Chapter 464

The day before the investigation was set to begin, they took a light stroll around the town again, but as expected, they couldn't find any suspicious spots.

Then, on the promised tenth day, at 9 a.m., Tatsuro and the others visited the imperial palace once more and made their way up to the rooftop.

"Well then, shall we get started? Cardina, I'll need your assistance."

"Peewee."

Here were Emperor Fion and his attendants. Prime Minister Ramos and his attendants. And Tatsuro's group.

The former two groups were on standby, ready to mobilize various departments at any moment, and they had prepared several devices similar to the transceivers the residents had used when they first came to this town.

"I didn't doubt it, but... to think you'd really cast magic on this scale alone, or rather, with two people? How do you synchronize with another's magical power... mutter mutter."

{Sounds like the emperor is muttering something. Wonder what's up.}

{Hmm... We've been doing it so casually all along that it's no big deal to us now, but from other people's perspective, it's pretty unconventional. Especially for an elf who's deeply versed in magic, it must be intriguing.}

{Leela doesn't seem particularly bothered though?}

{That's because she's part of the unconventional crew, so her senses are numbed. Anyway.}

Tatsuro once again used Dispel Magic to spread out his probing magical power, recognizing each and every person present in the capital city of Maron.

Of course, Tatsuro was doing as much as he could himself, and leaving the rest to Cardina, his Magic Brain, and Amaterasu.

With this, if anyone among them disappeared, Tatsuro or Cardina would be able to detect it in that instant.

{After that, if there's any kind of action, I think we'll figure something out.}

{It's tough not knowing when it'll happen.}

{Well, since we're at it, maybe we should check for any other abnormalities too.}

{That might be a good idea.}

And so, the first day of investigation ended with nothing at all.

"Well, it's not like people go missing every single day."

"Exactly. Tomorrow, tomorrow!"

They had anticipated a situation like this and had informed the emperor and the others, so they disbanded for the day with a sense of inevitability and welcomed the next day.

But the second day ended in the same empty swing.

This made them start thinking they might need to come up with something more, and on the third day of polar night- it happened.

"Peewee~? Peewee!?"

"What's wrong, Cardina? No way."

"What happened?"

"Someone disappeared! And there was absolutely no reaction from the Dispel Magic; it was only after they were completely gone that we realized one person was missing. Damn it. Cardina, let's analyze the area where that person was with full force! There might still be some evidence left!"

"Peewee!"

Tatsuro exercised Magic Domain Transcendence, releasing the extreme Light and extreme Dispel magical power that had been boosted to the bottom, directing it all toward the spot where that single person had been just two or three seconds ago.

(What does this mean? Is it something that can't be probed with Dispel Magic?)

What came to Tatsuro's mind was a magic that deceived probing magic using a mix of Dispel and darkness.

But that reduced the probing accuracy and range, and control was difficult, so Tatsuro wouldn't do it unless absolutely necessary.

(There's residue of darkness and Dispel Magic. No doubt it's the same as the magic I use. And)

"There's also residue of Spacetime Magic! Some kind of transfer? Cardina! Let's try reverse detection!"

"Peewee!"

Dispel Magic, darkness magic for detection camouflage. And traces of transfer magic via Spacetime Magic.

These were already mostly dispersed into the air, and even a level 20 Dispel Magic user would have trouble detecting them.

And deriving the transfer destination from the remnants of the transfer magic, now as small as molecules, would be impossible even for a human who had mastered level 20 Dispel and light probing magic.

(But the limit for Magic Domain Transcendence hasn't come yet! With this!!)

Tatsuro's current Dispel Magic and light magic levels were equivalent to 23. And since he'd been using extreme magical power from earlier, his abilities were at the world's pinnacle.

It was understandable that until now, even after noticing someone had vanished, no information could be gained about how or where they went-the concealment was that thorough-but to fool Tatsuro, they would have needed to delay detection by at least three more seconds.

"Found it!! ...But, this is underground?"

"Underground? What do you mean?"

"There's a mysterious space about 1,400 meters below this city's surface. It seems the person who just disappeared was forcibly transferred there."

"Um, excuse me. Do you know what kind of person the disappeared one is?"

As Tatsuro and Ai were conversing, Prime Minister Ramos inquired toward them.

But Tatsuro's probing magic, due to its vast scale, hadn't been observing people in detail.

It was specialized solely on whether a human presence was there or not, so let alone the person's appearance, he didn't even know if they were adult or child, male or female.

(From the missing persons list, it seems the victims' ages and genders don't matter anyway.)

But he knew the general area, so he conveyed that concisely, and the prime minister thanked Tatsuro before starting to contact someone via the transceiver magical tool.

Then, Emperor Fion spoke up next.

"You mentioned underground in this city earlier, but could this be man-made?"

"I can't say for certain with just this. But it does seem a bit unnatural for a natural phenomenon."

"I see..."

"Your Majesty, if it were man-made, do you have any suspects in mind?"

"No. Not at all."

The emperor's eyes, as he answered Leela's question, didn't seem to be lying.

"Peeweepeewee!"

"According to Cardina, there's a passage leading from that underground space to another space. But the concealment is strong, and with the underground probing, it seems hard to find the entrance unless in the current state!"

"I see... Got it."

The current state meant while the effect of Tatsuro's Magic Domain Transcendence remained.

So staying here any longer would be a waste of time.

To at least grasp the full picture of the cleverly concealed underground space before it wore off, Tatsuro grew slime wings on his back and pulled Ai close.

