“Oh no, I didn’t mean that we have proof of it being possible to be created. It’s just that I have read an essay about that exact matter. And all the conditions for it are present here.”

  The Expert himself had doubts about it and mentioned that there was no conclusive proof. Following that, he continued and brought up the conditions for the creation of a Pure Bog of Undeath.

  First, a region that held some kind of hidden power.

  Second, a massive quantity of corpses on that location.

  Third, a great number of lives being lost there.

  The moment he reached that point, Joachim still seemed able to think of even more conditions, but since they had no description, he brought the explanation to an end.

  “According to that thesis, there are many issues regarding the place, and the main one is the transformation powered by the phenomenon of death. For example, let’s suppose there is no Pure Bog of Undeath. If the Lesser Demon is trying to cause some kind of change by bringing ‘death’ to the flower garden, then...”

  Saying that, the Expert looked straight ahead, observing the white pillar as they grew closer to it.

  “Hmm, that is a very interesting subject. While I cannot even imagine how it would affect the place, seeing that a Lesser Demon is involved, it will not be something good.”

  Effects brought about by death. The words said by Joachim made the girl think and remember about occult-like terms, such as haunted places and spiritual diseases13. In a world where demons, spirits and other similar beings existed, supernatural terms like those could easily be accepted by someone, as strange as it would seem.

  Envisioning a flower garden full of fiery souls14 floating around, Mira gazed absentmindedly at the white pillar.

  (I wonder if it wants to start a wildfire or something with those souls…)

  Whilst thinking of that apparent joke, she caught sight of a small hill. Yesterday, it was right there that they splendidly flew in the air. And the Armored Jeep was triumphantly accelerating towards that very hill. Seeing how Garrett was at the peak of his condition, Mira quickly assessed the situation and forced her body into a corner of the sofa, bracing herself. When Joachim, who sat next to her, noticed the girl’s movements, he also readied himself by sinking his own body deep in the couch.

  As the scenery seen from the side window vigorously moved, the only things that could be observed now were the forest and mountain range in the distance, along with the clouds up in the sky; without any interest in them, Reynard’s sole focus was on the towering pillar in the front.

  Suddenly, an unfamiliar floating sensation assaulted the Knight. At the same time, the scenery he had been previously seeing—a white pillar with the skies in the background—was dyed completely green by the deep vegetation.

  “Ughaaaah! Not... again!!”

  With that splendid landing, the sound of the impact on the ground was so strong it wouldn’t be a surprise to think they had just suffered an accident. Then, amidst the continuous leaps made by the vehicle, Reynard raised his voice as his body somersaulted around. Giving a sidelong glance at what was happening to him, Mira braced herself with both arms and legs. The Expert, who also managed to brace himself in time, felt somewhat relieved that he had escaped the fate of displaying his figure in an unsightly manner.

  “Looks like we will arrive before the monsters.”

  When the shaking in the jeep’s frame moderately decreased, the girl gazed at the outskirts of the garden in front of them and expressed her thoughts. Granted, in the entire visible portion of the flower bed, she couldn’t find any of the monsters from the herd.

  “According to the reports, if the group keeps going straight ahead, they might come out from the forest to our right.”

  Straining his eyes to confirm the situation, Joachim compared their current position with the herd’s latest known location and indicated the possible direction where the monsters might be coming from.

  “Did you already expect things would turn out this way? Why.. didn’t you tell me?”

  A voice nearly devoid of life and full of resentment could be heard behind them. When the two turned around to look at its source, there they found Reynard’s figure, his body stuck on the backrest of the sofa and looking almost like laundry that had been blown away by the wind.

  “Ahh, that is right. My bad. I barely noticed it before it actually happened, so all I could do was brace myself.”

  “I had the same problem. The moment I saw what Mira-sama was doing, I quickly readied my posture and immediately after… you know.”

  Even though they said that, without a hint of guilt, both Mira and Joachim revealed a faint smile, forcing the Knight to furrow his eyebrows, annoyed. However, in the next instant, the jeep’s wheels ran over something on the ground and caused its entire frame to leap in the air. Without any chances to deal with that unexpected impact, the girl and the Expert rolled together all over the sofa.

  “That damn Garrett...”

  While she carefully reseated herself, Mira directed her grudge towards the driver and muttered a few words.

  “Indeed, this is a problem.”

  Joachim also complained and, after looking at the innocent expression on Garrett’s face as he controlled the steering wheel, smiled bitterly. On the other hand, seeing how the two other passengers went through the same thing as him, Reynard's smile was of satisfaction.

  Chapter 18

  As soon as she arrived at her destination, Mira looked around the flower garden, surprised.

  “What… what is the meaning of this?”

  Observing the ground beneath her feet, she murmured a question. There, the garden was painted in a myriad of colors, a result of the great variety of flowers that had vigorously bloomed in its area.

  “Indeed, I wonder what happened...”

