Chapter 166 – At the Tower of Bryne – part two
(Hydra’s PoV)
I used the teleportation magic circle and returned to the basement of the orphanage.
The Tower of Bryne was located in an undeveloped land.
Ostensibly, it is in the same kind of area as Krozheit, but… Differently from this city, the tower is in a truly undeveloped land.
To get there, we have to use a teleportation magic circle that was created in ancient times and that allows us to travel large distances.
The Tower of Bryne does exist in a real location in this world, but it’s almost impossible to get there by foot… It would probably take a few months or even years to arrive at its location.
I can roughly guess the location of the Tower of Bryne based on the overall position of the stars in the sky and based on what kind of flora and fauna are visible in its surroundings, but… I’m not sure if it’s possible to pinpoint its location from that alone.
In any case, nobody knows who built the Tower of Bryne or why it was built… Or well, at least that’s what I have been told, but it’s possible that the higher ups in the assassins’ organization know the truth.
All I was told was that there was physical evidence that proved that the Tower of Bryne was a very old building, but that was also quite sturdy and existed throughout all of these years while barely suffering any damage.
And then, there is the lawless country, Krozheit.
The insides of this city may look quite deteriorated, but the outside wall surrounding the city actually looks quite magnificent.
Sure, it hasn’t been maintained and is in a poor state right now, but the parts that still stand definitely show that it was a strong wall at one point.
I think this city might have once functioned as a wartime station, or perhaps it was meant to be a part of a small country that disappeared with time.
But for some reason, it wasn’t used for whatever original purpose it had, and it ended up becoming a place where wanderers who had no place to stay at settled in.
That seems to be the origin of the place we now know as Krozheit.
The orphanage that we currently use as our base, as well as several other buildings of this city, were probably built at the same era when the outer walls were built.
The same era when this hidden room with the teleportation magic circle was built, as well as the hidden passage connected to it.
It seems like there were other big underground passages within this city in the past too, but they seem to have been deliberately destroyed at one point, so only a small portion of them are still usable.
That was probably done to make it hard for people to find out about the room with the teleportation magic circle.
In any case, I left the hidden room and went through the hidden passage underground, which led me to the junkyard below the orphanage.
The door leading to the hidden passage was also carefully hidden, so even if one tried to explore the junkyard, they wouldn’t be able to find it easily.
Moreover, the dusty junk in itself also helps in hiding the existence of the hidden door… It’s essentially a multiple-layered cover to properly hide the teleportation magic circle.
… I sneezed.
I sneeze way too easily in dusty places, so I decided to quickly leave the junkyard and headed upstairs.
From here onwards, I’m no longer the leader of the assassin trainees, but am instead just the nun, sister Hydra.
******
“Miss Hydra.” I heard Cherry call out to me.
I was in the middle of doing my daily routine of cleaning and doing laundry when Cherry approached me.
She was a girl who came to the orphanage not too long ago, and she has been in charge of procuring food and cooking.
For better or worse, the children started calling her, ‘Cherry of Meal’.
Also, both me and Cherry are aware that we’re both assassin trainees.
Though I’m unsure if Cherry knows that the entrance to the Tower of Bryne lies here.
She has the appearance of a nice young lady who wears glasses, but she sometimes, even if just for a moment, shows a pretty ruthless side of herself.
I guess that’s fitting for an assassin.
“Is something the matter?” I asked her.
I stopped moving my broom, that I was using the clean the hall.
Then, Cherry took out a leather bag, and as it moved, I could hear the sound of hard things hitting one another.
“These are the stones imbued with Full Impact that you requested.” She handed me the bag.
“Oh? That was fast.” I replied as I picked it.
Cherry’s Gift is ‘Magic Circles’. She is a magician who specializes herself in making magic circles.
A magic circle is a powerful thing that becomes active once it’s drawn and is placed in the right location, but I didn’t know much about them until I met Cherry.
A spell that requires being drawn and activated at the right time… I knew that this kind of thing was useful for ambushes and traps, but I wondered if there were other ways to use them.
When I accidentally slipped out those words, Cherry gave me an unexpected retort that completely changed my view on magic circles.
One can infuse a magic circle into an object and set up a condition that it simply needs to be thrown to be activated… Basically, it can work like a portable trap that you activate at will.
Moreover, any amount of those can be prepared in advance, and it’s not just the caster that can use them.
I put them to test one night, and the result was as great as I expected.
I met up with a pervert by chance, and ended up using those stones on her… I didn’t want the pervert to get captured though, so I was planning on rescuing her on the next day.
However, she had already escaped by then, so I was unable to do anything.
If I ever meet that pervert again though, I’d like to apologize to her.
But regardless of that, there seems to be some limitations about what can be done with imbuing magic circles into objects… Most notably, large-scale magic circles can’t be infused into small objects.
Still, they’re quite useful even with this limitation.
And also… Putting Full Impact into rocks is a usage that Cherry didn’t mind sharing with me.
In other words, this was a small enough knowledge that she felt like there was no reason to keep it a secret.
Therefore, I’m sure that she has a trump card that is much more powerful and that she hasn’t shared with anyone.
