The Mountain of Löwenberg

The day after I returned from Illgner.

As usual, I headed to the Chief Priest's room to help out when the third bell rang, and I found Brother Eckhart already there, apparently having finished his handover.

However, unlike my guard knight who stood by the door on escort duty, he seemed to have been assigned to assist with office work. The fact that neither the blue-robed priests nor the attendants reacted at all suggested this was a common occurrence.

"Chief Priest, is it alright to have your guard doing office work?"

"It's not alright for you, but I don't mind. ...I can handle myself to some degree even if I'm attacked. You collapse on your own without anyone attacking you. That's the difference."

I had no comeback to that.

Damuel had said he originally aimed to become a civil official, so he had an aptitude for office work. It was a shame that talent couldn't be put to use.

"Eustachius is supposed to come before noon as well. We'll be discussing materials, so try to finish as much work as possible by then."

"Yes!"

I got through the paperwork that had piled up during my several days away.

Fran, who had been worn out from the mental toll of staying in Illgner with its different living environment and had smiled weakly while saying, "I never imagined that just a slight change in environment could be so tiring," had regained his vitality after returning to the Temple.

Just as the Chief Priest had said, before the fourth bell rang, Eustachius arrived at the Temple. With sparkling eyes full of excitement, he looked around as if searching for something interesting, then walked up to the Chief Priest's desk.

"Good morning, Ferdinand. And welcome back, Lady Rosemine. How was Illgner? Was there anything interesting?"

With a light, bouncy step that suggested he might be humming a tune, Eustachius said he was looking forward to lunch, to talking with me, and to touring the workshop.

"I'm not sure what to say about that all of a sudden. I'm planning to go to the orphanage today, not the workshop."

"Then would it be alright if I toured the orphanage as well? I'm very interested in the orphanage where Lady Rosemine exercises her charity. I believe all the orphans can read and write, correct?"

Even though it should have been clear that I would outright refuse such a thing when it came to nobility, Eustachius pretended not to notice and tried to schedule himself in. If I acted like a proper lady and said something like "I haven't seen the orphanage yet, so that sounds lovely," he would just invite himself along, so I decided to refuse him directly rather than being subtle about it.

"...Please do it when the Chief Priest can accompany us. I'm worried you'd wander through the orphanage on your own."

"Is there something you don't want me to see?"

Eustachius grew even more curious, and I glared at him. If I let this pushy noble who charged headlong into anything that caught his interest into the orphanage, it would definitely accelerate Wilma's fear of men.

"Some of the Gray Priestesses have difficulty with men due to the overbearing blue-robed priests. The women's dormitory is off-limits, but you don't seem like someone who would respect that boundary, so absolutely not."

"Hmm, I see."

Eustachius looked like he accepted this, but he clearly hadn't.

"So, if I dressed as a woman, I could enter?"

His eyes were dead serious. This man was genuinely willing to cross-dress to get into the orphanage.

"Entry to the orphanage by Eustachius is hereby completely prohibited!"

"What!?"

When Eustachius protested with "How could you be so cruel," I was the one who was shocked. I absolutely could not let someone weird enough to try cross-dressing to get into the orphanage actually enter.

As I firmly resolved that, as orphanage director and High Priest, I must absolutely prevent the orphanage from becoming the victim of Eustachius's strange whims, the Chief Priest let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Enough of those trivial matters. Let's get to the main topic."

With a light wave of his hand, the Chief Priest cut off our conversation and had the attendants leave. Those who remained, including the guard knights, were all headed to the collection site.

The Chief Priest spread out a map with a rustle and pointed to a mountain to the south.

"This time, we're heading to a mountain called Löwenberg. The best day for summer ingredient collection is five days from now. We'll depart the day after tomorrow."

If I hadn't returned from Illgner, the Chief Priest had apparently planned to meet up there.

"Chief Priest, what ingredients are we collecting this time?"

"The eggs of the Liesefalke. The Liesefalke is said to be a bird that soothes the wrath of Leidenschaft, the Fire God. Its eggs are the ingredient we're after."

"Eh? We're going to take the eggs of a bird that calms a god's wrath? Isn't that a sacred bird? And on top of that, we'd be egg thieves? Wouldn't that be incredibly sinful?"

When I muttered that it seemed like too much, the Chief Priest shook his head.

"Don't worry. The Liesefalke is not a sacred bird. It's a type of magical beast. Also, we'll take precautions to appease Leidenschaft's anger."

As he said this, the Chief Priest looked at me curiously.

"You say egg thief, but in winter you killed Sneatirm to obtain magic stones. In spring it was Tarklosh, and in autumn Sanye and Gotze—there are heaps of magical beasts you hunted for collection purposes. What are you fussing about over a single egg now?"

