Chapter 66: The Mysterious Magic Circle

There was still plenty of room inside no matter how much he stored.

On top of that, Viktor had explained that anything placed inside was preserved as though it had been vacuum sealed, keeping it perfectly fresh.

It really was an incredible item.

No wonder Igor had said it could be sold for an enormous amount of money.

Qiu Nuoya would have to treasure it.

"Igor, are we almost there?" Viktor asked, he sounding slightly impatient.

"Yeah, we’re close." Igor narrowed his eyes toward the path ahead. "But... it looks like someone got here before us."

He seemed to be sniffing the air.

Could he smell something?

Then again, Igor was a beastman.

His sense of smell was probably much sharper than a human’s.

"Who is it?"

"No idea." Igor shrugged. "I can’t tell that much. Can your Search spell figure it out?"

"I’ll try."

Viktor closed his eyes and quietly chanted.

A moment later, the hem of his robe fluttered gently.

Qiu Nuoya felt something invisible brush past him before shooting off into the distance.

What was that just now?

He wanted to ask, but Viktor seemed completely focused, so interrupting him was probably a bad idea.

After several moments of silence, Viktor slowly opened his eyes and a troubled expression crossed his face.

"What is it?" Igor asked. "Did you find something bad? Monsters?"

"In a way... something even more troublesome than monsters." Viktor sighed. "To be honest, I would rather not go."

"Why don’t we come back another day?"

"Huh?" Igor looked at him in confusion. "We came all this way. Why would we turn back now?"

Viktor let out another deep sigh. "I believe the Saintess is at the place we’re heading."

"What?" Igor blinked. "The Saintess? Sherria? Why would she be here?"

"How should I know?" Viktor sounded completely exasperated. "What exactly is at that location?"

"That’s what I’d like to ask." Igor scratched his head. "It looked like some kind of broken magic circle. I couldn’t make sense of it myself, so I wanted you to examine it."

"A magic circle?" Qiu Nuoya repeated quietly.

Igor folded his arms and said, "But why is the Saintess more troublesome than monsters? Does that magic circle have something to do with her?" He tilted his head in confusion.

Viktor still wore the same troubled expression.

"Perhaps it does." He spoke slowly. "Lady Sherria was originally being held captive inside that goblin nest."

"And the one responsible was an orc that should not have existed anywhere near this area."

"So where did that orc come from?" He paused. "Did the orc appear first, or did the Saintess arrive first? Or perhaps both events are connected in some meaningful way."

Viktor glanced at Qiu Nuoya. "The Saintess seems to have taken a particular interest in him. If we become involved with anything related to her, there is a chance that trouble will spread to us as well. To be honest, I would rather avoid getting involved."

"Huh?" Igor frowned. "What does Nuoya have to do with any of this?"

"Who knows?" Viktor shrugged. "I cannot pretend to understand what the Saintess is thinking."

"However, not long ago she invited Nuoya to accompany her to the church in the royal capital. I believe she is interested in his unusual abilities."

His unusual abilities...

That reminded Qiu Nuoya that Sherria had already seen part of his status.

The church’s appraisal crystal could not reveal anything that was hidden, so she had only seen a portion of it.

Still, it was enough to make her interested in him.

At the time, Sherria had claimed that God had sent her to welcome him.

To Qiu Nuoya, however, it had only been an unwanted burden.

Since then, Sherria herself had hardly contacted him directly.

Instead, several letters had arrived through the Adventurers’ Guild.

Each one asked him to hear her out one more time and invited him to visit the church again.

Qiu Nuoya had not wanted to ignore her completely.

So he had written back, explaining that he had no intention of becoming a Saint and no plans to travel to the royal capital, leaving nothing further to discuss.

Even so, the letters kept arriving.

If she wanted to speak with him that badly, she could have come herself.

Apparently, that option had never crossed her mind.

At this point, Qiu Nuoya was beginning to think it was perfectly acceptable to simply ignore the letters.

"Hmm..." Igor scratched his cheek. "I wanted you to examine that thing and tell me what it is. But maybe it’s better to leave it alone?"

"Personally," Viktor replied, "I do not want Nuoya anywhere near the Saintess."

He then turned toward him and asked, "What do you think?"

"I don’t really like dealing with her either," Qiu Nuoya admitted. "But I am curious about this magic circle."

He thought for a moment before making a suggestion. "So how about this? Warren and I can wait here while you and Igor go examine the magic circle yourselves."

Igor nodded at Qiu Nuoya’s suggestion. "That should work."

However, Viktor still looked reluctant. "What if those goblins kidnap you again?"

"I don’t think I’m careless enough to get kidnapped twice," Qiu Nuoya replied with a wry smile. "Besides, I’ve learned my lesson."

He raised a finger as he listed them off. "Goblins and orcs are weak against fire. Horn Rabbits are weak against water and Cockatrices are weak against lightning."

He really had learned that adventuring recklessly only shortened a person’s life.

That was why gathering as much information as possible before setting out was important.

Fortunately, there were not many different kinds of monsters living around the area, so memorizing their weaknesses had not been difficult.

At first, Qiu Nuoya had been puzzled because lightning was not one of the four elemental spirits.

However, just like Aero, it turned out that lightning could be created by combining the Wind and Water Elementals.

That discovery had been a huge relief.