  Following the girl’s reaction, Garrett also sounded astonished by the scenery in the flower bed. Just yesterday, a herd of monsters had gone berserk there, so the outer portion of that circular garden was supposed to be completely devastated, with its terrain trampled down and stained by an immense amount of blood. But now, everywhere they looked, they couldn’t find a single vestige of that destruction; there was only the richly colored scenery extending all around the place.

  “What’s wrong? Is there any problem here?”

  Since Reynard wasn’t in the garden at the time of that incident, he expressed his doubts while enjoying the view of that splendid flower bed before him, its beautiful flowers in full bloom.

  “Yes, and rather than a problem, there is something inexplicable here. The entire group of monsters that had appeared yesterday killed each other right here, in this garden. At that time, the state of this place could only be considered as a so-called battlefield, taking into account that its grounds ended ravaged and soaked in the blood of those monsters. Strangely, only the outer portions of the flower garden were in that condition, but——”

  While he was explaining what had happened, the military man stopped his words for a moment, bringing back his sight towards the garden.

  “As you can see, there isn’t even a single trace of blood here, let alone the huge devastation from the other day.”

  In the area within their view, evoking the image of pure and innocent maidens, lovely flowers were swayed by the wind, their faint rustling sounding like whispers in the air. There was simply no way to imagine that, just yesterday, hundreds of monsters had slaughtered each other in that peaceful place.

  “Was that so…?”

  “Certainly, this is a mystery.”

  Once more, Reynard and Joachim looked around the flower bed and muttered a few words. As if lured by it, Mira also raised her face and investigated, with great attention, the surrounding region. Then, the moment she reconfirmed that there wasn’t a single speck of taint on the garden, her gaze stopped at something that instantly brought a sense of uneasiness to her: it was the symbol of that place, the sky-high white pillar. Different from its upper part, that was pure white, the lower portion had been dyed black, looking almost like a sheet of paper that had been soaked in black ink.

  Although the girl’s attention was drawn to that specific part, since she had not verified in detail that pillar yesterday, her memories about it were, one way or another, unclear. To the point that, if anyone were to tell her that the pillar had always been like that, she would be convinced on the spot. And it was this very fact that fueled her unease.

  “Mira-sama, is there anything wrong?”

  Noticing how Mira had her eyebrows furrowed while continuously staring at a single, fixed point, the driver called out to her; then, a moment later, with her concentration broken by that voice, she removed her gaze from the white construction.

  “Maybe it is just my imagination, but I have the feeling that the pillar over there turned a little bit darker...”

  “The pillar…?”

  It was almost like she had mumbled it to herself, but when Garrett heard those words, he squinted towards the center of the flower garden, far away from their current position, and tried to check it.

  “Now that you mention it, I’m also getting the same impression… still, seeing that the garden looked so disgusting, with everything dyed in blood, it left a very strong impression on me, so my memories about the pillar aren’t that clear.”

  “Right? I cannot remember it well too. Did it change overnight? Or did it not? Which one is the right answer? I do not know.”

  By now, the girl didn’t have the motivation to remember it anymore, and just mentioned what she felt while looking up at the incredibly high pillar.

  “Well then, we just confirmed that, so far, no monsters have reached this place. I wonder where the herd is at this exact moment...”

  Considering that Reynard wasn’t interested in the garden itself, he cautiously watched the surrounding forest, searching for the group of monsters. However, there were no signs of it anywhere; he could only see the leaves in the trees, gently swaying every time the wind blew on them.

  “According to the report we received just now, I believe they might be already approaching this location.”

  Garrett looked in the probable direction that the monsters would be coming from. As stated by the transmission they had received a few minutes ago, the herd was around five kilometers away to the north-north-east of the flower garden and still advanced towards it.

  “Okay, let me try a little search there. It should be that way, right?”

  As Joachim observed the direction of the driver’s gaze and asked a question, it seemed like he had some kind of method to investigate that place.

  “Yes, taking the report into account, if they continue to move straight ahead, the monsters should emerge from the interior of the woods over there.”

  The surroundings of the flower bed were covered in grass, at the beginning, and ended in a thinly scattered forest. While pointing towards that exact location, Garrett answered and the Expert moved to verify it. He brought his left hand to his ear and, with the right arm stretched, directed that limb to the woods that had been previously indicated.

  (Is that… Abstractionism?)

  Noticing the faint light that covered both of Joachim’s hands, she began observing the situation with great interest. As he continued to use his ability, no one dared to speak a single word for an entire minute, the time it took for the Expert to drop his shoulders and relax his posture, taking a breather.

  “Did you find anything?”

  After a short pause, Reynard finally asked his companion while Mira and Garrett also eagerly awaited the answer.

  “There is still some reasonable distance between us, but I managed to confirm the footsteps of a group approaching this place. Without a doubt, it seems I found the herd of monsters.”

  “Alright. If that’s the case, it will be a good plan to attack them at the grasslands past the forest. I believe there’s no need to actually wait for them right here, their very goal.”

