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Center of the island.
"There's no trace of a village, so why is there a well here?"
There's a suspicious well dug in the center of the island that anyone can see.
At first glance, it's an ordinary well with a round shape.
But it's made of such well-crafted stone that it's hard to call it an ordinary well.
The stones, stacked in 10 layers, form a perfectly smooth circle.
"Is there even water inside?"
Below that, there's only darkness with no end in sight.
You can't even see if there's water or not.
"We can throw a stone to find out."
Liber picked up a fist-sized stone and threw it into the well.
.......
"There's no sound?"
"For this long? Is there no water and no bottom?"
"It doesn't seem like an ordinary well."
"Hey guys, over here!"
Nubes, squatting down in a way that didn't suit his large build, called his friends, as if he had found something.
Next to the well-crafted well, there was a flat stone lying on the ground.
There was a hole in the stone, and the shape of the hole was like...
"This is it! The first trace! The staff that the Great Mage received for protecting three villages in the Bure Prairie!"
"Liber is right. Nubes! Hurry and bring out the first trace. That staff looks like it will fit perfectly in this hole?"
Nubes went to the cart and brought the first trace.
A magic staff about 1 meter long.
Before the invention of the magic amplification ring, all wizards carried this staff.
It's less portable and less efficient than a magic amplification ring, so it's not used much these days.
"Stick it in!"
"Okay!"
Turning the staff this way and that, he pushed it into the hole.
Click.
With the sound of the mechanism working, the staff was sucked into the hole.
Click, click.
Dudududu.
The well, made of well-crafted stone, began to move.
The stones that made up the well began to rotate in different directions for each layer.
After a while.
"Hey guys! Look here!"
One side of the well wall.
Letters began to be engraved with bright light in the place Bellum was pointing.
"My...?"
"'My', what does that mean?"
Hwaak.
The light that showed the clear letters of 'My' stretched straight out and headed towards the large tree across the way.
Davian turned his gaze towards where the light was heading.
"Let's go to that tree."
Liber replied.
"Let's do that. Anyone can see that it's telling us to go there."
The Gray Bear Exploration Team headed towards the giant tree, following the light.
Bonita, who was scattered around looking around, shouted.
"Hey guys! Here."
In the place that Bonita was pointing to, a tree branch that looked like a clothes hanger was sprouting.
Unlike the other branches that had become rough and thick over the years, it had a uniquely smooth bark all by itself.
"What was the second trace again?"
"It was probably a wizard's robe?"
"Ah! I guess we hang the robe here!"
Nubes brought Fabian's woolen robe, the second trace.
"Hang it here."
As Nubes hung the robe on the branch.
Dududeuk.
The branch stretched out and began to climb up the tree.
The suddenly grown branch lifted the robe to the highest point of the tree and stopped.
Liber nodded.
"It seems like the Great Mage Fabian Hendrix is trying to recover all 11 of his traces."
"Right? The staff disappeared into the ground. Now even the robe. He's taking them away one by one."
Bellum looked up at the robe with dissatisfied eyes.
"We worked hard to collect them, and now he's taking them all back?"
"The goal was to get the last trace anyway."
"I guess so."
This time Latia shouted.
"Here!"
Letters were engraved in the place that Latia was pointing to.
It was a tree that was more than a thousand years old, but the letters were as clear as if they had just been engraved.
Bellum approached and asked.
"Heart? What does this mean?"
"It must be connected to the previous one. 'My heart'."
Hearing Latia's answer, Liber clapped his palm with his fist, making a sound.
"A sentence is being created!"
Bonita asked.
"Then, where should we take the next trace?"
Luna stroked a branch and said.
"This branch... Doesn't it look like it's pointing somewhere? Was it shaped like this before?"
"No. It looks like a newly sprouted branch."
"Now it's the last one."
"Stick it in. Anyone can see that it was made for sticking the eleventh trace in."
"Then I'll stick it in."
Tuk.
The last eleventh trace was pushed into the cave wall.
Koong.
"What's that sound?"
Kuoong.
"It feels like the cave is shaking?"
Kugugugung!
"The cave is collapsing!"
"That sound! It's from the entrance! We're doomed!"
"Run the other way for now!"
"Kyaak!"
The Gray Bear Exploration Team began to run in the opposite direction of the collapsing cave.
The sound of the collapse just happened to be coming from the cave entrance.
The swordsmanship students picked up or carried their magic student friends and ran.
They only had one hope.
That the mechanisms that the Great Mage had prepared so far all had a way out.
Even when they encountered an avalanche coming up Ebetere Mountain backwards, there was a way to avoid it.
Davian picked up Luna and ran.
Even in a situation where the cave suddenly collapsed and their lives were in danger, Davian didn't know that Bellum had first picked up Karin and started running with meticulous calculation, so he was holding Luna.
He also didn't realize that it was also Bellum who had nudged Nubes and pushed him next to Latia.
It was also Bellum who shouted 'Bonita! Above your head!' to distract Bonita, who was thoughtlessly trying to pick up Luna.
