Chapter 526 Is it war?

’What’s wrong?’

’I thought I heard a noise from inside here....’

’At this hour?’

Tanya, who was walking down the hallway, paused for a moment.

The group walking with Tanya also turned back with puzzled faces and stopped.

Tanya had somehow gotten caught up in various events and had already become an A-rank mercenary.

And... Anne, Seria, and Karen. They were three childhood friends who coincidentally ended up working in the same mercenary group.

Tanya, who was returning to her room with them, heard a suspicious moving sound from beyond the door.

When she turned to check, the place the sound came from was inside the warehouse.

’Isn’t this the warehouse?’

’Could it be... a ghost? I heard stories that ghosts often appear in old warehouses...!’

’But this isn’t an old warehouse; it was built recently.’

’...That’s true.’

Seria, who had spoken with a meaningful expression, agreed with an embarrassed look.

However, even if it wasn’t a ghost, something was strange. It was far too late to be organizing the warehouse.

Of course, security here was quite thorough, and magic to detect outsiders was active, so the possibility of a thief was low, but....

’Whatever. If it bothers you, we can just check for a moment.’

’Ah...!’

Karen, one of the group, said that and flung the warehouse door open, stepping inside.

’Is anyone in there?’

’Hmm?’

’Oh, this voice... Captain?’

Ian raised his head and looked back at the faces of Tanya and her friends who had entered.

The identity of the suspicious sound heard inside the warehouse... was Ian.

Tanya asked Ian, who was checking something alone inside the warehouse.

’Captain? At this hour... what are you doing here?’

’I was checking the items. To see if more are needed... it seems I get a better feel for it when I see them directly.’

As Ian answered, he briefly closed the notebook he was holding.

Item stock levels could be sufficiently checked through documents or the system window, but the numbers seen there had a significant disconnect compared to seeing them in person.

City officials or merchants who did this kind of work until they were sick of it could probably grasp it instantly just by looking at numbers on a page, but Ian was still unable to do that.

After all, there was a massive difference between the amount of consumables needed while playing a game and the amount used in an actual city.

How many items would be needed in the future.

Whether the items prepared now would be sufficient.

Because he couldn’t get a good sense just by looking at numbers, Ian came out to the warehouse whenever he had time to check the items himself.

’Certainly... more items have piled up in the meantime. It really would be difficult to organize at this rate.’

Hearing those words, Tanya also looked inside the warehouse.

Inside the warehouse, shelves higher than a person’s height were installed without gaps. Even though it was a considerably large space, it was barely wide enough for more than one person to pass through.

Inside those shelves, various types of potions were packed tightly in rows. They were items steadily produced and filled from the workshop in the meantime.

Anne, who was examining the place, inadvertently muttered.

’This... is exactly like Mr. Bren’s warehouse.’

’Wait, that’s rude.’

’Ah... I didn’t mean it that way, I just meant the feeling of how the items are placed is a bit similar....’

’Who is that?’

’The thing is....’

Tanya hesitated before explaining to Ian.

’Well, he was a man who ran a hardware store in our hometown....’

One of the village residents from when Tanya and her friends lived in their hometown.

He was someone who had lived in a village near the border long ago, suffered immensely after getting caught up in a war, and then moved inland.

He was a man who obsessively piled up supplies and food in his basement, saying that something similar might happen again someday.

Naturally, the villagers treated him as a somewhat strange person.

However, since he knew many different techniques and appeared normal most of the time aside from that obsession, he wasn’t ostracized that severely.

Having said that, Tanya glanced at the numerous items inside the warehouse before her eyes.

Of course, this place was completely different from the crude and shabby warehouse she had briefly seen back then.

In terms of scale, and in terms of item quality.

The interior, which looked much larger and more neatly organized on the outside, appeared so different that anyone would be unable to associate the two.

But strangely, the sight before Tanya’s eyes overlapped with the appearance of that place back then.

The... obsession and a certain conviction within it seemed to be contained here as well.

’Is a war going to happen?’

’War....’

Ian looked up at the warehouse after hearing Tanya’s question and said.

’It might have to be called that....’

A conviction that some massive event, where these countless items would inevitably be needed, was coming.

Tanya and her friends felt as if they indirectly felt the emotion Ian was feeling.

