Klyus's words caused the room to fall silent. Countless gazes turned toward Citry, who was beaming.
A crime, a crime, huh... Well, certainly!
Mana Material manipulation was one of the most heavily punished crimes in Zebuldia, even for research alone, and it was largely prohibited in other countries too. She'd proposed the plan so casually that I hadn't even noticed.
But thinking about it calmly, Citry was the kind of person who was always stumbling into unexpected situations, but she wasn't the type to do research that would get her in trouble. She shouldn't be. She probably wouldn't do anything that would result in serious charges... probably.
She knew people everywhere, and she had connections at various institutions, starting with the Primus Magic Academy. She must have gotten special permission for her research. When Citry first proposed the idea, nobody had raised any objections either...
"Now, now, Klyus, calm down. There's no way Citry would do illegal research without permission. Besides, even for Citry, doing that kind of research alone in secret would be difficult..."
"...It violates the Ten Crimes. Who on earth would approve that kind of research?"
A perfectly valid point. I couldn't really imagine it either.
Klyus stared at Citry with the expression of someone examining something highly suspicious. Citry puffed out her chest and declared with supreme confidence.
"Of course it was—Krai-san!"
!?! What authority could I possibly have...? Besides, I had no memory of giving any such permission.
Klyus turned to look at me, dumbfounded.
I looked at Citry, but she didn't seem to be lying at all. It appeared she genuinely believed from the bottom of her heart that I had given permission.
When someone as sharp and possessing such an excellent memory as Citry looked at me like that, it almost made me feel like I was the one who was mistaken.
...Could it be that I had given permission and simply forgotten?
...
As I sat in silence, unable to even trust my own past self, Klyus furrowed her brow and opened her mouth to speak. That was when Serein cut in.
"Please wait. I don't know the circumstances, but now is not the time to worry about laws! The world is facing the threat of annihilation!"
"...At the earliest, it's a hundred years from now."
"Exactly! We only have a hundred years! No matter how dangerous it may be—we should do everything we can!"
Well, that wasn't exactly what I meant, but...
Serein's eyes burned with a sense of mission. I had originally intended to head back quickly and call for reinforcements, but it felt like they were steadily cutting off my escape routes.
Perhaps inspired by her words, the members of the Star's Holy Thunder chimed in one after another, echoing Serein's sentiments.
"Princess Serein is right. Now is not the time to be bound by rules made by humans."
"We cannot simply stand by and watch the fall of Yggdrasil... the manifestation of a god. It could cause tremendous harm to humanity as well."
"That—that's..."
Klyus faltered. Then, as if delivering the finishing blow, Lapis looked my way and spoke.
"Besides... hmph. What are you worried about, Klyus? This man is the Thousand Transformations—the one who's stuck his nose into every incident and resolved them all. It was you who told us: this man is worthy of trust."
"Hah!? I-I never said anything like that!"
Klyus let out a squawk and turned to look at me. When and how had I earned her trust? My only memories were of dragging her into awful situations...
I couldn't even trust my own past self, but being told all that, I had no choice but to do my best to live up to their trust.
I gave a small shrug, then turned to my childhood friend, who was waiting quietly with a smile on her face.
"It seems like the matter's been settled. Citry, I'm counting on you for the explanation."
"Yes! Leave it to me! Klyus, don't worry. It should work in theory. I have all the necessary devices and their structures stored in my head! We don't have the equipment on hand, so we'll have to build it from scratch, though!"
"In theory," huh. "Stored in my head," huh. "From scratch," huh... This was going to be a bumpy road.
Citry's eyes sparkled. She clenched her fists tightly and spoke with unwavering conviction. Riizu sidled up and whispered to me.
"Krai-chan, Citry's got some kind of weird switch flipped—is this gonna be okay?"
It was hard to tell whether this was the bad kind of Citry or the good kind of Citry.
§ And so, the strategy to relocate the ley lines using a Mana Material agitation device began.
In a room within Serein's estate. In a makeshift command center centered around a large wooden table, Citry explained the strategy to us.
"It'll take some time, but it should be far easier than dealing with a god."
With that preamble, the strategy Citry laid out was simple and straightforward.
At the heart of this planet's ley lines stood the World Tree. The Level 10 Treasure Hall, the Source Divine Temple, manifested by the excessive accumulation of Mana Material, was still being sustained by the immense power flowing into it.
