Ch.358Chapter 358 – Rosary (1)

“Will those children be alright?”

Diana stood on the deck, worrying about Kay and his group who had gone underwater.

It had been quite some time since they’d descended into the sea, saying they would use special tools and that she shouldn’t worry because they had divine arts and a mage.

“They should be returning soon.”

After breakfast, considerable time had passed since the group had gone underwater.

As the sun would be setting soon, Diana’s concerns grew more serious.

‘Please come back now.’

Diana spoke quietly while gazing at the silent sea surface.

‘…I don’t want to lose anyone else I know.’

In her youth, while working as the commander of the Emiris Order’s Holy Knights, she had lost many subordinates.

On top of that, her daughter, the previous Saint, had gone missing.

Though she had gained much with age, it couldn’t compare to the lives and blood relations she had lost.

That’s why Diana hated losing those close to her.

She was especially worried about the two people she considered like granddaughters.

“Come back, Kara. Christina.”

Without realizing it, Diana murmured while looking at the pendant containing her daughter’s portrait.

The pendant held an image of a woman with long blonde hair and gentle red eyes.

Next to her stood a blonde man with blue eyes.

‘…Platina, please watch over those children.’

Diana prayed for the safety of the two women who resembled her daughter to the daughter in her pendant.

It was also the reason why Diana had paid special attention to Christina and Kara when she met them.

And at that moment.

The sea surface exploded.

“What is that!”

“Prepare for impact!!”

As the sailors each entered combat positions, Diana also readied herself for battle by picking up her spear.

And the next moment.

She dropped her spear limply and said.

“…What is this?”

What entered Diana’s sight were white stones, no, jewels.

They had smooth surfaces and emitted an elegant white light.

Blue light mixed in, suggesting magical energy flowing through them, making the jewels look even more luxurious.

These jewels filled a net.

And then, one sailor immediately shouted.

“Hey, aren’t these mana stone pearls?!”

“Mana stone pearls?”

At Diana’s question, the sailor nodded and said.

“You know, right? Those jewels occasionally found at the bottom of the sea. They say when the bones of sea monsters mix with the magical energy of the ocean and compress, they become spherical treasures… They’re beautiful, precious, and hard to find, so there’s a saying that finding one can change your life…”

“I know that. Do you happen to know why they suddenly appeared here?”

At Diana’s question, the sailor made an expression of realization.

Then with a serious face, he said.

“Yeah, why are they suddenly here?”

“Someone throw that fellow into the sea. He seems half-asleep.”

The sailor was promptly dragged away.

Of course, Diana hadn’t given the order seriously.

And she didn’t think the sailors would take the command seriously either.

They’d probably just make a show of it and then return saying the resistance was too strong.

‘Jewels suddenly shooting up from the sea.’

As the sailor had mentioned, mana stone pearls were extremely valuable jewels.

Diana couldn’t understand why these rare gems, which were difficult to find even one of, had suddenly appeared here in such large quantities.

‘Could it be.’

As she was thinking this.

The sea surface exploded once more, and Chris appeared from within.

“Whew, we made it!”

Chris said with a sigh of relief.

And simultaneously, the sea surface exploded again.

The members who had gone underwater earlier began to surface one by one.

‘Everyone is safe.’

One, two, three… seeing that all members were present, Diana breathed a sigh of relief.

Until just now, she had been worried that something might have gone wrong.

And unaware of her concern, Kara excitedly said to Sia who had landed beside her.

“That was quite an adventure!”

“I’ve been to many places, but I’ve rarely discovered such a large quantity of jewels before!”

The two were rejoicing like children.

Everyone in the group was smiling warmly at them.

And then, their leader looked at Diana as if he had just remembered something and said.

“We’re late.”

“It’s fine as long as you’ve returned.”

Diana smiled as she replied to Kay’s words.

+

Shortly after, we were guided to the dining hall.

Diana had suggested that we talk over dinner since we had spent quite some time underwater and the sun was starting to set.