"...That's true."

Having already slaughtered a massive number of beasts, I found that stealing a single egg really didn't seem like much anymore.

"However, you must avoid killing the magical beasts of Löwenberg as much as possible, or Leidenschaft's anger will explode. That's the most difficult part of this collection."

"If we don't soothe his anger, will something happen?"

"Yes. When Leidenschaft's anger grows too strong, the mountain will erupt with fire."

...Isn't that just called a volcanic eruption? Is Löwenberg a volcano?

But I couldn't see the connection between an eruption and not killing magical beasts, so I tilted my head.

"The Liesefalke's eggs incubate by absorbing the Magic Power of Löwenberg, so if the eggs are removed, the Magic Power they would have absorbed becomes excess."

Eustachius nodded along with the Chief Priest's words and added further explanation.

"When there's too much excess Magic Power, Leidenschaft becomes angry and causes the mountain to erupt. I know this for certain because I once collected too many eggs and nearly triggered Leidenschaft's wrath."

"Yes!?"

I thought I must have misheard, but apparently not. The Chief Priest pressed his fingers to his temples and let out a deep sigh.

"...That was quite the ordeal."

"Indeed. I thought I didn't know what would happen."

The Chief Priest and Brother Eckhart both had distant looks on their faces. It seemed Eustachius had caused quite the incident. He was excellent at gathering information, but in other respects, he was quite a dangerous individual.

"Well, well, isn't that experience proving useful now?"

"I never want to have such an experience again. That's precisely why I intend to take every possible precaution."

With the Chief Priest, who had already dealt with numerous incidents and disturbances, in charge, there shouldn't be any problems.

"I'll leave everything in the Chief Priest's capable hands. Thank you."

Two days later, as soon as we finished lunch, we departed for Löwenberg. Those accompanying us were the Chief Priest, Brother Eckhart, Damuel, and Brigitte.

Eustachius had also hoped to join, but that was not to be. The Chief Priest rejected him outright and had arranged for the castle's civil officials to pile him with a mountain of work.

"He tends to drift toward anything that catches his interest and stir up trouble. Eustachius has already caused a commotion at Löwenberg once before, and this time will be a race against the clock."

The Chief Priest said this with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

This time, there were no villages nearby, and we wanted to prioritize travel speed, so we wouldn't even bring attendants and would operate like a military unit alongside the knights.

Meals would be portable rations, there would be no baths and we'd rely entirely on cleansing magic, and my poor physical condition would be forcibly managed with medicine—a forced march through and through.

At least for one meal, I wanted something proper, so I asked Elra and Hugo, and they made me a packed lunch. Then, wanting to keep the lunch from spoiling, I consulted the Chief Priest, and he lent me a small ice compartment from a Magical Tool. For some reason, the Chief Priest's own packed lunch was already inside, but I put mine in as well and loaded it onto my beast.

He had told me to keep my luggage as light as possible so the beast could be kept small, and now he was the one adding to my burden. Well, whatever.

"Lady Rosemine, please take great care. I've prepared medicine and a bed, and I'll be waiting for your safe return. Please come back soon."

Even from Fran's farewell words, it was clear that my bedridden recovery was a foreseen certainty. I just hoped to finish this collection without using too much medicine.

As soon as we finished lunch, we mounted our beasts and took to the sky, heading toward Löwenberg.

Brother Eckhart led the way with me following behind. Damuel and Brigitte flanked me on either side, and the Chief Priest brought up the rear.

It had been hot these past ten days. Truly summer-like heat, where just being in the sunlight made you feel like melting. On top of that, flying much closer to the sun on our beasts than we would be on the ground made the heat feel even worse.

And the knights were wearing armor equipped with Magical Tools that could mitigate not only the cold but also the heat. They looked hot just to look at—raising my own perceived temperature—yet they themselves weren't hot. That was a little unfair.

We simply flew south through the sky on our beasts. Once we passed over the domains with many fields, the scenery shifted to areas dense with forests and hills, and gradually mountains came into view. Among the range of connected mountains, one stood noticeably taller than the rest.

...Is that it?

The Chief Priest had said that the tallest mountain among the connected range was Löwenberg.

At its base, a lush forest of tall trees spread out, while from the middle slopes upward—perhaps due to past eruptions—shorter trees and grasses dominated. Near the summit, there was no sign of vegetation at all, only rugged rock faces. However, there were no visible signs of eruption like smoke, at least for now.

Brother Eckhart's beast, resembling a winged wolf, began descending toward the ground. I similarly lowered the Lesser Beast's altitude.

We arrived at the base of Löwenberg as the summer dusk approached.

"We'll begin our operation at dawn tomorrow. Ideally, we want to do the collection when the sunlight is at its highest."

