Halna Midi Meren
She made it just by a hair. Right before the robber stepped in, she managed to teleport herself. But she had been unable to get that far, limited to a teleport in the vicinity.
With Snow White and the homunculus, she leaped to the entrance of the ruins, then let out a sigh of relief. The big door had not been touched. It had been neither opened nor broken. The thieves had not entered into the ruins. That had to mean that they had come this far but then had realized the danger within the ruins and left without touching them. She would have liked to say, “Naturally, they’re mere robbers—”but the enemy had opened the door leading to the entranceway, and then had opened the door of the storage shed, after all.
She had to reconsider how she was looking at this. The courtyard system had also not broken by accident. Someone had broken it. The robbers were not merely some outlaws—they had the power to pry open magic security.
“For now…”
Halna was about to give orders, and then she looked up the stairs. In the chilly stone room, the temperature she felt was a few degrees colder than actuality. And the temperature her body felt now dropped further. Without the time to even think, Something’s coming, the whole room swayed.
She was rattled. This was not just an earthquake. Even if the entranceway was now open, it had been made so it would never shake from a mere incidental earthquake. In other words, something unanticipated was happening.
Before she could guess what that was, the flagstones cracked. Something the same as the root that had cut through the courtyard before thrust through the flagstones, breaking through the ceiling to try to go farther, but it immediately stopped moving, wrinkling up, weakly shriveling up just like a vegetable that had lost its moisture. The Snow White–type homunculus grabbed Halna’s arm and came in front of her. But what could it protect her from?
Something was happening. Or was something being made to happen? It was the robber who had set foot in the storage shed. They seemed capable of anything.
Halna chanted a spell. First, she chanted a farseeing spell, accessing the security camera in the storage shed to check the interior.
Her closed eyes reflected a scene that was not here. Books and experimental tools were scattered around. It had been ransacked. But those things were trivial. Seeing at the back of the room what had become of her dear root, Halna wailed. It was withered black and shriveled up.
What…? How could they…?
What was done was done, and there was no point in lamenting it now. She should think about what to do from here on out. Even understanding that, she couldn’t help but grit her teeth. But Halna was not even given the time for regret.
“Excuse me.”
Wondering what it was this time, she looked toward the voice. Kumi-Kumi and Lillian were both hanging their heads.
“We have a report. The enemy has retreated,” said Lillian.
“Huh? Why?”
“We believe they might be wary of these…tremors. Apparently, the ground is bumpy, and if you’re not careful, then you’ll trip and fall.”
They fled because of the tremors? Could she assume it was something that simple? Didn’t they have some kind of plan? The thoughts started going around in circles in Halna’s head, and she fixed the position of her glasses and pulled herself together.
It was a fact that the enemy had retreated. So then they should use that fact. Though this hadn’t been planned for, Halna was at the entranceway. She would use this place, this situation. It would be better than returning to the storage shed, which was no longer safe. She didn’t know what sort of traps might be left there.
Halna turned around and looked toward the ruins. The big door at the back of the entrance area remained shut. That had not been touched. Which meant that they hadn’t touched what was within, either.
Halna turned back to Lillian and Kumi-Kumi. “Go into the ruins. Find the relic and bring it to me,” she ordered.
“We’re in…the middle of…making a base in the courtyard…,” said Kumi-Kumi.
“Never mind that. Obtaining energy is our top priority.”
“What is…the relic…?”
“I don’t know. Find something that looks like a relic and bring it back here. You two are the only ones I can trust with this. Set up some safety lines, too. If things take a turn for the worse, then pull on them immediately. Got that? I’m counting on you both.”
She was irritated at Kumi-Kumi for speaking so slowly, even at a time like this, but yelling wouldn’t get her anywhere. She told herself that it was a good thing that they had their own powers of judgment, unlike homunculi.
She would make the fullest use of this time. If she could come back with the relic, that move would turn things around, and worst case, they had the lifelines, so they could come back, at least. Even just checking how things were inside would be worth it. Even if the two of them would complain about it, this should be for the best.
Of course, though they were capable of offering their opinions, they couldn’t say no to her. When Halna chanted the spell to open the doors, the two magical girls vanished in the literal blink of an eye, and Halna wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.
A regular flesh-and-blood mage or magical girl couldn’t simply walk into the ruins. But the bodies of fused magical girls were incredibly similar to those of homunculi. They were highly resistant to magic, and they could withstand a certain amount of activity within the ruins. The problem with homunculi was their inferior intellect and powers of judgment, so even if they had the resistance, they had been unsuited to exploring the ruins. But these fused bodies with the intellect and judgment of magical girls had the best of both worlds, so to speak.
The original purpose of the fusion had been to search the ruins and plunder the relic. While the fusions weren’t yet perfect, the situation being what it was, she couldn’t be asking for too much.
Halna glanced over at the doors and immediately averted her eyes. Impenetrable darkness lay beyond. But the doors even just being open gave her the chills. She wanted to close them right away, but she had to keep them open until Kumi-Kumi and Lillian came back.