Of course, there was a small commotion when Eve told the sailors not to touch the jewels, and Beatrice said they should be kept in a safe place, putting magic on her room to store them.

“Where on earth did those mana stone pearls come from?”

Diana asked with a somewhat incredulous expression, perhaps because of the small commotion our group had caused.

Since her gaze was directed at me, I decided to answer.

“We went all the way to the sea floor. After finishing what we needed to do and preparing to return, Kara suddenly said it would be a shame to leave without finding some treasure.”

“…How carefree.”

Diana quietly muttered, wondering if it was courage or just nonchalance.

“Sarah said that if we calculated the time well, we would have time to search the sea floor, so we discussed among ourselves to search only during that time and then come up. But then…”

That’s when we found it.

A place full of mana stone pearls beneath the rocky mountain that concealed the entrance to the seal.

“…We didn’t know it was a treasure trove when we went down.”

“We were focused only on Chris, and didn’t think about searching the sea floor…”

Eve and Sarah quietly added.

When we descended, we had entered a place where light didn’t penetrate, so we had to rely on the light Chris produced to move forward.

So we kept focusing only on Chris and didn’t think about thoroughly examining the sea floor, which is why we hadn’t discovered the mana stone pearls.

“Come to think of it, that place was like a graveyard for sea dragons and similar creatures. It must have been optimal conditions for mana stone pearls to form.”

The place we went was the seabed, and it was like a graveyard for massive aquatic creatures such as sea dragons.

It was the perfect condition for those jewels to form.

Moreover, since it was a place very difficult for humans to access, no one would have been able to harvest the pearl jewels, so they must have accumulated over time.

“So, everyone worked hard to collect them.”

True to their name as mana stone pearls, they were not only valuable as jewels but also excellent as materials for alchemy, I’d heard.

While we were able to obtain various information from the fourth seal, there had been no material rewards, so it was fortunate that we could collect plenty on our way back.

Still, I was glad that everyone had only harvested until time permitted and agreed to return without being too greedy.

“We shouldn’t hold Kay back with unnecessary greed.”

“That’s right.”

Eve and Beatrice said with proud smiles for some reason.

“What cheeky ones you are.”

Diana said with a laugh.

Then, with a slightly more serious expression, she asked us.

“So, did things go well down there?”

“Yes.”

Chris answered with a smile.

“I suppose it’s better not to ask what happened?”

“Hmm…”

Chris fell into brief contemplation.

Then Kara gently placed her hand on Chris’s shoulder and looked at Diana, saying.

“I’ll tell you later. Honestly, we need some time to process it ourselves.”

“I see.”

Diana nodded and said.

“Then I won’t be greedy and will wait.”

“Thank you.”

Diana nodded once more at Kara’s words.

Then she looked at me and said.

“So what will you do now? Rest a day on the island and then move on?”

“That seems best. Everyone is quite tired.”

Though we weren’t showing it, we were mentally fatigued after diving to the sea floor and coming back up.

Since we would need to anchor when it got dark anyway, it would be good to let everyone rest today.

“Good thinking. Get a good rest.”

“Yes.”

Diana nodded at my words.

“But before resting, there’s one issue I’d like to consult about.”

“What issue?”

“It’s about our next destination.”

Diana nodded once more at my words.

Her expression became serious.

“…Gema Port, is it?”

“Yes.”

More precisely, it was the island near that port where I had been held as a test subject.

That place had a high probability of still having data about my body and dimensional travel.

Of course, they might have evacuated everything and destroyed all records, but there might be some surviving data by luck, and we had no other place to search.

“We’ll be secretly crossing the border, so the issue is whether we can enter and exit safely.”

Gema Port was clearly territory of the Trigena Neo-Kingdom.

Obviously, they would thoroughly inspect ships coming and going through the port.

Since we were already on bad terms with the Emiris Order, we couldn’t openly enter that country, so it was an unavoidable choice.

“But do we really need to enter the port?”

