Chapter 175: From Falsification to Action (1/2)

Behind the door was a long passage.

It was more than wide enough for the cart, with doors lining up on both walls at regular intervals and another one at the end.

“>>”.

After both Loren and Gula had gone through the door, Lapis suddenly used magic. When Loren turned around to see what the hell she used it for, he saw the carriage they had left behind being enclosed in ice.

“It’ll be troublesome if we just leave the horse like that, with its feeds and droppings and all. If we put it in a suspended state like this, we can just use >> on it when we come back.”

Lapis said with a proud face. Loren felt like he could see the horse’s eyes from within the ice lump behind her, and for some reason, he apologized to it in his mind. He just couldn’t help it; the horse was too pitiful. It had pulled a carriage full of luggage, made to come to a desert only to get swallowed by sand and in the end, was buried in ice. But since they couldn’t leave someone behind to take care of it, this was probably better than starving to death.

“Rather than worrying about that, we should finish what we’ve come here for.”

“Coming here will help us shorten the time it will take to get to the mountain range at the center of the continent, right?”

“Yes, it will. Before that, we have to deal with this though.”

Lapis said and poked at the brooch on her chest.

It was a magical equipment they received from the Guild, one that could keep track of the bearer’s journey. It was supposed to record their progress to the demons’ territory and if left as-is, it would also record their current location.

“There’s no choice but to perform some trick on it.”

Lapis said smoothly and easily, and Gula looked at her as if she was seeing something unbelievable. Loren, who understood neither Lapis’ words nor Gula’s gaze, looked back and forth between the two of them.

“Trick… Lapis-chan, you can tamper with magical items?”

“I can. I even have tools to use for that purpose here.”

Loren had absolutely no idea how amazing that was, but from the look on Gula’s face, he knew it wasn’t something to speak about lightly. Yet Lapis opened one of the doors on the wall and stepped inside as if it was something she was very familiar with.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be done in a minute.”

Lapis’s voice came out from within the room, and Loren and Gula couldn’t help but peek inside. They could see her doing something at the desk in the dimly-lit room, surrounded by various machinery, which casted an eerie light on the whole room.

“I think the item that is paired with the brooch can be used to erase the location details it records.”

Gula said to Loren as if she wanted to give him an explanation.

“But she’s falsifying data without using official equipment. It’s really unthinkable, you know? Even us Evil Gods can’t do such a thing.”

“Is that so?”

Gula raised a question while watching Lapis’ working:

“Yeah. Why’d Lapis-chan decide to get a priest qualification? Isn’t it better to just become a magician?”

If Lapis became a magician instead of a priest, she would be an exceptionally brilliant one, and would become a greatly sought-after adventurer. On the other hand, it was strange for a priest to use magic. It really was incomprehensible why she would choose priesthood as an occupation.

“Maybe she has some reason to not become a magician?”

It seemed like Lapis was still keeping an ear on their conversation when working, so she answered Gula’s question without looking back:

“A very simple reason.”

“Can you tell us, just for reference?”

“Sure.”

Lapis looked over her shoulders at the two standing outside the door and lightly pinched at the collar of her priest’s dress:

“Because the clothes are cute. Being a magician means I have to wear a robe, right? Those lengthy draggy things are not cute at all.”

Gula looked dumbfounded at her answer. Loren looked carefully at her: here was one self-proclaimed “magician” in a strangely revealing outfit of tube top and hot pants. It was true that magicians usually wore robes, and Loren had never seen anyone dressed like Gula.

“Gula also should wear robes, shouldn’t she…?”