Having defeated the Demon King, I travel with Sofia, Richard, and Garuku. Relying on information gathered by the Spirit God, we delve into Ancient Ruins, and at times, we even subjugate Monsters—

—But these Ancient Ruins are quite deep, aren’t they?

Sofia speaks. As if in agreement, Richard interjects.

Exactly. But the goal might not be far off.

The location is in a Part of the Mountain Range North of Barcus Kingdom’s Capital. We are inside Angel Ruins, which are embedded within the mountain rather than being Underground. Approximately two months have passed since the War with the Demon Lord.

Perhaps because these Ancient Ruins were high in the mountains, they remained untouched by people. We were able to discover the Ancient Ruins themselves due to the Miasma from the Demon King’s Invasion, and that’s why we’re infiltrating them—but there are Monsters, making exploration tedious.

However, with the abilities of Sofia and myself, who defeated the Demon King, they are not much of an obstacle.

As for Richard, it’s too dangerous to let him fight alone, so Resveil is assigned as his Guard. Thanks to this, we are progressing smoothly without any injuries.

I walk through the stone-built Ancient Ruins, illuminating our surroundings with the light I created—and here, I question Garuku.

Hey, Garuku. What about the Mysterious Magical Power existing within these Ancient Ruins?

In response to my question, Garuku appears on my right shoulder and answers.

Even if it’s not Underground, Mysterious Magical Power exists here. If we’re lucky, we might be able to investigate quite a bit.

I see… Well, there’s no point in rushing… There are still many Ancient Ruins. We’ll just have to investigate them little by little.

Commenting thus, we discover a Monster. But in our hands, it’s instantly killed.

—This is the fourth Ancient Ruins we’ve delved into since starting our journey. We’ve been targeting places where Mysterious Magical Power exists, but it seems there are differences in its quality, and the analysis is still ongoing.

For travel, we also have the Dragon that Richard created, and the fundamental Book, so we’re not troubled. Also, nothing is expected to happen today or tomorrow, so the investigation itself is relatively slow-paced.

And the situation on the Continent has, for now, stabilized. There seem to be potential sources of conflict, but thanks to the efforts of the Spirit God and Kanan, they are being handled.

The situation within the Continent is good, but perhaps it’s time to pay attention to what’s outside.

Garuku suddenly says… outside, huh.

“The Demon King is also an entity from outside. There’s even talk of them waging war in a certain place. I don’t think those sparks will fly all the way here, though.”

“Well, that’s true… I want to investigate the Demon King, so I might need to go outside once the investigation is complete.”

Saying that, we continued to advance. There are battles with Monsters, but it’s definitely easier compared to the War with the Demon Lord… Well, I still need to be careful of traps, so I won’t let my guard down.

We continued down the dusty corridor… Eventually,

“Oh, is this the innermost part?”

Richard suddenly spoke. I looked and saw a large Iron Door directly in front of us.

“Please be careful, a powerful Monster might appear.”

I said that, but Sofia and I could handle it… After checking for traps, I opened the door.

Normally, there would be a boss-like Monster at the very end, but in these Ancient Ruins, there was none.

“Huh?”

“Hmm, there doesn’t seem to be anything like a Treasure Chest in the back either.”

Garuku said. Sofia and Richard also looked inside and stopped.

I also observed. The room was an empty space, but there was one differing point.

It was the floor. The inside of the Ancient Ruins was made of stone, and the floor was the same… but only the central part of this room was different. There was a white, circular floor. It didn’t look like it was cut from stone or anything.

“The floor is interesting, isn’t it?”

Sofia said. I agreed in my heart and stepped inside.

“There don’t seem to be any traps…”

“Hmm, I can vaguely see it now.”

Garuku said.

“It’s probably that this special floor is acting as a Teleportation Device.”

“A Teleportation Device?”

As I exclaimed in surprise, Garuku spoke, staring at the floor.

“Mysterious Magical Power is coming from here… It seems to be a Teleportation Device that utilizes it.”

“It can do that too… It’s not like it activates if you just step on this floor, right?”

“It’s unlikely that something would happen just by stepping on it. As long as you don’t infuse it with Magic Power, there’s no problem.”

That’s true. I tried stepping on it, but nothing happened.

“It’s an unusual Material.”

Sofia also stood on the white floor and touched it with her hand. When I did the same, it felt smooth to the touch.

“Where did they get this kind of Material?”

Richard said. In response, I opened my mouth.

“It might be something we’ve seen before. It just doesn’t look like it after being processed.”

“Ah, I see. So there’s that way of thinking too.”

Richard, convinced, walked across the floor. Resveil followed him, and when he stepped onto the floor—there was a change.

Suddenly, the floor glowed.

“Huh?”

“What!?”

This seemed to be unexpected for Garuku as well… The next moment, a flash of light enveloped us.

I instinctively gave Resveil an order—and immediately after a Barrier formed to protect us, my vision wavered for a moment.

“Ugh…!”

After a short groan, the light vanished. The room that came into view seemed unchanged—I think.

The Barrier was dispelled. I looked around, but—

“Doesn’t it feel even dustier than before?”

Sofia said… now that she mentioned it.

“Hey, Garuku. Did Transfer Magic just activate?”

“It must have reacted to Resveil’s Magic.”

Seriously…? Should I be more careful next time?

“For now, let’s go back.”

Even though I said that… stepping off the floor and back on didn’t work. It was the same even when Resveil used Magic Power.

Oh, man. What do we do about this?

“The Mysterious Magical Power is much smaller compared to the previous location. Perhaps it won’t activate on this side.”

Garuku said something ominous. In that case, what we should do is—

“It looks like we have no choice but to go outside.”

“Right.”

“Ruon, aren’t there Monsters here?”

Oh, do I have to clean again…? Holding my head, I opened the door. But,

“…They’re not here.”

“More like, there’s hardly any Magic Power.”

This was Garuku’s comment.

“It’s as if someone took it away.”

“What do you mean by that…? Well, whatever. All verification can wait. We just need to get out.”

I started walking. The sound of my shoes echoed strangely, and if there were Monsters, it wouldn’t be strange for them to approach, but… they didn’t show up at all. Could it be related to the almost complete absence of Magic Power?

“Richard, by the way, what happened to the Monsters you were using? If we teleported, wouldn’t your commands not reach them?”

“Ah, you don’t have to worry about that. I’ve given them instructions to return to my home if they don’t receive my orders for a certain period.”

“In that case, it’s fine… But still, our means of transportation is a problem now. Sofia and I have Movement Magic, but… Richard, do you want to ride on Resveil’s back?”

Richard gave a wry smile at the suggestion.

“No, no, I couldn’t possibly… You can leave me behind if necessary.”

“Can you create Monsters in the same way?”

“I can, but it’ll take time. And some Magic Stones too.”

“Oh, I’ll provide those then.”

Suddenly stopping, I tried to pull my Storage Box from the Stronghold. However,

“…Huh?”

It wouldn’t come out. The Magic was definitely activating, though.

“…There could be many reasons why it’s not appearing, but first, we need to go outside and check things out.”

“You’re right.”

I agreed with Garuku’s words and quickened my pace. I had a bad feeling about this.

We continued through the Ancient Ruins with Sofia and the others… eventually reaching what looked like an entrance. But,

It’s blocked.

Richard says. The rocks have collapsed, making it impassable.

Well, we just have to destroy it.

Ruon, are you alright?

Resveil, cast Magic Barrier on Richard and Sofia.

Resveil moves as instructed.

Now, please wait a moment while I open the entrance.

I told the two of them and began working.