“…Unfortunately, I can’t pinpoint the exact location from here.”

It was the location of the laboratory where I had been kept.

I vaguely knew how to row from the port to reach it, so I could find it myself by physically going there.

But if asked to point out the exact location on this sea chart, I honestly couldn’t.

We could anchor in the general area and search, but the problem was that we couldn’t spend much time since we needed to sneak in and get out quickly.

Fortunately, Diana seemed to have thought about this issue beforehand and soon spoke up.

“Well, there is a method.”

“There is?”

“Yes. A method that’s both simple and somewhat difficult.”

Diana looked at me and said.

“We use authority to overpower them.”

“Authority?”

As I turned toward Diana to hear more details, she also turned her body toward me.

“As you probably know, the Neo-Kingdom is ruled by the Emiris Order. So compared to other countries, the Order’s influence is extremely powerful there.”

This was something I had experienced when escaping, so I knew it well.

“If we assert a position of some significance in the Order, tell them we’re just docking the ship briefly and not to interfere, we can buy time until you all finish your business and return without drawing attention.”

“Assert that we’re from the Order…”

Since the Order’s influence is strong, if one claims a high position in the Order, they wouldn’t be touched.

But the problem was how to disguise ourselves as Order members.

It wasn’t something that could be solved by simply changing clothes.

I immediately recalled a past mistake and felt a slight twinge in my face.

“…We’ll need rosary beads from the Emiris Order.”

The holy knight I had faced when escaping from the laboratory at Gema Port had mentioned it.

Order members carry rosary beads, he said.

It was a means of identification, and they always check for the rosary.

Diana also nodded and said.

“That’s correct.”

“Where can we get them?”

“Why don’t you ask that child?”

Diana pointed her finger at Kara.

And Kara, noticing she was being called, looked at us.

“Did you call me?”

“Yes.”

Kara turned toward me at my words.

“What for?”

“We need to enter Gema Port, and I was wondering if you have rosary beads that could help us forge identities.”

“…Ah, right, those things.”

Kara spoke as if she had just remembered.

Her “those things” response gave me a tremendous sense of unease.

And then Kara quietly said with an apologetic look.

“I already smashed those rosary beads.”

“…”

I glared at Kara.

And Kara quietly explained as if making an excuse.

“Honestly, things ended badly with that Order, so in a fit of anger…”

“I understand that, but…”

The disappointment grew since we needed them now of all times.

“Anyway, the Order would have at best recorded me as missing in action at Ferarius. And if it’s Somnus, he would have thought I had already betrayed them and disabled my rosary.”

I sighed at Kara’s words.

“…Maybe we could at least imitate the appearance?”

“That would be difficult. While you can roughly tell if someone is from the Order and their position by whether they possess a rosary and its shape, the rosaries also contain a function that reveals detailed information about the Order member when divine arts are used.”

I asked in surprise at Kara’s words.

“For mere rosary beads?”

“Don’t forget that the Emiris Order is the largest order on the continent.”

Kara added that they’re like adventurer guild IDs, so they contain technology for identity verification.

“Port administrators would know this and have tools to check. We won’t be able to buy time.”

“We need to think of another method.”

Perhaps we should arrive at the port under cover of night and depart from there.

Though sailing in the middle of the night would be dangerous, I was thinking it might be safer when Kara spoke.

“…I hate to say this, but I do know of people who might have rosary beads.”

Kara said, looking slightly uncomfortable.

“People who have them?”

“Yes. They work here.”

“Where are they?”

Kara pointed to the bottom of the ship and said.

“They’re working down there.”

“Really?”

“However, they find it burdensome to face you all, so…”

Kara’s voice trailed off.

‘They find it burdensome to see us?’

And they have Emiris Order rosary beads.

“Don’t tell me…”

“Yes.”

Kara said, slightly averting her gaze.

“Former holy knights of the Emiris Order who surrendered in Florence or the Kingdom and defected to our side are working down there.”