Chapter 300

It was an incredibly cold morning, as the temperature had dropped even further. This time, we talked around a fire instead of a table. That being said, we had said nearly everything that there was to be said the previous night.

“Today, we will take all of the opinions that were shared last night, and conceive a strategy based on it. Well, I have already thought of one myself. Will you listen?”

Everyone nodded. We drank some soup brought from the Imperial City as we listened to Adlus speak.

“The most important part of this is preventing any goblins from escaping. And that is also the most difficult part. We talked about this a lot last night… And we decided that Rindo’s magic would be the most effective.”

Manager was the only one who could use Dark Magic. It wasn’t the only magic she was capable of, but it would be the most important for us now.

“Because it is all underground. When it comes to places that the sun doesn’t shine, there is no one more fit than me.”

“Aye. You will use this shadow magic that you talked about last night. And you will trap the goblins.”

Her Dark Magic had been discussed at length during yesterday’s meeting. Obviously, many people had witnessed her in action during the Imperial Sword Tournament. However, it would not have been clear what it was to most of them. Regardless, she explained it to everyone in detail.

“If Asagi is going to fight in spite of being badly hurt, I can’t enter the fight while also hiding my abilities.”

She had said.

“There are no books on Dark Magic. I have no way of using it other than just trying what I can think of. It was then that I learned how to work with the shadows. My own shadow. The shadows of others. The shadows of objects. Where there is light, there is darkness. In other words, the darkness in the world is my playground.”

People with cheats definitely talked on a different scale. I was a little jealous, but I also felt like that kind of power wouldn’t suit me. I could barely control the power I had now. If I had the power of darkness… If I did… Damn, it would be cool…

“While darkness has no form, it still has mana. Of course, no one else knows this, as I’m the only one who can use it. And so like this, the shadows all around us can become my arms and legs.”

Manager waved her hand and a hand stretched out of her shadow. The shadow hand was holding a shortsword that was also made of shadow. Now, this was a threat. She could dominate a place like the underground goblin nest. Hell, she should just go and do the whole thing by herself.

“However, I do have my limits. But I will have no problem sealing the exits.”

“We expect there to be several. Can you still do it?”

“If they are all connected by shadows, I should be able to keep track of them. Yes… It will deplete a lot of energy, but for instance, I could use shadows to see what is happening in Namila Village right now.”

She said this as if it were nothing, but it was an incredible power. It far exceeded the range of something like Presence Detection. Of course, she did say the energy depletion was great… Still, it was certainly something I’d never be able to do.

“Well, that’s about it. The night during a new moon should shudder and sleep in my presence…”

She ended with a joke and purposely dramatic expression. But I didn’t find it very funny.

In any case, that was how she explained it to us. Though, to be honest, I didn’t think she told us everything. She probably had some crazy trump card… I mean, it was the power of darkness…

“Now, the problem of keeping them contained is all but resolved. Then that just leaves…”

“Annihilation.”

“Yes.”

Daniela’s voice was always low when she just got out of bed. Adlus nodded.

“However, that does raise one new problem. Well, perhaps it was always a problem.”

He sighed and looked at us one by one.

“We don’t have the ability to see in the dark.”

I had been about to raise a spoonful of soup to my mouth but stopped. I was the only one here that could use Night Eyes. I shrugged.

Yes, it’s just you, Asagi. It’s not just Night Eyes. But skills related to vision are rare. And none of our scouts had them.”

I sipped my soup noisily as if I wasn’t listening. My breath appeared thick and white in the air as I sighed. I finally said what he clearly wanted me to.

“…So, you want to use the magic tools that I collected?”

“Oh, you have a lot of those, do you? Well, isn’t that so very convenient.”

I snorted and looked away.

Daniela had mentioned it before when we discussed ways of seeing in the dark.

“Now that I think of it, Asagi has a lot of magic illumination tools that he took from an orc settlement.”

“Really?”

Adlus had become very curious, and so Daniela explained it to him. I had wondered if they might become useful one day, and so I had taken the time to collect them. They looked like round stones.

And I had about twenty of them. Sometimes, I would buy old containers for them in town. Of course, when I was all done, I felt an emptiness instead of a sense of satisfaction.

‘I finished it…’

Before I knew it, I had bought more glowing stones and would continue to search for containers to put them in. Sometimes they would be rare oddities or the newest model. There was also a great variety to them too. Some had adjustable brightnesses while others were especially powerful and for industrial use.

I suppose I had become a sort of collector of magic illumination devices.

“You…since when…”

“Heh.”

Daniela had thought I only had the initial twenty. And so she looked quite exasperated when I laid out the others on the ground.

“How many are there?”

“There are about sixty in all.”

“My eyes…”

Anis closed her eyes when I turned on the industrial one.

“Asagi, we will talk about this later.”

“Hey, there’s nothing to talk about.”

“No, we should talk about it.”

Daniela had a look in her eyes that I had to turn away from. However, she grabbed my jaw and turned it.

“Scary-scary-scary-close-close-close.”

“You really are so…”

“I think you made your point, Daniela.”

Adlus suggested. I wanted to praise him for a job well done.

For now, I put the Asagi Collection back into the hollow bag. Also known a the ‘AsaColle.’ I could be an otaku too. It somehow felt really nice to be able to boast about the things you’ve picked up. Well, there had been a scary moment back there, but overall, I was thankful to Daniela for giving me this opportunity.

“With this many, we can pass them out to all the Jades.”

“Eh?”

“Huh?”

Adlus was trying to be funny. Why should I have to pass out my prized collection to some strangers? This was my one hobby. It was my collection. While I liked showing them off to others, I wasn’t going to let them borrow it.

“Have you been listening to me? I believe I said that we need illumination tools to be able to fight in the dark…”

“No! These are my prized possessions! You can’t take them from me!”

Now that I think about it, he had said something about that. But this memory only made me hold onto the hollow bag even tighter.

“Please wait here. I will settle this. Asagi, come here.”

“Surely, you understand, Daniela? Don’t you?”

“Aye. Of course, I do. Now, let us go and get some fresh air over there.”

And like that, she led me between the trees and to the walls of ice.

I’ll never forget the taste of that gut punch.

□ □ □ □

So, after some misadventures, my collection of magic tools went into the hands of the Jades. Adlus assured me that they would be handled carefully, but I had my doubts…

“So, that is my plan. Any objections?”

“Is there a chance you could devise a plan that doesn’t involve my magic tools?”

“Alright, so it’s settled then. Now we will be able to surround the goblins and annihilate them. Still, we will have to make some final adjustments, and so I want Asagi to go inside and get a look at the place. You can take Anis with you.”

“Very well. Guess we’ll be working together, Anis.”

“Yes!”

My resistance was immediately ignored. Now that I’d given up, I decided to go with Anis and learn what I could about being a scout. We had to see the actual location before finalizing the plan.

“We don’t have much time. You two must go at once. We’ll strengthen defenses here, just in case the goblins attack us first.”

Everyone nodded at this and moved at once.

So… It was time to get back into the old black outfit.