Published: September 10, 2025
Satou here. They say that when there are three people, factions naturally form, but fortunately, there were no such factions in my company. Although, maybe I just didn’t notice, and behind those smiles, there was some messy factional conflict going on.
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“How is it, Master? Have you found any clues about the cause?”
“No, no luck. I figured the cause is underground, but I lost track halfway through.”
It turned out to be surprisingly difficult to layer the miasma sight skill onto spatial magic’s clairvoyance or arcane magic’s clairvoyance (through-eye), so I couldn’t follow it all the way.
“Shall we drain it?”
“I agree that would be the rational choice.”
“Drain it?! The Lotus of Life?”
“Absolutely not! That’s forbidden!”
Hearing Mía and Nana’s words, the elders of the Lotus Priests started hopping around in anger.
Their height was about the size of a fist and their stout, chubby bodies somehow looked comical.
“Then, what about diving into the pond—”
“Defiling the sacred pond without the permission of the shrine maiden is forbidden.”
“Then is draining the water also not allowed?”
“Draining the water of the Sacred Life Pond is absolutely out of the question!”
Arisa’s suggestion was promptly rejected, and when Liza checked, the elders became furious.
“Have you found the cause, big one?”
It was the warrior Chipitachopeta who had guided us to the Hidden Village.
Behind him was the carcass of a mole tied with rope, being pulled by soldiers in unison.
This mole was apparently a normal pest, not a monster.
“Warrior Chipitachopeta!”
“Bringing defilement to the shores of the Sacred Life Pond is intolerable!”
“Pull it away quickly!”
The elders scolded Chipitachopeta, but he rudely kicked the closest elder aside and ignored them.
He was brusque even to the lady inquiring about her son.
“Larval form! Violence towards elders is prohibited.”
“Hmph, outsiders should mind their own business.”
Chipitachopeta said that and walked away.
He was the embodiment of arrogance.
The soldiers shouted commands and dragged the mole towards the village.
“Are you hurt?”
“Injured? More important is to exorcise the defilement!”
I was worried about the elders, but they seemed surprisingly hardy and bounced up to start giving orders.
“Cleaners! Summon the Cleaning Chief!”
“Calling… Going.”
“Hurry!”
The servant ordered by the elders rushed off.
Mía cast healing magic just in case, and the elders expressed their gratitude, so it seemed they were in some pain.
They seemed more concerned about managing the pond and lotus than themselves.
“A lot of them came.”
“Larval form…”
Many women called ‘cleaners’ arrived.
Nana was fidgeting, but since we didn’t want her to interfere with the work, I had Mía hold her hand to prevent impulsive actions.
“This is quite a lot of blood.”
“Using brooms would take too long. Let’s use loofah…”
“Lord Mison, what about the Cleaning Chief?”
“Since his son Tapitatokata went missing, he has been bedridden.”
“A month already. Now that you mention it, Ripotarepoto has also gone missing. All candidates for the next warrior chief... what on earth happened...”
When we arrived at the village, someone mentioned that Topt something was also missing.
I don’t think it’s related to the lotus incident—when I searched on the map, no sign of them was found. At least, not within this map.
Just in case, I looked for a corpse but found nothing.
If it’s been a month, the body might have been eaten, or they might have gone beyond the vast basin outside the Hidden Village. Better not to say anything unnecessary.
First, we need to investigate.
“Where are you going?”
“I thought I’d observe around the pond.”
The elders seemed busy, so I headed toward the opposite shore where the lotus had begun to blacken.
“There’s nothing unusual here.”
“Lulu, do you sense anything?”
“Nothing in particular. The wind flow is normal—and—Tama?”
Tama pressed her cheek to the ground, twitching her butt and listening to some sound.