“Thank you very much.” I told her.
I ordered ten stones from her, as each stone could only be activated once.
For now, I’m still just experimenting with them, but I’d like to eventually figure out what is the optimal use for those stones, and I’ll keep them with me for when an emergency arises.
“You know, I had once heard that it was possible to replicate Gifts with magic, but I was surprised to see that it really was doable.” I commented.
Well, I guess that’s why magicians are evaluated so highly.
Because they can sometimes replicate other Gifts with their magic.
Of course, the type of magic they can use, the nature of the person, what kind of Gift they want to replicate, and all sorts of other things can limit what they can and can’t replicate.
Still, if a magician can replicate even a single Gift, they can already function like a person with two Gifts. That is definitely a very valuable quality for anyone to have.
“Well, magic circles are a bit different than normal magic…” Cherry smiled wryly.
Although magic and magic circles both use magic power, they function in different ways.
As far as Cherry told me, in a simplified manner, for as long as you know the magic circle that represents an effect, you can reproduce the basic level of any Gift.
As in, it’s not just Full Impact that Cherry can reproduce, but she did not elaborate any further on that.
******
“Food! Snacks!” A child exclaimed.
“Snacks! Snacks!” Another child exclaimed.
“I wanna lick some sugar!” A third child exclaimed.
“Wait a second-
“Ugh!” Cherry groaned as one of the children collided with her.
Seems like it’s about time for their snacks.
The children who refer to Cherry as ‘Cherry of Meal’ returned to the orphanage.
“Wash your hands first! Did you wash them already!? Then why don’t you go wash them now? Let’s go.” Florentine told the children.
Florentine, who is a friend of Cherry, had returned together with the children.
She picked up all the children that had run towards Cherry and started carrying them either on her shoulders or under her arms… This girl too is an assassin trainee.
“Whoa… They’re hesitating less and less with each passing day…” Cherry muttered.
She was a bit out of breath because one of the children had charged their head directly into Cherry’s solar plexus.
“It’s good to see they’re getting along so well with you.” I commented.
I was the one who used to be charged before Cherry arrived, so I honestly felt a bit jealous of her right now.
“I’ll help you in the kitchen. We had cookies yesterday, so… How about pancakes today?” I suggested.
“Thank you for the help. Let’s make pancakes then.
“There were also some walnuts, weren’t there? Can we use those?” Cherry asked.
“They’re hidden together with the director’s secret alcohol stash though, so… Well, why don’t you try finding them?” I replied.
Like this, me and Cherry, two people who unexpectedly got along quite well with each other, started walking side by side.
Chapter 166 – At the Tower of Bryne – part two
(Hydra’s PoV)
I used the teleportation magic circle and returned to the basement of the orphanage.
The Tower of Bryne was located in an undeveloped land.
Ostensibly, it is in the same kind of area as Krozheit, but… Differently from this city, the tower is in a truly undeveloped land.
To get there, we have to use a teleportation magic circle that was created in ancient times and that allows us to travel large distances.
The Tower of Bryne does exist in a real location in this world, but it’s almost impossible to get there by foot… It would probably take a few months or even years to arrive at its location.
I can roughly guess the location of the Tower of Bryne based on the overall position of the stars in the sky and based on what kind of flora and fauna are visible in its surroundings, but… I’m not sure if it’s possible to pinpoint its location from that alone.
In any case, nobody knows who built the Tower of Bryne or why it was built… Or well, at least that’s what I have been told, but it’s possible that the higher ups in the assassins’ organization know the truth.
All I was told was that there was physical evidence that proved that the Tower of Bryne was a very old building, but that was also quite sturdy and existed throughout all of these years while barely suffering any damage.
And then, there is the lawless country, Krozheit.
The insides of this city may look quite deteriorated, but the outside wall surrounding the city actually looks quite magnificent.
Sure, it hasn’t been maintained and is in a poor state right now, but the parts that still stand definitely show that it was a strong wall at one point.
I think this city might have once functioned as a wartime station, or perhaps it was meant to be a part of a small country that disappeared with time.
But for some reason, it wasn’t used for whatever original purpose it had, and it ended up becoming a place where wanderers who had no place to stay at settled in.
That seems to be the origin of the place we now know as Krozheit.
The orphanage that we currently use as our base, as well as several other buildings of this city, were probably built at the same era when the outer walls were built.
The same era when this hidden room with the teleportation magic circle was built, as well as the hidden passage connected to it.
It seems like there were other big underground passages within this city in the past too, but they seem to have been deliberately destroyed at one point, so only a small portion of them are still usable.
That was probably done to make it hard for people to find out about the room with the teleportation magic circle.
In any case, I left the hidden room and went through the hidden passage underground, which led me to the junkyard below the orphanage.
The door leading to the hidden passage was also carefully hidden, so even if one tried to explore the junkyard, they wouldn’t be able to find it easily.
Moreover, the dusty junk in itself also helps in hiding the existence of the hidden door… It’s essentially a multiple-layered cover to properly hide the teleportation magic circle.
… I sneezed.
I sneeze way too easily in dusty places, so I decided to quickly leave the junkyard and headed upstairs.