In the meantime, Davian picked up Luna, and Bonita had to pick up Liber and run.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye.
Liber, carried on Bonita's back, looked at the back of Bellum, who was carrying Karin.
'Amazing... Bellum.'
Liber was the first to catch the subtle change in behavior between Bellum and Luna that had started a while ago.
The time they spent plotting together kept getting longer.
Luna keeps trying to appeal something to Davian.
...Of course, the problem is that he doesn't know exactly what that is.
Bellum kept looking at Latia, Bonita, and Karin, trying to get Luna next to Davian.
And just now, with Bellum's meticulous movement, Liber was able to be sure of what Bellum and Luna's purpose was.
'Such meticulous planning and exquisite movement.'
It was a flawless movement, as if he had been training his inner strength for this purpose.
The connection of all the movements was as natural as a flowing stream.
Liber saw Bellum in a new light.
'I thought he was just good at talking. I respect you. Bellum Amandria.'
While Liber was admiring Bellum's meticulous calculations and movements.
"Over there!"
Bonita shouted.
In the place that Bonita was pointing to, a faint ray of light was coming in.
Latia, who was being carried on Nubes' back, immediately prepared magic.
Hwareuk.
A large fireball spewed out from Latia's hands.
Kwaang!
Kugugugu.
The fireball exploded and one side of the cave collapsed as it was.
"Hey! Latia! Are you trying to collapse it front and back?"
At that time.
"It's outside!"
Beyond the wall that Latia had collapsed, bright sunlight poured in.
"It's there! Let's get out!"
"Run quickly!"
After all 8 people escaped through the hole that Latia had made, the cave completely collapsed.
Bellum clicked his tongue, looking at the collapsed debris.
"What, is that Great Mage or whatever trying to kill us all this time?"
Liber looked at Bellum and gave him a thumbs up.
"Bellum, you were amazing? Even in that situation, such a design and such a movement..."
"What, what? What am I? I don't know what you're talking about."
"You're amazing, Bellum."
"What! You blabbermouth."
Bellum approached Liber and put him in a headlock.
"What! What!"
He seemed to be making a loud noise.
But without even moving his lips, he whispered in a small voice.
"How much did you find out. Blabbermouth."
Feeling his life threatened, Liber also whispered in a small voice.
"Roughly...? Everything?"
"If you tell the kids, I'll kill you."
"Why? So that Luna and Davian can get along..." Keok!"
Bellum tightened his arm around his headlock.
"So. Keep your mouth shut until then. Do you understand me?"
"A, I understand. I can't breathe."
Meanwhile.
Davian, who is at the center of the incident, opened his mouth.
"It's the first place."
As Davian said.
The Gray Bear Exploration Team was standing next to the well they had found in the center of the island.
"We went around in a circle and came back here?"
"Is this all the Great Mage's intention?"
Liber, released from the headlock, approached.
"Those letters! Let's combine the letters that came out every time we stuck a trace in."
"Okay. There must be some meaning."
Luna scratched her head.
"I was so distracted that I forgot some of them in the middle..."
Bellum approached and patted Luna on the back as if she had nothing to worry about.
"Don't worry. We have a blabbermouth. How about it? Liber! You memorized everything, right?"
"Ah, yeah. I memorized everything. But I didn't see the last eleventh letter. The cave suddenly collapsed..."
"First, recite up to the front of that."
Liber, who combined the words in his head for a while, opened his mouth.
"The one and only person to inherit my heart, come here into the magical world of unfathomable depth..."
"Come in."
Everyone looked back at Karin.
"I saw it. It was written on the ceiling of the cave just before I got out of the cave."
Bellum clapped his hands and gave Karin a thumbs up with both hands.
"Oh! Karin. When did you see that? You've made a big contribution this time? Shouldn't Karin be appointed as an honorary member of our Gray Bear Exploration Team at this point?"
Karin replied in a cold voice.
"I'm not interested in that."
"Ah, really? Then let's call her a secret weapon instead of an honorary member! Karin is a secret weapon raised by the royal family. The Gray Bear Exploration Team's secret weapon! Karin Obelia!"
Karin's expression became even colder.
"I told you I'm not a secret weapon."
"Ah, sorry. Haha."
Davian, who was watching their conversation, shook his head briefly.
'Really amazing, Bellum. Even though she's reacting so coldly, he keeps talking to her.'
Anyway.
What's important now is not when Karin will open her heart to Bellum.
'The one and only person to inherit my heart, come here into the magical world of unfathomable depth.'
The message left by the Great Mage Fabian through eleven traces.
Latia approached.
"Suddenly telling us to come into the magical world. What does that mean? It seems like he's telling us to come somewhere."
Bonita also chimed in.
"If it's 'The one and only person to inherit my heart' ...Does that mean only one person should come? But where?"
Liber, who was looking around, picked up a small stone.
Then.
Hwiik.
He threw it into the well as he did when he first came here.
As before, the sound of the stone falling into the water or falling to the ground was not heard.
Inside the unfathomable well.
"The magical world of unfathomable depth... Could it be referring to this well?"
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