“Mmmm~ There it is... I feel like it has been years since the last time I felt so relaxed—so refreshed...”

I could feel the warmth sinking into my skin, soothing my entirety as I sank deeper into the heated pool of water. I had awoken with a bit of time still remaining before dinner, and having not seen Eru and Cruubi, or even Torrel either—I naturally decided to take a dip inside the hot springs instead. Surprisingly, there wasn’t anyone here besides myself.

You truly cannot underestimate the easing prowess of the divine waters of a hot spring. My mind feels clearer, and body—feels less strained and tired. Even the nap from earlier did wonders. The beds here are practically magical.

Within those few hours of rest, I was able to even restore my standard eight Divination uses as well. It never did sit right with me having my usages as low as they were throughout my travels. They were the tools of my trade that gave me the ability to work at my best after all. Having a low number of uses meant I’d hesitate more in using them depending on my situation. Potentially making a fight or scenario more difficult than it needed to be.

“I could have possibly helped Eru far more than I actually did earlier today too. Hm. That reminds me...”

During my stay in Dormou, there had been a small-time frame in which I had tested the limits of certain Divination spells—one being [Divination] itself. Aside from the Captain Vaalyun dragging me along as a reoccurring guest afterwards, it had been what convinced me to join the monster extermination parties to begin with. In MO, the uses were mostly limited to monsters due to the algorithms involved in their fighting styles, move sets, triggers and so forth. You could use certain Divination spells against other players, but those uses were rather sparse and harder to achieve. Such was the case in my first fight against the Captain, where luck played a part given his loyalty to his Princess. As time went on, I learned that the real world of Aerith had indeed been vastly different in that regard.

“Marna’s visions being involved directly with me is one case, and yet...”

I wasn’t able to see anything when I tried to help Eru earlier. That’s never happened before until now.

I had tested my [Divination] on some of the soldiers back then, in order to gain a better understanding on how it worked on actual people in this world. As a result, I came to understand more ways to keep them safer during combat. It seemed as if the [Divination] here in Aerith, was far more attuned to unmitigated prophetic use that diverted from the usual MO’s standards that were centered around already formulated actions instead. Meaning, that the [Divination] used here had been similar to Marna’s explanation of magic in general—virtually boundless.

If the [Divination] of MO had been a piece of paper with an already written block of text on it for you to read, in the real world of Aerith, the text would only be written and appear the second you chose to initiate the spell. And those words would seemingly continue on to a length that matched your own Divination ability.

With those soldiers, what could be seen was everything I needed to assist them perfectly. Eru’s situation didn’t allow me even a glimpse on what to do. There wasn’t anything there. But why? Does it have something to do with her titles or something? Could a title even block such a thing? It’s not like I ever tried using it on Marna to really know...

“Hmm—uuuuuuuaaaaah! Geez! Forget it! I don’t want to spend my time in these heavenly waters forcing my way into a headache. There’s a time and place for everything, and that time and place isn’t here! At the very least, I won’t allow it to be!”

Leaning more onto the wall inside the spring, I placed a towel over my face and head against the ground behind me. Rushing an answer wouldn’t reward me any different than waiting for a better opportunity to learn the answer. It was all the same for now. It didn’t help that there were also already too many other questions on the bench of my mind as well.

“Well, let’s just see where it all goes from here. If anything, that might have just been an isolated instance and the next time could work without any issues. Or maybe even... Hm? No, no, no. I just said not to think about it, didn’t I...?!”

Clearing my mind of any and all thinking, I let time slowly pass before I finally—but reluctantly—felt ready to leave my paradise behind and head to dinner. The sun had already dipped below the horizon, and the townsfolk of Druhwood seemed to have also returned to their homes after a long day of work. Weirdly enough though, I didn’t see any people walking around.

Do people really just rush home immediately after work here? That’s surprising, I didn’t expect it to be so quiet after finishing my bath.

The bathhouse was located directly behind the Mirth Oak Inn, surrounded by a large field and some housing units. You could see the lighting from the small marketplace that started at the beginning of the road that led to the inn, but not a single person was moving through it. Judging by the time I had woken up; it shouldn’t be that long past 6PM.

I decided to head back to the inn, walking along the side pathway that led to the inn’s entrance. Opening the front door, the jingle of a bell announced my entry. I only saw a handful of people that were quietly eating and—without even a glance—not a single one even acknowledged someone entering the building. Looking toward the counter, Eru was standing there as Cruubi sat atop her head. She was also seemingly unaware of my arrival as well.

The town was so loud in the afternoon, I didn’t think it would be the complete opposite at night.

Making my way toward Eru, I decided to greet the absorbed landlady in a low voice.

“Eru.”

Speaking her name, accompanied with a small wave, her eyes met my own in an unhurried motion.

“...Albel? Oh, that’s right... You’ve come just in time. If you’re ready to eat, you can take a seat right there. I’ll serve you in just a minute.”

