Chapter 46

Chapter 46 - Search and Surprises

After finally catching our breaths, the two of us then finally looked at each other with solemn expressions on our faces. The two of us did not know what to say so there was a moment of silence between us. Then I sighed and looked at the direction of the gate of the watch tower once more. 

"Should we give them the respect they deserve?"

Wendy nodded in response. Since it was decided, we solemnly headed over to see the damages and find the corpses of the victims if they could even be found at all

Entering the watchtower, we once again were assaulted by the heavy smell of rust and iron. Because it was opened previously, a lot of the smell had dispersed, but an eerie sense of discomfort wrapped the area of the watch tower. Looking around, the two of us were surprised to see that there were no bodies around that we could find. 

"What happened to the bodies?" I asked confusedly. 

After taking a moment to contemplate, Wendy then pulled out a small notebook densely packed with notes and started to look at the half finished formation on the ground that the wolf did not complete while alive.

Taking some time to analyze, she eventually was able to somewhat decipher the meaning behind some of the symbols on the formation. 

"It seems like this formation is indeed a sacrifice type of formation. If he wanted to sacrifice something, he would have left behind a body to sacrifice. Seems like he hid the bodies beforehand."

After saying that, I decided to go and check the surroundings with my spatial perception myself while Wendy stayed inside the tower to check further inside. With the range of my spatial perception, it would be best for me to go around walking and searching the larger area. 

Of course, I made sure that I could still perceive the watch tower so that if anything happened I would still be able to know about it and act upon it in a relatively timely manner. 

With our roles divided, I hurried over to complete the search on my own. For starters, I am surprised that I forgot to loot the body so I went ahead to do that task first. Arriving at the corpse, I quickly scanned the area and found that there was a small pouch on his body. 

"A... pseudo spatial bag?"

What the wolf had on him was a small pouch that had rather familiar spatial fluctuations contained within. Since my spatial sensing was still active, I could practically sense what exactly was contained within the pouch. Taking the pouch, I then first checked the pouch itself for any strange markings or runes that could signify anything. 

"As I thought. He left a spell on the bag in case he died."

Within the surface of the pouch on the bottom, there was a small slightly discolored spot that when analyzed would reveal itself to be a tiny magic rune circle made of slightly different magic ink that hid its appearance from the outside. 

If I had carelessly opened the pouch without checking it, then the circle would have likely been triggered and either detonate itself or prevent the pouch from opening at all. 

"How insidious..."

Thankfully I had stopped to check first. Now, the problem was that I knew that there was a problem with the pouch, but I wanted to take what was inside of it. Unfortunately, the complicated spatial rune knowledge that Alice had taught me has long since left my brain. Maybe if I had studied it deeply or at least kept notes I could have deciphered it. 

Oh well, maybe I can ask one of the clones to research it? Speaking of, I haven't really gone inside the Mirror Dimension in a long while. Maybe I should take the opportunity to do so? 

Since that was the case, I decided to take a look in the mirror space for a bit. Previously I had pulled out the stealth cloak by simply sensing the mark I had previously left on it and pulling it out through the Mirror space without creating a mirror to enter or see inside so I haven't checked inside for a while. 

Pulling out a tall mirror, I then activated the spell and saw the inside of the warehouse space of the mirror.

"Huh?"

Glancing in surprised, I noticed that the inside space was now completely different compared to before. Inside, the space still looked vast but now the place was decorated and neatly organized. As soon as I opened the portal, a figure within had arrived to my location. 

"Hello, may I help you?" She was a rabbit beast folk that I could not recognize who appeared and spoke through the mirror before me. I could not recall her face so I tilted my head in confusion.

"Uhh. Who?"

"Oh! I was told about you, the other lords all told me to explain to you about the changes here should you choose to arrive here and need assistance. Let me introduce myself. I am the warehouse assistant Lisha."

The Rabbit folk then started to introduce the major changes that had happened since I had last arrived in the mirror space. A lot of this was actually partially my fault in fact. 

"You are one of the folks who were experimented on by that doctor?!" I exclaimed.

"Indeed! We all thank you for choosing to stand up and help us during such an awful time." She then bowed to me to which I hurriedly waved my hands and reached in. to help her up. 

"Hey wait, I wasn't really the one who helped you! It was one of the Alices who saved you. And even the idea to investigate and find out the place was my leader Luke's idea!"

I quickly tried to stop her thanks, but she still shook her head and looked at me gratefully. 

"Still, you did your part to help us all so you should still receive our thanks. Oh, and give the others my regards if you meet them."

Hearing this, I showed a somewhat grim expression as I explained that they were brought back likely without informing anyone else. Hearing this, the rabbit was a little sorrowful for a moment before shaking her head once more. 

"You have already done more than enough letting us departed souls gain a chance to live another life. If I had any feelings of dissatisfaction with this =, I would be considered ungrateful. We will thank that guy in our hearts. As long as you know our appreciation for you and your party than it should be enough."

Still showing a somewhat sad expression, she finally changed the topic from such a sad topic. 

"Anyways, what did you require from the warehouse?"

