past them, you’ll find another continent. Hmm, could we get there if we build a ship?

That’s about it for the area around the Royal Capital, I guess.

The place I’m heading for is the underground canal.

One of the things I found out yesterday was about it. It seems that there are still secrets in there.

This time, my goal is to investigate it.

◇

To accurately describe us as we go through the dark waterways, the slimes are predating. And there are those preyed on by the slime.

To be more specific….I am now floating in the purple slime.

Only my head is sticking out, but even my head is covered with ordinary slime.

In addition, inside the purple slime, the little bunny and the seven bunnies are swimming around on the surface of the slime with only their heads sticking out.

The petite golem is soaking its entire body in the slime and wriggling its hands.

And leading them all is Uluru, the silver-haired wolf.

He’s grown so big that he’s over Dekasura-san. 1

I used the stench resistance skill crystal on Uluru, and he was able to get it.

Thanks to this, it seems that even in the terrible smell of the underground canal, he can somewhat smell the enemy’s position, just a little, but better than nothing.

In addition, I’ve given him night vision, deodorant, presence detection, enemy spotting, and covert skills.

So, we slowly make our way underground.

The enemies that attacked us were usually caught by Dekasura-san and suffocated to death after being rendered immobile by the numbing poison.

The ghosts and scavenger slimes were absorbed by Dekasura-san and only the core and the magic stone remained.

It’s a perfect formation.

No matter where the attack is coming from, up, down, left or right, me, the rabbits and the Petit Golem are unharmed.

It’s so stable that I would have no problem logging out.

The reason I can’t log out, however, is because I’m the only one who can collect materials at the moment.

…Well, I haven’t tried to see if I can use the skill crystals in my inventory, so I can’t say.

And, although I’ve never encountered one, there are Huge Slugs, a higher level of Big Slug, in the underground canal.

It seems to be a very large one. I don’t want to encounter them.

If I do encounter one, I plan to break away from Dekasura-san and have him use his entire body to defeat it.

Hopefully Dekasura-san is strong and big enough to beat it.

After a while, we arrived at our destination.

At the end of the underground canal——

——It was a waterworks.

I called out to the person there.

“Hello~”

“Ara~? It’s unusual for a child to come to a place like this, and….You’re a bit strange.”

This light blue haired, lightly clad beauty is Undine, the water spirit that purifies the sewers of the royal capital.

It seems that this sewer was built using Malevitos’ technology a long ago, and they asked a powerful water spirit to purify it.

“I’d like to go underground.”

“Ara~, it’s not safe though~?”

“Can we go?”

“Hmm, if you’re going, go with my sister, okay?”

“Un, I’ll go.”

When I said that, the spirit called out to the back of the passage, and a beautiful girl who looked like a younger version of her came.

After talking about something I couldn’t hear, the young spirit called out to me.

“Follow me then~”

“Un.”

They have the same way of speaking, and almost the same face, it’s strange.

The spirit proceeded along with the slime’s progress.

After a while, we stopped in front of a door. If you look closely at it, you can see that it’s filled with magic power.

The door opened automatically when the young spirit put in her magic. Was it a barrier or something?

We descended the long staircase ahead of us.

Underneath the royal capital, there is a vast underground canal, and further down…

I opened a door similar to the one above, and what I found was——

? Quality:? Rarity:? Durability:?

Notes:?

——A supermassive crystal of magic power.

It’s a mysterious structure that appraisal doesn’t reveal anything about.

In the dome-shaped space filled with water underneath, the huge crystal rising in the center glowed faintly with excess magical power.

Small, multicolored lights danced around the crystals, creating a fantastic atmosphere.

If you look carefully, you can see that there are many magic circles and letters carved into the crystal, sending magic power to it.

There is a huge magic circle underneath the royal city that absorbs the excess magic power in the city.

In addition, underneath the magic circle, there is a large number of magic circles that are sending magic power to this room.

The spirits are not hired for free, they work for the extra magic power and a few shards from the crystal.

Furthermore, when you leave this room, you will find a vast underground lake, which is connected to a spring deep in the fairy forest.

The small spirits around the crystals are coming from the fairy forest.

It seems that when the capital is attacked by someone, the barrier magic will be activated to cover the entire capital, and this huge crystal is a fuel storage for that time.

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However, this was not my purpose.

I walked out of the room, reeling from the beautiful sight.

Footnotes

Pretty sure this Dekasura-san is the Poison Slime he tamed