Chapter 300 - Asagi’s Collection (1/2)

Asagi’s Collection

It was an incredibly cold morning, as the temperature had dropped even further. This time, we talked around a fire instead of a table. That being said, we had said nearly everything that there was to be said the previous night.

“Today, we will take all of the opinions that were shared last night, and conceive a strategy based on it. Well, I have already thought of one myself. Will you listen?”

Everyone nodded. We drank some soup brought from the Imperial City as we listened to Adlus speak.

“The most important part of this is preventing any goblins from escaping. And that is also the most difficult part. We talked about this a lot last night… And we decided that Rindo’s magic would be the most effective.”

Manager was the only one who could use Dark Magic. It wasn’t the only magic she was capable of, but it would be the most important for us now.

“Because it is all underground. When it comes to places that the sun doesn’t shine, there is no one more fit than me.”

“Aye. You will use this shadow magic that you talked about last night. And you will trap the goblins.”

Her Dark Magic had been discussed at length during yesterday’s meeting. Obviously, many people had witnessed her in action during the Imperial Sword Tournament. However, it would not have been clear what it was to most of them. Regardless, she explained it to everyone in detail.

“If Asagi is going to fight in spite of being badly hurt, I can’t enter the fight while also hiding my abilities.”

She had said.

“There are no books on Dark Magic. I have no way of using it other than just trying what I can think of. It was then that I learned how to work with the shadows. My own shadow. The shadows of others. The shadows of objects. Where there is light, there is darkness. In other words, the darkness in the world is my playground.”

People with cheats definitely talked on a different scale. I was a little jealous, but I also felt like that kind of power wouldn’t suit me. I could barely control the power I had now. If I had the power of darkness… If I did… Damn, it would be cool…

“While darkness has no form, it still has mana. Of course, no one else knows this, as I’m the only one who can use it. And so like this, the shadows all around us can become my arms and legs.”

Manager waved her hand and a hand stretched out of her shadow. The shadow hand was holding a shortsword that was also made of shadow. Now, this was a threat. She could dominate a place like the underground goblin nest. Hell, she should just go and do the whole thing by herself.

“However, I do have my limits. But I will have no problem sealing the exits.”

“We expect there to be several. Can you still do it?”

“If they are all connected by shadows, I should be able to keep track of them. Yes… It will deplete a lot of energy, but for instance, I could use shadows to see what is happening in Namila Village right now.”

She said this as if it were nothing, but it was an incredible power. It far exceeded the range of something like Presence Detection. Of course, she did say the energy depletion was great… Still, it was certainly something I’d never be able to do.

“Well, that’s about it. The night during a new moon should shudder and sleep in my presence…”

She ended with a joke and purposely dramatic expression. But I didn’t find it very funny.

In any case, that was how she explained it to us. Though, to be honest, I didn’t think she told us everything. She probably had some crazy trump card… I mean, it was the power of darkness…

“Now, the problem of keeping them contained is all but resolved. Then that just leaves…”

“Annihilation.”

“Yes.”

Daniela’s voice was always low when she just got out of bed. Adlus nodded.

“However, that does raise one new problem. Well, perhaps it was always a problem.”

He sighed and looked at us one by one.

“We don’t have the ability to see in the dark.”

I had been about to raise a spoonful of soup to my mouth but stopped. I was the only one here that could use Night Eyes. I shrugged.

“Yes, it’s just you, Asagi. It’s not just Night Eyes. But skills related to vision are rare. And none of our scouts had them.”

I sipped my soup noisily as if I wasn’t listening. My breath appeared thick and white in the air as I sighed. I finally said what he clearly wanted me to.

“…So, you want to use the magic tools that I collected?”

“Oh, you have a lot of those, do you? Well, isn’t that so very convenient.”

I snorted and looked away.

Daniela had mentioned it before when we discussed ways of seeing in the dark.

“Now that I think of it, Asagi has a lot of magic illumination tools that he took from an orc settlement.”

“Really?”

Adlus had become very curious, and so Daniela explained it to him. I had wondered if they might become useful one day, and so I had taken the time to collect them. They looked like round stones.

And I had about twenty of them. Sometimes, I would buy old containers for them in town. Of course, when I was all done, I felt an emptiness instead of a sense of satisfaction.

‘I finished it…’