episode_0171

“Right… I figured as much.”

“Y-yeah. I-it’s unpleasant… but…”

Half a day had already passed. Erina, having repeatedly activated her skills, was gradually losing her energy and hadn’t achieved much. Even if she created a skill with good performance, there was a process of training required. Unless she made a skill called ‘Proficiency’, she would have to train it from level 1.

Meanwhile, Hanna and Aries had made some progress, though it wasn’t exactly pleasant. Hanna and Aries Levi joined up to slowly head upstairs and join Erina.

Having exchanged the information they’d gathered and organized it, the two highly intelligent women reached a conclusion quickly.

“Right? What’s right?”

To Levi’s question, Aries explained with a bitter expression. Levi had been focused on protecting Hanna, so she hadn’t done much searching. There had been a minor danger, but thanks to Hanna’s efforts, they had easily overcome it.

“This place seems to have been an experimental facility. The explanation is complex, and I don’t fully understand it myself, so I’ll keep it brief…”

“What? So, you’re saying you don’t know?”

“Listen properly. It’s like, you don’t know what a dish is, but you can understand that it’s something to eat, right?”

“…I understand what you mean, but that’s a strange analogy.”

Levi shook her head.

“Ugh! What!! I’m not a writer! Understanding is enough!”

“…I-if you w-want my explanation, I’ll give it to you…”

Even though Hanna knew Levi wouldn’t listen, she politely offered.

“It’s okay. Even if I heard it, I probably wouldn’t get it anyway… and it’s about time we met up with Erina. I only asked to tease Aries a little.”

“Hey!!”

Aries reached out with both hands and pinched Levi’s cheeks, pulling them firmly. Her supple cheeks stretched delightfully.

“Sorry, sorry~!”

“…Hmph. I have to tell Erina anyway, so it’s good, really good that I won’t have to explain twice?!”

“We have to go up… again…”

Even with her HP recovered by the heel, having walked for another half-day, her stamina felt like it had pierced through the bottom and dropped to the 20th floor underground. The thought of being carried by or clinging to Levi, or climbing the walls, made her dizzy.

“Oh my, everyone. You’re all together.”

Just then, Erina came down the stairs, along with the elf girl, Austi.

“My limited knowledge makes a thorough investigation impossible. It seems completely unrelated to the Goddess. Did any of you find anything?”

“A few things. But we have to go up anyway, so why did you come down?”

“I came down while investigating.”

She had expected to find traces of divine power, given that the subject had been a nun, but she didn’t even sense any magical energy. She carefully looked for other clues, but the only thing she could do was be amazed by the unfamiliar civilization. Even with the ‘Answer’ skill, the best answer she got was merely tools Hanna might handle. The fact that the accuracy and detail of the answers seemed to decrease each time she used this skill was probably just her imagination.

“Oh, really? Hanna, explain.”

“W-what? M-me? Uh, um… I’m not good at this kind of thing…”

“And why are you speaking formally to only Erina? Be casual. Be comfortable.”

“Uh, um. B-because it’s comfortable…”

Hanna, seemingly embarrassed, turned her head and answered.

“What, so it’s been uncomfortable talking to us? …Just kidding. I understand how you feel.”

“It’s like the last time we talked.”

“Anyway, to get to the point, I think it’s related to the research I was doing.”

She quickly changed the subject because she sensed it might be an uncomfortable conversation.

“So, it was definitely research related to time, right?”

“Yes. So, I think this building itself has moved across time.”

“That means… Hanna-san also came from across time? That means Hanna-san…?”

“…That’s highly likely. Whether it’s from the future or the past, I don’t know.”

Hanna’s explanation was difficult to follow. It wasn’t surprising; it was vastly different to anything in the present era.

“Why? So, Hanna-san, you’re not from another world, but from the future, something like that?”

“Time and space are closely related. Perhaps that’s why she was transported to another world. I gathered a lot of research data.”

Hanna proudly showed off a large bundle of papers clutched to her chest.

“And there’s something even more important. What happened here.”