From here onwards, I’m no longer the leader of the assassin trainees, but am instead just the nun, sister Hydra.
******
“Miss Hydra.” I heard Cherry call out to me.
I was in the middle of doing my daily routine of cleaning and doing laundry when Cherry approached me.
She was a girl who came to the orphanage not too long ago, and she has been in charge of procuring food and cooking.
For better or worse, the children started calling her, ‘Cherry of Meal’.
Also, both me and Cherry are aware that we’re both assassin trainees.
Though I’m unsure if Cherry knows that the entrance to the Tower of Bryne lies here.
She has the appearance of a nice young lady who wears glasses, but she sometimes, even if just for a moment, shows a pretty ruthless side of herself.
I guess that’s fitting for an assassin.
“Is something the matter?” I asked her.
I stopped moving my broom, that I was using the clean the hall.
Then, Cherry took out a leather bag, and as it moved, I could hear the sound of hard things hitting one another.
“These are the stones imbued with Full Impact that you requested.” She handed me the bag.
“Oh? That was fast.” I replied as I picked it.
Cherry’s Gift is ‘Magic Circles’. She is a magician who specializes herself in making magic circles.
A magic circle is a powerful thing that becomes active once it’s drawn and is placed in the right location, but I didn’t know much about them until I met Cherry.
A spell that requires being drawn and activated at the right time… I knew that this kind of thing was useful for ambushes and traps, but I wondered if there were other ways to use them.
When I accidentally slipped out those words, Cherry gave me an unexpected retort that completely changed my view on magic circles.
One can infuse a magic circle into an object and set up a condition that it simply needs to be thrown to be activated… Basically, it can work like a portable trap that you activate at will.
Moreover, any amount of those can be prepared in advance, and it’s not just the caster that can use them.
I put them to test one night, and the result was as great as I expected.
I met up with a pervert by chance, and ended up using those stones on her… I didn’t want the pervert to get captured though, so I was planning on rescuing her on the next day.
However, she had already escaped by then, so I was unable to do anything.
If I ever meet that pervert again though, I’d like to apologize to her.
But regardless of that, there seems to be some limitations about what can be done with imbuing magic circles into objects… Most notably, large-scale magic circles can’t be infused into small objects.
Still, they’re quite useful even with this limitation.
And also… Putting Full Impact into rocks is a usage that Cherry didn’t mind sharing with me.
In other words, this was a small enough knowledge that she felt like there was no reason to keep it a secret.
Therefore, I’m sure that she has a trump card that is much more powerful and that she hasn’t shared with anyone.
“Thank you very much.” I told her.
I ordered ten stones from her, as each stone could only be activated once.
For now, I’m still just experimenting with them, but I’d like to eventually figure out what is the optimal use for those stones, and I’ll keep them with me for when an emergency arises.
“You know, I had once heard that it was possible to replicate Gifts with magic, but I was surprised to see that it really was doable.” I commented.
Well, I guess that’s why magicians are evaluated so highly.
Because they can sometimes replicate other Gifts with their magic.
Of course, the type of magic they can use, the nature of the person, what kind of Gift they want to replicate, and all sorts of other things can limit what they can and can’t replicate.
Still, if a magician can replicate even a single Gift, they can already function like a person with two Gifts. That is definitely a very valuable quality for anyone to have.
“Well, magic circles are a bit different than normal magic…” Cherry smiled wryly.
Although magic and magic circles both use magic power, they function in different ways.
As far as Cherry told me, in a simplified manner, for as long as you know the magic circle that represents an effect, you can reproduce the basic level of any Gift.
As in, it’s not just Full Impact that Cherry can reproduce, but she did not elaborate any further on that.
******
“Food! Snacks!” A child exclaimed.
“Snacks! Snacks!” Another child exclaimed.
“I wanna lick some sugar!” A third child exclaimed.
“Wait a second-
“Ugh!” Cherry groaned as one of the children collided with her.
Seems like it’s about time for their snacks.
The children who refer to Cherry as ‘Cherry of Meal’ returned to the orphanage.
“Wash your hands first! Did you wash them already!? Then why don’t you go wash them now? Let’s go.” Florentine told the children.
Florentine, who is a friend of Cherry, had returned together with the children.
She picked up all the children that had run towards Cherry and started carrying them either on her shoulders or under her arms… This girl too is an assassin trainee.
“Whoa… They’re hesitating less and less with each passing day…” Cherry muttered.
She was a bit out of breath because one of the children had charged their head directly into Cherry’s solar plexus.
“It’s good to see they’re getting along so well with you.” I commented.
I was the one who used to be charged before Cherry arrived, so I honestly felt a bit jealous of her right now.
“I’ll help you in the kitchen. We had cookies yesterday, so… How about pancakes today?” I suggested.
“Thank you for the help. Let’s make pancakes then.
“There were also some walnuts, weren’t there? Can we use those?” Cherry asked.
“They’re hidden together with the director’s secret alcohol stash though, so… Well, why don’t you try finding them?” I replied.
Like this, me and Cherry, two people who unexpectedly got along quite well with each other, started walking side by side.
