The next day, while the sky had only a hint of the light of dawn, the fire in the camp at the foot of the mountain was already extinguished.
While Shien was still sleeping like the dead, Vivian entered his tent and dragged him out.
"Now's the best time as demonic beasts return to their tent, and the vast majority of diurnal demonic beasts will only show up after dawn, so this is the best time for us to enter the mountains.
Vivian used such reasons to gather everyone up.
Only, the girls seemed to have already made preparations for that, or rather, they seemed to be used to such things, because every single one of them were completely alert and active, without a hint of sleepiness.
It was just Shien among the group of energetic girls who kept yawning and showing a figure like he was going to fall over at any moment.
"Really, this is go good at all. Go wash your face and get yourself alert."
Vivian pushed Shien to do his morning routine like a concerned big sister, which made Shien give a bitter smile in return.
"And here I thought I've gotten used to getting up early ever since I came to this world, but as expected, I couldn't compare to proper adventurers, huh?"
As an adventurer, not only do they have to stay up half the night for night watch, but they'd also have to get up early to enter the mountains and complete their quests. They've really got it tough.
Plus, you'd end up encountering various kinds of dangerous demonic beasts after entering the mountains, so you can't be careless either. Therefore, even if you're lacking in sleep, you still have to forcibly keep yourself awake and alert, without relaxing an inch. This particular part is harsh too.
"Do they not need to consider stuff like beauty sleep?"
Shien sleepily washed up while imagining about such matters. Only until he had splashed some cold water on his face and forcibly washed it a few times did he finally become alert.
Only then did Shien return to the group of girls and, along with those fully equipped and ready girls, got ready to enter the Mangir mountain range.
"Everyone come over here a bit."
Vivian called everyone over and retrieved a map from their baggage, before spreading it out before everyone.
That was naturally a map of the Mangir mountain range.
On the map, no only did it have various detailed routes displayed, it also had a few special markings.
There were markings like a red X, and there were markings like a pool of water. This was in addition to various other kinds of markings. This particular map was obviously done with great care.
"First, we must confirm our destination for this trip."
Vivian swept her gaze across the group.
"Right now, we've already purged the vampire vines, so our two remaining quests are collecting spring water from a mid sized magic spring and to collect flame salamander hides.
Vivian first confirmed that, and then continued on.
"The Mangir mountain range has a total of 17 magic springs. One large sized, three mid sized, and the 13 remaining are all small sized. Therefore, we must first exclude all the small sized magic springs."
With that, Vivian took out a quill and made X marks over those 13 pool symbols.
Only then did Shien know that those pool symbols denoted the positions of magic springs within the Mangir mountain range.
"Afterwards, we also won't be going to the large sized magic spring." Vivian spoke, "Although the quest giver would definitely happily call it a success if we brought back spring water from a large sized magic spring, and they may even give us extra money as bonuses, a large sized magic spring is generally also where the highest leveled and most dangerous demonic beasts in this area tend to gather. Plus, the Mangir mountain range's large sized magic spring is said to be the resting place of a level 80 super strong demonic beast. Therefore, for the sake of safety, we can't go near there."
Vivian also marked off a very eye-catching gold pool on the map, and she also did the same to another pool close to it.
Vivian marked it off because that magic spring was too close to the large sized magic spring, right?
"In that case, we have just 2 remaining magic springs. One is fairly closed to us, and the other is on the other side of the mountains. Therefore, it's quite obvious which one we should be going for."
Vivian went ahead and marked the other pool symbol off, leaving just one pool symbol left.
Following that, Vivian used her quill to highlight the path from where they currently are to the location of the remaining pool symbol.
"This is the closest path to our targeted magic spring. We'll be taking this route." Vivian pointed at the pat with the tip of her quill, "By this path, barring any trouble, we should get to our destination around the time when demonic beasts start becoming active. Our goal is to finish collecting the spring water before that happens, and then camp near the magic spring. Then, the moment we discover a herd of flame salamanders, we'll proceed with the hunt."
Thus, the quests would all be perfectly completed.
"That's our battle plan. If there are any question of issues, go ahead and bring it up now."
Vivian asked toward the group.
Diere, Lumia, and Melika didn't open their mouths, so they must not have had any questions.
However…
"I have a question."
Shien raised his hand with a serious expression and asked.
"Just what is a magic spring?"
Indeed. This question is one that Shien had wanted to aske for some time now.
Even until now, Shien still didn't know just what this so called magic spring really is.
Then, after hearing Shien's question, Lumia and Melika couldn't help a shift in their body and almost fell right over onto the ground. Even Diere gave off an aura of just having no words. Vivian herself basically also went mute for a moment.
"It looks like you are heavily lacking in common knowledge, Shien."
Vivian spoke somewhat resignedly.
However, Vivian didn't have Shien a puzzled expression like she did before.
"You should already know this, but everyone has magic power within them, right?"
"… I'm sorry, but I didn't know."
"Ah… Is that so…"
Vivian begun giving Shien a sympathetic and even pitied look.
Even the other girls at least felt resigned. It made Diere silenct, Lumia acting like she had no idea what to do, and Melika show a strange expression. It all gave Shien a feeling like he was a little kid who was being treated as a failing student in front of a teacher. It was quite a strange feeling.
"Then, let me explain to you from the start."
Vivian gave a dry laugh and begun patiently explaining.
"All things in this would may have magic within them. This is especially true for living beings, who would have magic since the moment of their birth. This is because the source of magic is life energy.
"Life force would become magic power after being transformed, so even common peasants would have magic power. It's just very weak though. Only when one gets to a certain level would they have magic power on a level that can be detected and could use magic and skills."
"Since the world itself is the existence that gave birth to and nurtures all lives and objects, then it would have a great deal of life force flowing through it."
"Therefore, be it within the air or the earth, the magical power of the world would flow through them all. When that magical power gather in great amounts at a single location and shifts into a physical form, they would form into a spring."
"That's what a magic spring is."
Vivian's explanation was very simple and easy to understand, so Shien instantly understood the basics of a magic spring.
However, there was one matter that Shien had actually thought about for some time.
"Magical power is formed from life force, right?"
Shien spoke like he had an issue with that.
"That kind of setting is pretty common, but I've always wanted to comment. In such a case, if someone were to use an enormous amount of magic and exhaust their life force. People really won't die from that?"
That's a question that Shien has been worried about for some time.