  Joachim answered while staring intently at the interior of the forest, causing the Knight to propose a course of action as he focused his sight on the same spot. If the four of them were to wait in the garden, no matter which route the herd would take, it would eventually appear before them. But now, with the help of the Expert’s skill, they had the confirmation of the monsters’ whereabouts; as a result, there was no need to be concerned anymore about a certain hypothetical situation, where they never find the herd in the woods and let the monsters finally reach their objective. Then, just as Reynard had said, there was no meaning in waiting at the garden.

  “Indeed. Let’s make haste!”

  As soon as he said that, Garrett began running towards the Armored Jeep, feeling that it was his turn to shine, once again. With a disheartened expression, the other three followed behind, their pace heavy and dragging.

  ◆◆◆

  “By the way, some time ago, you used an ability to find out the whereabouts of the group of monsters. What kind of skill was that?”

  Regaining her composure after the jeep was forced to travel with caution inside the forest, Mira took the opportunity to immediately ask Joachim about something that had made her curious.

  “Used an ability some time ago… oh, the Sharp Hearing skill, right?”

  He answered amidst all the shaking they were experiencing in the vehicle. Even though the driver was gently doing his job this time, the Armored Jeep still swung from side to side, more than ever before.

  “Oho, so it is called ‘Sharp Hearing,’ huh? Then, its classification should be under Abstractionism, right?”

  “Indeed, you could say that. But it would be more appropriate to classify it as Secret Abstractionism.”

  “Secret Abstractionism…?”

  After hearing a completely unfamiliar term, the girl approached Joachim with her eyes shining and, almost glued to him, asked another question.

  “Come to think of it, you have been training with Dunbalf-sama in a remote place until a few days ago, so I heard that Mira-sama must be unacquainted with the most recent situation regarding the abilities.”

  “Hmm, well… it is something like that. Then…?”

  She simply decided to roughly keep what Joachim had said about her as the truth. Considering the long thirty years that she was gone, it was a good excuse that Mira and Solomon had planned together, in order to cover for her current lack of knowledge about the ways of the world.

  “Although there are various conditions to use Abstractionism skills, some of them have different, special requirements. And those are the ones categorized under the Secret Abstractionism.”

  “Special requirements? What kind of requirements are we talking about?”

  Falling onto the sofa face-first after a massive jolt from the armored vehicle, the girl immediately got up and urged Joachim to continue, her expression full of glee. As a fellow Expert, the man could easily understand Mira’s reaction to what he had been saying.

  “To tell you the truth, we have yet to elucidate the exact conditions needed to use this kind of Abstractionism. However, it is said that there could be a connection between certain factors, such as the possession or not of a divine blessing of spirits and the type and number of monsters defeated. Anyway, even for the Sharp Hearing ability, the only confirmation we have is that the divine blessing of wind spirits is related to its acquisition.”

  While securing himself against the swaying with both hands, Joachim explained about the requirements. Then, he finally concluded, saying that the process of learning Secret Abstractionism techniques was extremely difficult to reproduce, adding—with a slightly triumphant look on his face—that within the continent, only a handful users of Sharp Hearing existed.

  “Could I not be able to learn it…?”

  As a result, she understood that the acquisition of Secret Abstractionism skills wasn’t a feat she could somehow achieve after just listening to its explanation. So it was a relatively sulky Mira that rolled over when the vehicle made a violent swing and, at the same time, complained in a murmur, “I will definitely send him to a driving school.”

  ◆◆◆

  In just a few minutes, the Armored Jeep ran through the forest to the north of the flower garden and arrived at a flat grasslands area. Immediately, in a place about one kilometer ahead of them, they detected the herd, a black squirming mass of monsters.

  “Okay, just as we have guessed. We’ll assault them here, so slowly stop the vehicle.”

  “The field of view seems fine and there aren’t any obstacles that could obstruct the usage of skills. The conditions are pretty favorable to us. Now please slow down, then stop the jeep.”

  “Indeed. And with our view unimpeded, they will not be able to run away. Take your time while stopping.”

  As the three passengers bent their bodies and gazed at what was beyond the windshield, each of them also placed a hand on Garrett’s left shoulder, head and right shoulder, emphasizing the request portion of their speech.

  “Roger that!”

  Having three people continuously reminding him, the driver did as told and gently stepped on the brakes, finally bringing the Armored Jeep to a stop. The moment they confirmed it had actually happened, the three caught their collective breath, relieved, and stepped on the grasslands.

  “Now then, may the fortunes of war smile upon you. Just as we have planned, I will move to the backup point, so please send a signal if you need my help.”

  After verifying if the doors were closed, Garrett said what he was going to do, pointing towards the top of a hill, to the right of the advancing group of monsters.

  “Yeah, got it. Well, I don’t think we’ll have any problems against this number of enemies.”

  “Don’t get careless, Reynard.”

  “Hmpf, I know what I’m talking about.”