"We're heading to explore the entrance!"

"Do you need reinforcements?"

"No need! Later!"

"Ah- They've gone..."

Among the people here, there were likely some who could be called elites even in the Adorarim nation.

But even so, to Tatsuro and the others, they'd be a hindrance.

To avoid having unnecessary personnel forced on them, Tatsuro and his group leaped ahead from the imperial palace rooftop.

"So where do we head?"

"From the reaction, it's pretty big, and might even extend outside the city. If we don't find it now, exploration will have to wait until tomorrow. Speed up!"

Leah was carried by Nana, and Athena clung to Cardina as they flew through the sky.

As Tatsuro said, if they passed the time limit, using Magic Domain Transcendence again would take until tomorrow.

While probing the underground with full force alongside Cardina, they traced the passages extending from the lowest room to another room, then to yet another, flying in circles over the city's sky.

Fortunately, being the day of light during polar night, which was perpetually night, few residents below seemed to notice.

Without the concealment effect, they could have traced it even from the imperial palace rooftop, but this time, they couldn't do it properly otherwise.

Toyed with by the maze-like passages, before they knew it, only seven minutes remained until the 30-minute time limit.

Just as impatience began to show, wondering if it was still not there, they finally made it out of the city.

"We came out over the wall, but is that okay?"

"No choice since time's short. If there's an issue, we can push it onto the emperor or prime minister!"

"Whoa, you're decisive. That's hot too!"

"Yeah Wait, not the time."

Holding back from flirting even in this situation, Tatsuro focused on the complex underground space.

Mentally, it was like tracing a maze backward from the goal to find the starting point.

"Peeweee!"

"Found it!"

With four minutes left until the time limit, they pinpointed the location of a hatch connecting underground to surface.

It was about three kilometers from the capital Maron, in an area where monsters appeared relatively often, so ordinary people didn't approach much.

That said, the monsters weren't particularly strong, and the materials weren't profitable, so adventurers didn't go out of their way to come-a small forest.

And above that very hatch grew a large tree.

The hatch itself had a powerful concealment effect, so an ordinary person investigating would think it was just a spot with a tree.

"What do we do with this tree? Shall I smash it to bits?"

Nana gripped the handle of Dainsleif on her back, about to draw it from its sheath.

But Leah stopped her.

"No. This tree is a kind of security device. It seems set so that if you don't unlock the Locking Magic on the hatch and push it in a specific direction to move it, it'll alert the inside."

"Then let's hurry and unlock it now. Cardina!"

"Peewee!"

Less than three minutes remained until Magic Domain Transcendence wore off.

But the Locking Magic here had stronger concealment with darkness magic and Dispel Magic than elsewhere on the hatch, requiring recognition of that while unlocking.

Even in the current state, the difficulty was high.

Though with time to spare, it could be unlocked with ease, unfortunately, that wasn't the case now.

(Damn. What a pain-in-the-ass lock!)

Sensing his Magic Brain's fuel running low, Tatsuro swapped the magazine with practiced hands and pulled the trigger to replenish.

One minute left. Tatsuro, Cardina, Amaterasu, and the Magic Brain all tackled the unlocking, but it still wouldn't give.

Thirty seconds left. Finally, the end was in sight, but time was still tight.

Ten seconds left. Tatsuro kept his cool while feeling the urgency.

And with four seconds left-.

"Unlocked!"

"Peewee!"

"----!"

It made a sound like unlocking a physical padlock, informing everyone that the hatch's magical lock was undone.

"After that, please push the tree slowly toward south-southeast."

"South-southeast, right. This way?"

"A bit more to the right... a bit more- Stop. Please push forward from there, sis."

"Got it. Gently, gently."

As Ai pushed in the direction Leah precisely indicated, the great tree slid sideways smoothly.

At the same time, a wide passage leading downward and a long staircase extending underground came into view, matching the distance the tree had moved.

"This... at least the ones using, or who used, this space are definitely human."

"Yeah. I vaguely figured it out midway, but there's no way something like this forms naturally."

The concealment was too strong to judge the underground space's material, but seeing it with eyes, it was clearly artificial.

Tatsuro nodded in agreement with Leela's words.

"Well then, shall we go in?"

"Digging a hole from outside to the deepest part would be fastest. Do we really need to go from here?"

"Actually, outside the rooms, there's something like mysterious strings or wires stretched all over, I can't tell which. Probably, if you touch or cut them, if anyone's inside, it'll alert them to intruders. I want to approach the root cause without being noticed if possible, and since we didn't force the lock open, whatever's there might not have noticed yet. So that's why we're infiltrating the proper way."

"But the inside is like a maze, right? You okay, Tatsuro?"

"No problem there, Ishtar. We came here tracing the path backward from the goal point. Cardina and Amaterasu should have it all memorized, so we can get to the deepest part without getting lost."

"That puts me at ease. And with Leah, any traps will be totally seen through."

"Yeah. Leave that stuff to me."

Thanks to Leah's level rising close to 300, even using All-Seeing Eye for long periods didn't tire her out much anymore.

And having used it so many times, she could minimize the brain strain, and now she could even have the Magic Brain shoulder it for her.

Leah thumped her chest confidently at Nana's words.

"Alright. Let's head out. Everyone, follow so you don't get lost. Cardina, can I count on you for vanguard?"

"Peewee!"

Of course! With that single cry, Cardina took a step onto the dimly lit staircase stretching downward.