Since the topic was changed back, I finally started to ask her about what I wanted to find from the warehouse this time. 

"Do you have anything to deal with the runes on this pouch?"

Pulling out the space pouch in my palm, I handed the pouch over to her to which she then placed on to a tray on her side. Then pulling out a keyboard like device on her side, she then typed out the request into the keyboard. 

When she saw me looking curiously at the keyboard, she introduced that the device is used to record the language of this world into a legible form. Through magic, the specific individual keys can change to represent different meanings to different people so that there are no worries about people who understand different languages. 

Then, based on what meaning that the user wants to inscribe upon the text, the text is then automatically changed to different languages to be sent to others. This was a way for Alice to streamline the process of getting these members used to typing even if they themselves were insufficient in terms of language. 

After all, these members who were kidnapped to be used in experiments were generally not members of their communities with particular intelligence.

After saying all of that, the receptionist finally received a message that the runes have been checked and there were several matches for the runes of the formation and the purpose of the formation as well as how to crack it has already been sent. 

Handing the pouch back along with a sheet that inscribed the specific incantation as well as the requirements needed to completely erase the seal on the pouch, she then asked if I needed the materials to break the seal from the warehouse. After checking the list, I remembered that I had a few of them already and there were a few I could recall nearby. 

So after specifying what I needed from the rest of the list, I quickly checked back outside the mirror to see if Wendy needed some help and found that she was still carefully checking the watch tower. But what was surprising was that Vanessa and Mellie were also there to help her faster.

Although I wanted to go and check on them, I knew that it would be simpler to wait a few seconds for the remaining material that I needed to break the seal to be delivered and to head over there only when I already checked the push for traps. 

So I quickly located the required materials that I remembered the location of and quickly sent Void Hands to grab them as the rabbit folk finished packaging everything for me. 

"Thank you for coming to the warehouse! I hope to see you again soon~"

Bowing my head quickly in acknowledgement, I then went to break the seal with the materials that I now had fully. It was actually rather simple. Using the various few herbs alongside monster blood, I created a sort of anti magic ink that could erase magic ink and by erasing certain runes in a specific pattern, I could disable the full circle from activating at all. 

Using a brush that I got from the warehouse, I quickly followed as the instructions on the seat stated and I could sense the slight changes in the pouch once I did so. Compared to before, the stability within the pouch was actually lessened so I quickly took everything out of the pouch. 

It was not that much in total as the pouch itself is not as stable of a spatial anchor compared to a ring and the space magic proficiency of the user was most certainly subpar. Looking at it now, I could have made something similar if I studied it hard enough, but there would be no point to that. 

For a spatial item, I could simply ask Alice for help and whatever method she tells me would certainly far surpass this subpar creation. 

Shaking my head, I quickly destabilized the space within the pouch and using my own magic I rewrite the structure of the pouch to be more stable by adding some specific spatial runes in certain places where I felt they would be useful. After some modifications, I made the pouch quite stable and usable by anyone who held it. 

Perhaps I could give it to the team to divide? After all, I have not seen any kind of spatial item on the others so maybe they would appreciate it?

The others are likely waiting anyways, so I thought I should just bring back this spoil of war first so we could all unpack it together. Standing up and stretching a bit, I then checked the surroundings one last time before returning to the watch tower to reunite with Wendy. 

When I got there, I was playfully tapped on the forehead for not rushing directly over when someone was coming to Wendy's side. As a partner, Wendy would have likely trusted me to watch and prepare if a situation were to happen to her. Thankfully it was just some other members of the party, but I still was quite lectured on the idea. 

A mix of apology and Wendy and Mellie calming Vanessa down cut the long story short as she then informed me on why the two of them were on our assigned area now. 

"Our watchtower was watched by some criminals who had escaped and they had planned to bring the humans inside to go with them as bait, manpower as well as emergency rations. Of course, we quickly dealt with them and their hostages were safely brought back."

It seems like Vanessa was also quite confused on how to bring them at first, but now I did not ask that question. Before I could speak on the situation here, she cut me off and said that Wendy had informed them and to instead speak on my findings around the area. I obliged and explained about searching the cultists body and finding a spatial pouch on him and that I needed help to deal with the trap laid upon it. 

At first, Mellie was reaching out to hold the pouch, but when she heard that there was a spell trap on it, she flinched and paused her movements which elicited a laugh from Wendy.

But when she heard that I had already cracked the circle, she showed me a surprised expression as she then asked for the pouch to which I gave her. 

"Indeed, this circle is like that of... Let me look at my notes..."

Was this something important to know? 

Before I could ask my question, Wendy had found the answer and explained it for me. 

"This spell circle is a trigger based object destruction circle that eliminates the object if you do not open it a specific way! It was found by a certain underground broker and then used to secure any objects that they made from getting to other people's hands! The method to crack the circle has not been found to this day! This is the first time I have seen or heard of it getting broken!"

Once again, another thing that Alice was able to do easily that others couldn't. This time, it wasn't even Alice herself who solved it, but I guess it should be expected at this point. 

Though I say it, but I do indeed secretly enjoy the faces that the others show when faced with all of her groundbreaking achievements.