"Yes."

While discussing the collection schedule, the Chief Priest and I ate our packed lunches while the other three ate their portable rations. Afterward, Brigitte and I used cleansing magic to wash up inside the Lesser Beast.

"Then, let me cleanse you."

Brigitte took out her Stab, murmured something, and waved it. Not knowing the right timing, I pinched my nose at the wrong moment and found myself enveloped in a massive water drop, convinced I was going to drown during the cleansing.

"Tonight, everyone will sleep inside your beast. Expand it to full size."

After the cleansing, just as I was about to prepare for bed, the Chief Priest said this. I heard him mutter bitterly, "I don't want the same thing to happen as last spring." Apparently, the last time during collection, he had courteously let only the women sleep in their beasts, only to have them abducted without being able to do anything, and it had been a deep humiliation.

"So this is Rosemine's beast."

When I expanded the Lesser Beast to its larger size, the three men entered carrying their own luggage. Brother Eckhart looked around inside, touched the seat, and widened his eyes in surprise.

"It's soft."

"At least you can stretch your legs and sleep."

The knights had set up a watch rotation, but I went to sleep right away. Tomorrow would be demanding. I needed to conserve my rest.

At a time when the sun was barely starting to rise, I was woken by Brigitte and ate portable rations for breakfast.

"It's a bit salty."

"They're made by soaking ground grains and vegetables in sake and salt, then drying them and rolling them into solid balls."

"Wouldn't adding a bit more salt improve both the preservation and the flavor?"

The knights' portable rations were brown balls about the size of a ping-pong ball, meant to be softened with hot water before eating. They prioritized not spoiling and high nutrition, but they were definitely not delicious.

"When you can't leisurely boil water, just gnawing on them while drinking water is enough to fill your stomach. If the salt is too strong at that point, it's hard to eat. That's what happens when you add too much hot water."

After finishing the not-so-delicious breakfast, we departed immediately. We rode our beasts toward a fissure-like entrance midway up Löwenberg. Though called a fissure, it was large enough for an adult to enter comfortably.

After entering the cave, the knights wouldn't be able to ride beasts that required spreading their wings wide, so they would proceed on foot. I would need to keep my Lesser Beast as small as possible to follow along.

"Ugh, it stinks..."

I had prepared myself after learning it was a volcano, but the sulfur smell was already present. Damuel's grimacing face said it all—the smell was terrible. And it was coming from deeper inside the fissure we had to enter.

"You'll get used to it eventually. Just accept it."

The Chief Priest also made a disgusted face, but he stepped to the forefront and headed straight into the cave. Brigitte, myself, Damuel, and Brother Eckhart followed in order.

While everyone carefully made their way down the short slope using the rough rocks for support, I hopped down with the Lesser Beast.

"Don't wander ahead on your own. There could be anything in here, you fool."

"Sorry."

The light from the surface didn't penetrate very far. Soon, it was dark and hard to see where we were stepping. At the same time, air convection seemed to cease. The moment we descended the slope, the humidity spiked and the air became thick and clammy.

"There's no more light ahead. Use this."

Once everyone had reached the flat area, the Chief Priest took out one of the vials hanging from his waist. He dripped the liquid into his eyes like eye drops, then handed it to Brother Eckhart, who did the same.

After it had gone around to everyone, the Chief Priest said, "Now, Rosemine. Open your eyes," and held out the eye drops to me.

"I'm not good with eye drops."

"It's necessary for walking through here. There's no 'good' or 'bad' about it. Eckhart, hold her down."

My eyes were forced open, and the liquid was dripped in. I didn't know what was in the medicine, but my eyes stung and tingled. A sharp smell hit the back of my nose, and my throat tasted bitter.

"...Ugh, this eye drops tastes terrible. I demand an improvement to the flavor."

"Why would eye drops have a taste? Stop saying foolish things and move forward."

The eye drops turned out to be a Magical Tool that ensured visibility even in the dark. Even after the light was gone, we could proceed without impediment. The vision was tinted brown—or perhaps dark orange—like having a small nightlight on in the dark, but it wasn't completely black.

After walking for a while, we encountered a spring midway. A sulfur-smelling spring—could it be a hot spring? We were taking a short break, and I wanted to walk up to the spring and dip my hands in.

"Can I stick my hands in the spring?"

"Don't do anything reckless, you fool. What if there's a magical beast inside the spring? Besides, what would you even do with that? If you get dirty, just say so and I'll use cleansing magic."

"No, it's not that I want to wash my hands. I was just thinking... if it's warm, I'd want to soak in it like a bath."

If it was a hot spring, anyone would want to try it.

However, my suggestion was dismissed with a snort.