“Ah, sounds good to me.”

She was acting a bit strange—withdrawn once again—but I decided to wave it off for now as I took my seat at the counter. She seemed heavily in thought about something as she motioned toward preparing a plate. I quietly watched on as my eyes then met the figure of the little bird sitting atop her head. It was observing everything without a chirp. As if noticing my gaze, Cruubi’s head then turned toward me—its eyes locking onto my own. A thought crossed my mind and uninitiated, an unknown voice sprung from within my head.

Activating [Conjurer's Collective].

“Hm?!”

It was as if a reel of images displayed themselves to me in an instant—unexpectedly and uncontested against. Then in an immediate pause, it began to flow forward and in motion like some dream. In turn, my mind began to process it all—slowly and in order.

❖

Earlier that day.

“We’re planning on having a meeting tonight, but since you’ll be heading the inn, I figured you should at least understand the situation as of now, Eru. So, come with me.”

“O-okay...”

The voice that presented itself first was that of Torrel’s, as Eru seemingly responded and nodded. Cruubi’s perspective slightly shifted up and down in said response. As they repositioned themselves toward the back room that was behind the counter, there was a small table in the middle and an unorganized mess of documents spread across. They both took a seat, and Torrel went straight to the issue at hand.

“That damned merchant came down from Nefra this morning, and while that’s a common occurrence, this idiot is very different. He’s a representative of one of the three affluent houses of nobility that work alongside the royal family—one of the Triskeles.

“Triskeles...? I think you’ve mentioned that a long time ago, but...”

“Yes, we haven’t had to deal with them all too much over the last decade or so. Yet, this one in particular came here with a nonsensical idea in mind all of a sudden. Tch.”

Even I could tell how irate Torrel as a nasty scowl adorned his face.

“...What do you mean by that, Grandpa?”

“This particular family wants to strike a deal with Druhwood, and they think that throwing money and threats our way will make it easier to persuade us... The damned lot! They want us to go against our contract with the Spirit of Enheim and provide them with a very, very large quantity of treant wood.”

“What?!”

As Eru seemingly rose from her seat in shock and mirrored fury to Torrel’s words, Torrel in turned tapped at the table loudly.

“Sit down, youngin’. Trust me, I understand your anger. I almost dislocated his jaw the moment the suggestion left his vile throat. I never liked dealing with those damned nobles of Nefra... This one in particular said something about them creating some wooden villas to the far northwest. As if I care about that rubbish of a reason!”

The tapping of his finger turned to a slam of his fist now, as Eru instead sat back down in silence. Her body was seemingly slightly moving as Cruubi’s vision swayed slightly.

“...But didn’t the Spirit of Enheim send a message...? Did it know about this somehow?!”

“That seems to be the case. But it’s not as if I know how though. Like always, it tends to be aware of what’s going on before we even do. Anyways, the issue is that, even if we turn down the representative of that family—the matter will most likely only get worse. Very much so.”

“Meaning...?”

“From what I’ve heard, the houses of the damned Triskeles don’t know how to take no for an answer. I can only assume they might try and take this matter into their own hands.”

“...And that’s why the Spirit of Enheim is asking us for our help?”

As Torrel nodded across from her, Eru then shifted her head at a downcast as Cruubi’s perspective now met a large map that laid across the table. It had shown me the entirety of Druhwood and the nearby forest. Small notches appeared on the map, marking what seemed like where they accumulated their daily lumber stacks—as well as the housing arrangements, shops, and so forth.

Even the forest was shown in separate proportions as well. An outer layer that had been simply marked as “Shallow” and an inner layer that had been marked as “Deep” sat on the map—all the while having a small, red circle at the center. It remained unlabeled. As Eru then adjusted her head back up, she broke the silence.

“And how do we plan on solving this request then, Grandpa...? The request itself must be to deal with the representative or the family, right? Aren’t those families from the Triskeles too much for us to handle all alone...?!”

Torrel’s expression tightened as he began stroking his beard.

“To be honest with you, youngin’, I don’t really know either. Of course, we have no choice but to deny their ridiculous idea. The issue is that, the voice of each of those three houses hold significant weight in Nefra—and Cretho as a whole. The Haethes family’s voice can sway domestic matters of Nefra and other major cities and towns. The Phyron family’s voice can sway foreign policies and certain matters of Cretho. And lastly, the Caelios family’s voice holds power over how the military is used in either of these instances—domestic and foreign—to an extent. All three must still abide by the Crethian royal decree, but...”

“And...in which of these families are we possibly going to be at odds with...?”

Even through this dreamlike vision, I could feel the apprehension in Torrel’s explanation and Eru’s question. And the grim expression that came over Torrel’s face was more than enough to explain how dire the situation could become.

“...It was an idea that came down from a Marquees of the militaristic family, the Caelios...”