Aries butted in between the two.

“Look at this. I found all of this here.”

Aries opened her bag, revealing its contents. The sight made their faces twist in disgust. It was clear; these were definitely remnants of living beings. Even if they were ordinary creatures, the inherent chill of the corpses was unsettling.

“Ah… found it, is a strange way to put it? Anyway, I picked them up.”

“Was it necessary to pick them up…?”

Even with the high level of mental fortitude required of a nun, her mind wavered slightly. Even for monsters, encountering corpses, or fragments of corpses, was exceedingly unpleasant. Aries’s ability to collect them was impressive.

“I collected it reluctantly…! I picked them up thinking I could throw the bag away later!”

“It implies that it was significant enough to collect, wouldn’t you say?”

She gestured as if to hurry and close the bag.

“Let’s leave the details to Kira. Since they were apparently doing experiments on monsters, she’s an expert in that field, right?”

“Is that… so?”

It was true that they did experiments on monsters, but it was related to divine power and magic. She didn’t think Kira had much biological knowledge. It would probably be better to ask the elf. She decided to find out.

“Austi-san, what do you think? It seems like an area the elves would have considerable knowledge about?”

“At least I don’t. There might be some who do, but not many.”

They seemed no different from humans. After all, there was no reason why elves should not have varying preferences.

“Anyway! It’s not important to investigate this, the importance is WHY it’s here.”

Given the recent discussion, Erina easily guessed the reason. This building was used for monster research.

As if reading her mind, Aries continued.

“It’s not just monsters. I didn’t collect it because it was meaningless to me, but there were also remains… the remains of ordinary animals and plants.”

She glanced sideways at Hanna.

“F-fundamentally… it’s the same as my research here…. In my case, biology wasn’t my field, so I didn’t touch it…”

If she had the knowledge, she would have certainly investigated. Her timid nature would have prevented her from digging this deep, but as a natural science student whose sense of ethics was outweighed by their curiosity, she would not have been able to resist the temptation to simply look on. Being an engineering major was a blessing.

“In other words, this is a facility where people from Hanna’s world intentionally came to research.”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“The question I have is… why we’ve decided to investigate it immediately.”

Merina paused for a moment before continuing.

“This relic… since we called it a relic, let’s just keep calling it that. Anyway, this relic definitely existed on the way to Chinahara, beyond the Crimson Forest.”

“That’s right, that’s where I met Hanna.”

Austi answered from a slightly distance, watching her surroundings cautiously.

“Do you all remember the demon that was there?”

“A Banshee… wasn’t it? A ghost-like creature.”

Levi recalled from her vague memory.

“Yes. I definitely felt that the place was filled with magic because of that demon. And that’s the problem. If this place was also a research facility, that means they did this research since the time the demon was there, isn’t it?”

“!! Wait a minute. ‘Since’ isn’t right. As you can see, it looks like it’s been abandoned for at least a hundred years.”

Aries countered, but Levi retorted again.

“Well, is it so strange to say it was abandoned? The facility is functioning. And the tentacle that raped you was alive…”

“…I don’t know. However, there’s no sign of life at all. It has definitely been abandoned.”

“I-I’m sorry, not abandoned… they probably *had* to abandon it…. Aries, could you just leave your research data behind?”

“Absolutely not. Are you crazy, to leave it behind?”

Aries answered firmly, then fell into thought for a moment.

“Some external factor… most likely a demon… so they were searching for that trace, that’s the story, right?” “The flow of reasoning is a little different, but it’s roughly the same conclusion.”

Erina, while more intuitive than logical, nodded in agreement after contemplating.

“But there’s no trace of it anywhere. If that’s what you all think, then there’s something even more suspicious.”

“We’re reaching our limit. At least, I and Levi are.”

“Austi-san is right. Let’s end this investigation here. Next time, I’ll ask for support from the Freed Church.”

Hanna, in particular, felt like she had used up a week’s worth of energy, and wanted nothing more than to lie down on the cold floor immediately.

But incidents always tend to happen at such times.