"What are you going to do getting into this stinking water? You'll smell terrible all over. Besides, the Liesefalke's eggs are in the innermost spring, so you'll have to go in whether you like it or not. Wait a bit longer."

"Eh? The eggs are being warmed in the hot spring?"

...So they were hot spring eggs?

In my mind, this mission shifted from stealing eggs of a bird that calmed divine wrath to acquiring hot spring eggs.

"Are the Liesefalke's eggs delicious?"

"They're a medicinal ingredient. You infuse them with Magic Power to transform them into magic stones. They're not food."

"...Right."

...What a shame. I kind of wanted to try one.

The break ended, and we pressed deeper inside. As we progressed, both the temperature and humidity kept climbing.

The sensation was like moving from a room during the rainy season, to the changing room of a bathhouse, then to the large bath of a hot spring—my perceived temperature and humidity kept shifting accordingly.

"It's... really hot."

"Indeed."

At the second rest stop, despite wearing full-body armor, the knights responded to me in cool, unbothered voices. Even though I was moving via Lesser Beast, I was the most exhausted of everyone.

"Put the towel from the ice compartment against your neck."

"Yes..."

I wiped my face with the chilled towel I had prepared the night before and draped it around my neck. The cool sensation brought some relief to my heat-addled head.

Around this point, it had completely become a hot spring environment—steam was rising from the springs, I could tell.

It seemed my earlier impulse to dip my hands in the spring wasn't entirely without reason. Inside the hot springs, there were sleeping creatures that looked like reptiles.

"If they don't attack us, we can leave them alone. We must avoid killing anything here if possible."

"Why?"

"The magical beasts here receive their Magic Power from Löwenberg. If we hunt too many beasts, the Magic Power consumption decreases, right? Then when too much Magic Power accumulates in the mountain, it manifests as Leidenschaft's wrath and erupts as fire."

Eustachius must have been defeating magical beasts when he collected eggs too. Otherwise, the Chief Priest wouldn't know this in such detail.

"The Liesefalke's eggs are the same as the beasts. They incubate from the Magic Power and heat here. So this time, I've prepared one fire-attribute magic stone roughly the same size as the egg, as well as several fire-attribute magic stones of varying sizes. All of them are completely drained of Magic Power."

I glanced at the leather pouch attached to the Chief Priest's waist. The bumpy bulges made it clear that magic stones were inside.

"What good are magic stones with no Magic Power?"

"When you place a drained magic stone in a place with a strong attribute affinity, Magic Power returns to it. We use that property to take the eggs."

"So, to take the eggs, you need something that can absorb roughly the same amount of Magic Power as the egg itself?"

He nodded, confirming this, and the Chief Priest began preparing to set out again. I placed the warmed towel back into the ice compartment and exchanged it for a chilled one.

We walked further, and the heat and humidity became suffocating.

My nose had grown accustomed to the sulfur smell—it was still unpleasant, but no longer as bothersome. The heat, however, was impossible to acclimate to. It was less like a bath and more like a sauna now. Each breath drew hot air deep into my lungs, making it hard to breathe.

"That opening up ahead. We wait until the parent bird comes out."

The Chief Priest pointed to a dark hole deeper inside and said this.

It seemed we had to take the eggs while the parent bird was away foraging, making this a speed challenge. I had absolutely no confidence in my stamina or speed, and the heat was already sapping my strength. Would I be all right?

We waited quietly for a while.

In the suffocating heat that seemed to drain our stamina even from standing still, we waited silently so as not to disturb anything around us.

From deeper inside came the sound of wings flapping. The Chief Priest, who had been listening for the bird to move away, stood up straight.

"Let's go!"

"Yes!"

The moment we rushed toward the opening deep inside, the surface of the spring beside us rippled, and something burst out. Even through the orange-tinted vision from the eye drops, it appeared vivid red—as if ablaze.

A magical beast roughly the size of the Chief Priest—something like a cross between a giant salamander and a frilled lizard—blocked our path, determined to protect its eggs.

"I'm not after your eggs, so I'd really appreciate it if you'd move aside!"

Of course, words wouldn't get through to a magical beast. It was fully in battle stance.

Compared to the enemies they'd faced before, this was probably easy for the Chief Priest and Brother Eckhart to defeat. But the Chief Priest had said we shouldn't kill it here.

"Eckhart, you remember the collection method?"

"Yes, sir!"

While staring down the lizard, the Chief Priest quickly unfastened the leather pouch from his waist with one hand and tossed it to Brother Eckhart.

"I'll hold this thing down without killing it. You all hurry and get the Liesefalke eggs!"

"Yes sir!"

It's the summer ingredient collection.

Going to get hot spring eggs in a cave.

Next time: The Eggs of the Liesefalke.