Magic Warrior Chapter 7 (Patreon)

Ruins

I was standing in a small stone room.

In front of me was a broken wooden door. On the walls to the right, left, and back, there were windows for light, and light was shining through them.

Through the windows, I glimpsed a scene outside that looked like the inside of a forest.

There is a Magic Circle-like object at the foot of the house that was visible after [Clean], with what appears to be the remnants of a wooden box lying around the edge.

They have probably not been used for at least a few years. Through a gap in the broken door, one can see into the passageway.

"I wonder if I can return home if I channel my magic power here? I can go home, right?"

Scared by the unexpected, I first check the surroundings.

I am curious about what lies ahead, but I am most worried about not being able to return home.

I check the Magic Circle underfoot. It doesn't look like there are any cracks or mud pockets.

At any rate, let's check if we can go home.

I pour magic power toward the Magic Circle, just as I did when I was cleaning it.

The Magic Circle began to glow, just like before, and I was back at the secret base.

"Thank goodness..."

I relaxed and got off the stone floor and lay down on the grass.

I feel like I've consumed very little magic in me.

"I feel like I've made a great discovery, but what am I going to do?"

I thought about what I would do in the future, thinking that if I were the protagonist of a novel at a time like this, I would explore the ruins without question, without even thinking about going back.

If I had to consult someone, my father, a former adventurer, would be the best person to do so.

However, I was concerned about the fact that my father was often traveling back and forth to the town these days and was not in the village very often.

If he were in the village, I could at least ask him for advice at dinner or something.

I have a feeling that even if I talk to the village chief, he will probably end up talking to my father about it.

Or maybe I should explore.

When I realized that I could go back to the village, I felt calm and didn't have a bad or dangerous impression of the place.

The air was clear and clean, similar to the air you feel here at the secret base, so it is possible that there is a force at work that keeps demons away.

The scenery outside was similar to that of the forest, so it might be an abandoned house not too far away.

I'd explore carefully and report back if it looked dangerous, and in terms of killing time, I think that's possible.

Optimistically, I felt like I wanted to explore it somewhat immediately.

"Sis, napping again?"

"Phew!"

I got up with a lot of energy and Claire was there. She seemed to have seen me wandering off into the woods and came to check on me, worried that I might have fallen down again.

It's a bad habit of mine to not see what's going on around me when I'm thinking.

"Hi, I was just taking a nap because I was bored."

"You're up to some mischief again, aren't you?

I am met with a piercing suspicion.

Why is this girl so perceptive? But I don't think it's a trick!

◇

I sat down on the grass and let Claire tell me everything.

...I felt like I had to sit up straight for some reason when I looked into Claire's eyes.

"What's that? I want to go too!"

Well, Claire's eyes are sparkling.

I see...you like this kind of thing, huh? What was the purpose of me sitting on the floor? I just did it on my own.

"But it could be dangerous, right? Claire can only use life magic, right?"

"Hmmm, actually I have learned recovery magic, from Sister."

Claire answers confidently with her chest puffed out. Eh, when did you do that?

"The Sisters at the church in the village can use recovery magic. You probably didn't know that because you're not home much, Sis, but I've had her teach me from time to time. She taught me the basics of magic."

"Oh, but when they found out that Claire seemed to be good at magic, weren't you and Mom disappointed that there was no one in the village who could teach you?"

"That was a long time ago, wasn't it? Nowadays the Sisters can use healing magic."

I had thought that Claire was only helping Mom every day, but it turned out that she was going to the church to be taught magic.

I see, so I wasn't being left out. I was a little relieved.

"Well, let's explore a little bit, shall we? If it looks dangerous, we'll leave right away."

"Yes!"

We both stood in the center of the stone floor.

"I don't know if we can both use the Magic Circle, but let's give it a try anyway."

"Good luck, sis!"

This is something I have to do for my sister.

I had to do my best for my sister. Maybe it was because I was so overzealous, maybe it was because there were so many people, maybe it was because I felt like I was consuming more magic power than before, but I was able to successfully transition.

"Wow, that's great, sis!"

"Oh, really?"

"I was told that Magic Circles for transfer require very complicated magic operations, right?"

"We, well, I just thought that place was suspicious, so I've been investigating it for a while now!"

...I was afraid that she would get angry if I told her that I had just randomly channeled magic power, so I just made it up as I went along.

I don't know for sure, but I think the magic power was reduced by the amount of one person going back and forth, or maybe twice as much for two people?

"The wooden box...no...there's nothing left in it."

Claire was turning over pieces of the rotting crates.

It must have been unmoved for a long time, and the dust was already rising.

If they were going to explore anyway, they should have had a metal sword in there. Even if it was rusty, it would have been more reassuring than a wooden sword.

"It doesn't go out that door, so be careful."

"Yeah."

After checking to see if Claire could go to the secret base and back just to be sure, I decided to check beyond the door.

At first, she seemed to be struggling as she seemed to have a knack for manipulating magic, but once she learned how to do it, it seemed to be easy and she soon started going back and forth.

I gently opened the broken door, which turned out to be a passageway as I had seen through the gap.

There are many windows on the left side, so it is bright. I remove my wooden sword from my waist and hold it ready to swing.

I tell Claire to leave some space for me to walk, and I take the lead and proceed cautiously.

If I fall into a pit or suddenly get stuck, I tell her to go back and call an adult.

I have even played TRPG table talk RPG with my brothers in Japan, hmmm. Now all I needed was a 10-foot pole and I would have been perfect.

After a while, there was a large door on the right side.

This large door was wooden but not rotten, and we could not see the other side. The passageway still continued onward. I put my ear to the large door to see if I could hear any sound, but I heard nothing.

"What now, Sis?"

"Let's check from the end of the passage."

It's a big door, there might be some kind of event!

I guess that's the gamer's brain. At any rate, we decided to proceed down the passageway.

At the end of the passage was a small room like the one we had arrived in.

The hinged hinge seemed to be completely broken and the door was collapsed. The floor was cracked, and the Magic Circle, which had originally been there, appeared to be damaged.

There were no crates or remnants found in this room.

"It looks like the Magic Circle over here is unusable."

Claire murmured as she looked at the Magic Circle.

I looked around, but saw nothing interesting. The view out of the window was still the same: the forest.

"After a short rest, let's check the big door, shall we?"

"Yeah, let's do that."

I was mentally tired, probably because I had only been walking for a little over 10 minutes and was advancing cautiously.

We decided to take a short break, impressed that adventurers are able to dive into such a large dungeon.

"What is this place?"

"It looks like an abandoned building in the woods somewhere, but I don't even know what it's for at the moment."

At any rate, I knew that Claire didn't know about this place, but she didn't seem to have any idea where it was either.

Intuitively, though, I don't think it's the north forest, at least not because the vegetation outside looks a bit different from the north forest.

I heard that the vegetation in the southern forest is different, but I don't know much about it because it seems that there are many demons deep in the forest, so I stayed out of the way.

I went back along the passage I came from and arrived at the large door I had passed through earlier.

I listened again just to be sure, but there was no sound.

I signaled to Claire and gently pushed the door open.