Chapter 225

Chapter 225 Strongest Sage, Figures Out Poison's Origin

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Seems like my prayer was answered, we didn't have to wait an hour before there were movements at the warehouse .

『 . . . Someone super suspicious is coming here . 』

One man is approaching the warehouse while pulling a cart .

A bag in the cart has 『Mandragora Powder 30kg』 written on it .

But just that wouldn't have been worth mentioning .

The man is wearing a mask that covers his whole face .

Judging from the mana flow, the mask is a kind of gas mask .

He must be putting that mask on to protect himself from some kind of toxic substance .

『But he's pulling a cart . Then it's not related to Storage magic?』

Indeed, the man doesn't seem to be a Storage mage .

Judging from his mana, he probably can't even use chantless magic .

However . . . The man is most likely related to the poison .

『No looks like it is . . . Look at the cart's mana reaction . 』

『 . . . There's traces of mana on the road it passed by!』

『That's right . 』

There are traces of life force absorbing poison on the cart being pulled .

No mistake, that cart has been used to transport the poison .

『Wonder what's inside that cart? Mandragora Powder is written on the bag, but . . . 』

『Looks like it really is Mandragora inside . . . But Mandragora powder is one of the materials used to create life force absorbing poison . 』

Mandragora is a type of magic plants .

As the plants would emit harmful screams when pulled out of ground, the current era's technological level is incapable of mass producing it, thus it's considered a luxurious good .

30kg of such powder . . . meaning the organization providing this has to be quite large .

The man pulling the cart opened the warehouse door while we were talking .

『 . . . The door's open . Should we sneak in?』

『Nope, we're gonna observe the situation from here . No one would find us outside thanks to stealth magic, but we can't be sure what stuff are there inside a cramped warehouse . 』

From this distance, it's possible to completely grasp how it's like inside with Passive Detection .

No need to go out of our way to brave danger by going inside .

『If he goes there bringing Mandragora, a raw material, inside . . . 』

『Either someone inside is going to take the Mandragora, or they're really producing the poison inside . 』

I concentrate on Passive Detection .

It's no big deal if he goes to warehouse just to put the Mandragora powder and take the poison .

However . . . This is just a hunch, but I don't think that's correct .

And I guessed right .

『『Eeh!?』』

Alma and Ruli who were probing the warehouse like me let out their voice in surprise at the sudden emergence of mana reaction inside .

A spell was suddenly activated in the middle of the warehouse .

And not in a scale possible by chant magic .

It's a complex spell that would need quite a level of mastery even in my past era .

The spell seems familiar to me .

Exchange-type, matter transfer spell .

The target is– .

『Exchanging the Mandragora powder with the poison huh . 』

When mana on the magic circle had subsided, the Mandragora powder in the cart the man was pulling had been changed to the life force absorbing poison .

They've exchanged them through matter transfer magic .

『Transfer magic . . . Is it similar with the Instantaneous Movement magic you used Mathi-kun?』

『Yeah . But I'd have never thought they were using that . . . 』

The transfer magic circle used here was the one the past me created .

It should have been situated deep underground, but it must have got brought out to surface after several thousands years .

. . . That's good and all .

The problem is how did they even find that magic circle .

Even if the magic circle got to the surface, it should be hidden with strong camouflage I put on it, it should have been impossible to find .

『That . . . ?』

『I mean the transfer magic circle . That magic circle should have been connected to a hidden room in the ruins . . . The reason how they could find it is bugging me . 』

『Maybe they discovered it by chance while they were exploring the ruins?』

『I don't think it's that simple to find . . . Well, at least now we know where the enemy is . Now we just need to think up our raid plan . 』

That transfer magic circle is connected to a hidden room in the Sixth Source .

That room was created due to a 『Certain Circumstance』 but only less than 10 people knew the existence of that room in the past .

The Camouflage put on both the magic circle and the hidden room was of the highest level even by the past me standard .

It's not something that could have been 『found by chance』 .

Even the past me wouldn't have been able to find the hidden room unless I knew beforehand that the room existed .

If that room truly had been found . . . it wouldn't have been possible unless it was by those whom I have confided in regarding the room's existence .

And those people who knew about the room were all either heads of a state or great mages .

Don't tell me, the ringleader who's been absorbing life force is someone among them?

. . . This might turn out bigger than I thought it'd be .