In other words, if we could somehow deal with the inflowing power, the Treasure Hall would gradually lose its strength and eventually disappear. This was, in fact, a phenomenon that actually occurred on extremely rare occasions, such as when large-scale tectonic shifts changed the position of ley lines.
"There are things we've learned about Treasure Halls from our research so far. The more powerful the Treasure Hall, the faster it disappears when the supply of Mana Material is cut off. And when the supply of Mana Material to a Treasure Hall ceases, the Treasure Hall converts its Phantoms back into Mana Material to maintain the field. The Source Divine Temple has been accumulating Mana Material for quite a long time now, but if the incoming Mana Material is reduced, it shouldn't be able to sustain its Phantoms or its powerful barriers. In theory! Right, Krai-san?"
"Mm-hmm, in theory, right."
"Hmm..."
Anthem let out a somewhat anxious groan at Citry's repeated use of "in theory."
But there was no better idea. None of the other members seemed to have objections, so we had no choice but to trust her.
"The Mana Material agitation device developed at the research institute I belonged to acts on the Mana Material flowing through ley lines, reproducing changes in ley lines that would normally only occur through tectonic shifts. Two things are needed: constructing the agitation device, and conducting a field survey. I'll calculate where to bury the device, but to determine those locations properly, we need to conduct a field survey to understand the forces flowing through the earth."
And it didn't sound like it was going to be easy work, either.
Serein brought out a map of the area surrounding the World Tree.
The World Tree was surrounded by forest. The Mana Material there was quite dense, and Monsters and phantom beasts were likely to appear. Conducting a survey there wouldn't be simple.
Our fighting force consisted only of the Mourning Specter and the Star's Holy Thunder. I'd felt reassured before we set out, but the fact that the difficulty of our tasks scaled proportionally with our fighting strength was really something I could do without.
"Let's split into teams. A field survey team and a device construction team. Only I can build the device, so Lucia, since I'll need your support, you'll be on the construction team."
At those words, Lapis glanced at her companions, then let her gaze fall to the map.
The World Tree was truly enormous. I wasn't sure how large an area we'd need to survey, but navigating through it while dealing with phantom beasts and Monsters would be exhausting just from walking alone.
"So the rest of us are on the survey team. But... we don't have enough hands for an area this size."
"Wait, how do you even measure the forces flowing through the earth? I mean, I can kind of tell roughly where the power is strong, but you need precise data, right? Seems like it'd be tough for me and Tii, though?"
"No... it's difficult even for Spiritfolk. We can see magic power, but we can't see Mana Material."
"We don't need measurements that precise, but... hmm... we do need at least a rough idea of where the current ley lines are."
"What about the Monsters in the area? At a place this dense with Mana Material, the Monsters that show up are going to be no joke."
Before me—a complete deadweight—Citry and the others launched into a heated debate.
It looked like we'd already hit our first snag, but the more they debated, the more likely a solution would emerge. Having capable companions really was a relief.
As for me, if I had to pick a team, it'd probably be the construction team... I had no combat ability, no eye for detecting Mana Material flow, and to top it off, I was pretty directionally challenged. A Hunter this unsuited for field surveys was hard to come by, wasn't he? The best I could do on the construction team was offer moral support.
At that moment, I felt the urge to use the restroom and stood up.
I felt bad about leaving in the middle of a discussion, but I wasn't contributing anyway, and no brilliant ideas were going to come to me. They'd be fine without me.
"Sorry, I'll be right back. Won't be long."
I left the room at a brisk pace, heading for the restroom.
The restroom was right near the entrance. Serein's estate, built atop a massive tree, wasn't as spacious as the mansions commonly seen in the Imperial Capital.
I'd already visited this estate numerous times since arriving in Yggdrasil.
Humming a tune, I reached the restroom and was about to reach for the door when, suddenly, the entrance door burst open with force.
"I've kept you waiting, Thousand Transformations."
The loud noise made me freeze, and I slowly turned my gaze toward the entrance.
What I saw there was a familiar group—one I never wanted to see again.
There were three of them. At the front stood a woman dressed in wild, rugged attire.
On her back, a pitch-black spear. Sharp eyes, and black rouge painted on her lips.
The thief I thought I'd left behind in the Source Divine Temple—Adler narrowed her eyes, flashed a smirk, raised a hand-mirror-like object gripped in her right hand, and cried out in a loud voice.
"Heh heh... Rejoice! I'm going to make you my master!"