* * *

The last routine of the day. Tanya, who arrived at the hot springs, let out a long sigh and looked up at the sky.

’Sigh....’

’Is something the matter? Your heart is wavering quite a lot.’

’Ah... Epir Noah.’

When someone spoke from behind, Tanya hurriedly stood up and bowed.

The high spirit Epir Noah looked up at the sky Tanya had been staring at.

The dark night sky. The moon was hidden behind thick clouds.

It seemed like an ordinary sky no different from usual... but Tanya felt as if she could feel the air trembling slightly. Recently, this uneasy feeling continued to be felt no matter where she went in the city.

’The atmosphere has been a bit strange lately.’

’Fufu, so you can feel it. You seem to have become quite sensitive.’

’Pardon?’

Epir Noah replied to Tanya as if she already knew.

At that answer, which seemed as if she already knew what the cause of this matter was, Tanya felt doubt and asked a question.

’Was I not the only one feeling this?’

’Everyone is feeling it. There are many children who come to find me because of that.’

The ’everyone’ Epir Noah spoke of probably meant spirits, not humans.

Come to think of it, Tanya realized that spirits had become hard to see around here lately.

This hot spring had a very strong spirit aura, and because it was a place the high spirit Epir Noah visited quite often, nearby spirits frequently peeked around as well.

Yet recently, it seemed she hadn’t seen those spirits at all.

...Even the spirit that lived at this hot spring.

Recognizing Tanya’s doubt, Epir Noah answered before she even asked.

’Ah. That child is in my cave. She fled there a few days ago. She’s a fearful one.’

’Fled? Leaving her own hot spring...?’

It was certain that something ominous was approaching.

- Click....

At that moment.

With the sound of a door opening, a voice calling Tanya was heard from outside the hot springs.

’Tanya, are you here? I think you need to come for a moment.’

’Ah... wait, Lia!’

It was Lia’s voice.

Tanya scrambled, thinking about how to hide Epir Noah, but Lia entering was faster than that.

’...?’

Lia, who entered the hot springs, paused upon seeing a person she’d never seen... no, something that looked like a person.

Still, it was a considerably nonchalant reaction compared to Tanya’s expectation.

She was a suspicious figure, but since Tanya was with her normally and the opponent looked more like a spirit than a human at a glance, that was the reason.

’Uh... who?’

’This is someone I met before....’

Tanya had been keeping the existence of the high spirit Epir Noah a secret even from her fellow members.

It wasn’t that there was a special secret to keep, but rather because of her personality, there was a high possibility she would say strange things to the members, so Tanya wanted to avoid them meeting if possible.

Tanya stepped forward to introduce the two to each other, but Epir Noah’s words were faster.

Epir Noah spoke as if she had met Lia before, acting like she knew her.

’Ah. You’re the child who occasionally roams around the area naked.’

’?!’

Lia’s body froze like ice.

Even Tanya, who suddenly heard such shocking words.

Regardless of their reactions, Epir Noah nodded as if she understood that behavior.

’Certainly, clothes are uncomfortable. I don’t know why humans walk around wearing such things.’

’H-how... how. How do you know that.’

Lia said, her body trembling with a flustered face.

...After all, no matter how careful she was, she couldn’t have avoided the gaze of a spirit.

The high spirit Epir Noah could materialize to be seen by ordinary people like she was now, but fundamentally she was a spirit, so she was in a state invisible to ordinary people.

Furthermore, at that level, she could grasp the surrounding environment without looking directly with her eyes. She could use nature itself like her own senses.

Tanya, having learned a shocking fact, muttered with a dazed expression.

’Naked...?’

’Mhm. You were wearing a necklace. Is that the accessory thing human females like? You also did a lot of that self-pleasuring thing Tanya told me about.’

’...’

...This is why I tried to keep them from meeting if possible.

Tanya, having forcibly learned a very important secret of her comrade when she didn’t even want to, broke into a cold sweat and glanced at Lia’s reaction.

’L-Lia.... I’ll keep it a secret from the others.’

’Heh... heheh....’

Lia, who had her head bowed deep, began to let out a small laugh for some reason.

’You too....’

’Huh? What did you say just now?’

’You strip too...!’

’Why me?! Wait, I won’t tell! I said I won’t!’

Tanya was caught by Lia’s hand and dragged away.