Chapter 20 – Too Good to be True….What’s There to See?

I can see the black stone like something in front of my house.

It’s something that will be with us for a long time and I think I should think of a name for it.

It’s better if it’s easy to understand….it’s a stone so absorbing stone?

It’s absorbing divine power after all.

I look at my companions around me. No matter what I name it, they don’t understand Japanese.

….yeah.

A round object flew towards us from the forest.

Looking at it closely, it’s a monster core that was flying around the forest to gather divine power and have the absorbing stone absorb what it gathered later.

The next moment, light moves from the monster core to the absorbing stone.

「Hmmm, this is a little different from what I imagined. Maa, there’s no problem since the result of my command to gather divine power to the absorbing stone was achieved. Did I made a mistake when I was imagining it?」

But, is this okay?

The absorbing stone and the monster cores that are flying around are being managed by the rock dolls before I knew it.

No, I’m also checking if there are changes in the magical power floating around many times so if the rock dolls are managing it for me, I will be rest assured.

If I’ll manage this thing alone, I’m sure I’ll be uneasy immediately.

Well, the divine power that affected me and my companions has disappeared from the forest to some extent.

I think it’s time for me to go into the forest to look for what the three idiots left behind.

Perhaps it will be faster to search for divine power than to search for it using magic.

I couldn’t even identify the wall that was covering the forest using magic.

If I could use some divine power, wouldn’t it be easier to identify it?

Hmmm, how difficult is it to use divine power?

Well, I’ll give it a try if I have time.

Okay, let’s check out the forest!

For now, let’s look for divine power in the forest.

The cause must be in a place with a lot of divine power.

Remembering how divine power feels, I cast a detection spell over the entire forest.

A ray of light travels from one corner of the forest to the opposite corner of the forest.

「Areh? This is strange.」

I cast the detection magic again but I can’t find any divine power.

The absorbing stone comes into view.

A monster core comes back from the forest.

….the monster cores, this is too good to be true.

I didn’t expect they could erase the divine power from the forest.

「Absorption stop」

I invoke a spell to make the monster cores come back.

After a while, the 15 monster cores that were flying through the forest lined up on the ground and formed a circle around the absorbing stone.

Immediately after, a rock doll checked the monster cores one by one.

This too….is too good to be true, isn’t it?

I’m not sure how long I’ll have to wait for the new divine power to be produced.

I’ll have a cup of tea and wait.

I’m relaxing over a cup of tea with Boss-san and Koa.

I think it would take around an hour.

That’s what my instinct is telling me.

Now, let me cast that detection magic again.

Oha….eh?

In the image of the forest that appeared in my mind, there were several places that were glowing white.

They are probably places with lots of divine power.

The places with the brightest lights are….5 places, no, there are 7.

The next brightest places are 4….8 places.

And there are five places with faint lights but give a strange impression.

All in all, 20 places….that’s a lot for those 3 idiots!

I mean, I’m afraid of what I’m going to find!

Now, those places are….I’ve memorized the bird's eye view image in my mind.

Let’s start with the nearest place near me.

I checked the direction of a light shining near my residence.

I have no choice but to check them so let’s just barge in straight.

Before that “Absorption start”.

Good.

When I enter the forest, I’m accompanied by 8 animals.

Koa, Chai, Boss-san, and some parent spiders and spiderlings.

…I feel like there’s an abnormal amount of companions this time.

It’s probably because I’ve fallen over when I casted magic.

I’m sorry for making you worry.

Well, I’m happy that you care for me and it’s reassuring if you’re with me too.

I ran through the forest to the place where light was shining.

Run….run….run….

I checked the location but I forgot to check the distance.

The place I thought was the closest was also far away.

「Haa, it should be around here, right?」

Remembering the bird’s eye view image, I checked the location of the river and trees.

There’s no doubt, this is the place.

I looked around.

That’s strange. There should be something around here.

Once again, I look for divine power using detection magic.

……The magic is not working properly because it is blocked by something.

This is the second time I was blocked by something after the forest barrier.

This is definitely the work of those three idiots.

What are they trying to hide?

I don’t know what I’ll do if it’s something really bad.

Well, more importantly, how do we find it?

I should give up on using magic and just explore this place.

As we were about to start walking, a monster core came flying out of nowhere.

I looked at it and it flew off in a few circles over a place a little far from where we were.

「…..there it is.」

I headed to the place where the monster core had circled.

How did the monster core know where it was?

I’ll have to check this out later.

I see a hole in a cliff.

「A cave?」

As I get closer, I feel a little strange.

I wonder why?

As Chai approached the hole, he was flung away with a bang.

「Gaah!」

「Chai!」

I ran over to Chai to see if he was hurt.

A barrier seemed to have deflected him so there’s no injuries but he was surprised.

Koa rubs her face against his to calm him down.

Chai shook his head a few times and calmed down.

Ah, good.

I tried to get closer to the hole.

Boss-san clicks her fang to alert me.

I pat her head a few times to calm her too.

It’s probably a barrier.

What is in there to have this kind of barrier?