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「Yes, good job.」
When Mira had stepped into the palace, the number of skeletons spawning had increased. Seeing the many dozens of Magic Stones gathered, she smiled satisfied and continued walking into the building.
There were many windows that let light inside, so the interior of the palace was dimly lit. Skeletons roamed everywhere, but Mira and her summons passed by without issues.
「Good, just one more place to visit.」
Mira used Concept Magic to light the torches in the palace, and once that was done she headed deeper into the building, to a large door.
Pegasus kept releasing lightning behind Mira, turning all the skeletons that approached them to dust. Mira was too focused on solving the gimmick, so Pegasus had to deal with the monsters.
The skeletons were only ranked D, but even unprepared rank C adventurers would often have to retreat once they were swarmed by them. That was the main feature of the palace. Usually the way that was handled was by standing far away and essentially fishing the skeletons out, picking them one by one with ranged attacks.
Or at least that applied to those who barely met the requirements to be there. For someone who commanded a powerful army like Mira, they were nothing but small nuisances to squash.
Pegasus took care of the skeletons in a good mood, knowing Mira would have less things to worry about that way.
「Myameow?! That was too close!」
Meanwhile Cait Sith continued running around, dodging the lightning bolts by a hair’s breadth, and collecting the Magic Stones. It was quite an exhilarating combination to watch, though there was no audience.
Eventually they reached the end of that palace. Behind a large door, Mira encountered a large platform, like the brazier that holds the Olympic flame, and three big skeletons that seemed to be protecting it.
The three skeletons were known as the Guardians of the Dawn Vessel, and were clearly different from all the other skeletons they had defeated thus far. Their main priority was keeping the vessel safe, so they did not move even though they had clearly taken notice of Mira’s presence.
「Those are the last ones.」
Mira did not lose her cool even while facing the Guardians of the Dawn Vessel, not missing a beat as she walked inside the room.
A dreadful thirst for blood filled the room as the three skeletons began moving. But they could only take two steps forward. An instant after they focused their attention on Mira, an even more overwhelming presence appeared in the room, followed by loud thunder, and then the Guardians of the Dawn Vessel turned to ash and faded away.
「Alright, that should have unlocked the door to the top floor.」
Mira set the vessel ablaze, and a moment later the distant sound of something heavy moving was heard. That meant she had completed the requirements.
And Cait Sith picked up three extra large Magic Stones, which he proudly presented to Mira as if he had obtained them all on his own.
Mira returned to the ground floor, then went up some stairs and entered a room on the highest floor of the palace. There were no enemies there, just a large crystal ball.
A glyph appeared on Mira’s palm once she touched it.
「That’s one down. It seems this will take a while after all.」
Getting through the first palace had taken around two hours. There simply were too many torches playing part in that puzzle. The western palace worked almost the same, and that was where Mira would head next. The third and last palace to the north was different though, and it was so complex it could take half a day to complete. Just thinking of that made Mira feel tired already.
「Well, I guess I have to do it.」
Mira mumbled as she left the palace, riding gallantly on Pegasus flying westward to the palace with the second glyph.
Meanwhile, Cait Sith livened things up, shouting 「We’ve finally discovered the lost city!」 as the sign he carried read ‘Where are we? El Dorado!’
The western tower looked really similar to the eastern, but it actually went underground just as much as above ground. There were skeleton monsters there too, of the similar type as the ones populating the neighboring area, and a large number spawned on the garden the moment Mira stepped inside the building. Still, they were no match against Pegasus.
「This truly is a good place to make a living from.」
Mira watched as Cait Sith scurried around with his cloth bag like a little thief again, and muttered to herself. While she flew from the east to the west, she spotted more adventurer groups than she expected on the ground. Only skeletons spawned on the fourth floor, so Magic Stones were a guaranteed loot drop. Magic Stones had become a rather ubiquitous item, used in Magic Wares, Magic Engineering, and as a power source for the various magic devices employed by adventurers.
Since the enemies were all skeletons, it made planning fights easier too. All of that made the fourth floor a rather lucrative hunting spot.
Mira looked down at the bag with Magic Stones Cait Sith had gathered, grinning and she thought just how much all of that would sell for, but she quickly recalled what her objective was, and she focused on obtaining the next glyph.
The western palace’s gimmick was to extinguish the fire of every torch, both above and underground. That would open the path to the crystal ball.
Just like before, Mira walked confidently through the building, using Concept Magic to turn the torches off. Pegasus took care of the skeletons, and Cait Sith collected the Magic Stones. It was a rather simple strategy.
In the end she defeated the Guardians of the Dusk Vessel, extinguished the flames on the vessel, touched the crystal ball on the top floor, and successfully obtained the second glyph.
「This is all just a prologue, in the grand scheme of things…」
The third glyph was the hardest to get, or rather, the most tedious one. Mira already dreaded it as she flew to the northern palace.
「Somehow there’s a lot of people here…」
There were multiple groups of adventurers gathered a short distance away from the northern palace, and Mira wondered what it was all about as she landed. A man from there quickly approached Mira.
「Are you here to complete the large palace too? Wait, is that… your group? That’s an amusing troupe you have there… but I can tell they’re strong.」
The man looked at Pegasus and Cait Sith, then noticed the two glyphs on Mira’s palm, and the bracelet on her left arm, which let him know she had to be decently strong. Meanwhile Mira could not comprehend what was going on, so she asked what festival they were holding there.
He grimaced for a bit before answering. They were joining groups to clear the last palace together.
The northern palace also had an underground and upper section, and was at least three times as large as the other two palaces combined. There were entire dungeons smaller than that building.
That was why it took half a day to clear it, or at least for someone like Mira who was thinking of doing it alone. If multiple people did it together, it would take less time as well.
「I see. I’ll go with you then.」
The man had been assigned the leader of the alliance of groups happening there. With this many people, they could shorten a half day job to just under two hours. That would greatly benefit Mira, so she quickly agreed to participate.
「Sure, welcome then. I’m Tryd, nice to meet you.」
「I’m Mira, the pleasure is mine.」
They introduced themselves and shook hands. He said they were just about to start discussing their strategy, so Mira joined the meeting too.
Tryd told everyone that Mira was joining them, which was received mostly positively. Just a handful of women glared at her with envy. Tryd seemed to be rather popular amongst the ladies, which was the reason for that. But the men seemed so enthusiastic they more than made up for it.
