“What is this photo?”
I feel like the pattern on the stone is similar to the drawing of a red panda on my hand.
I can’t imagine she is showing me this for no reason, so is it the same thing?
I tilt my head, and she tells me it’s called a seal stone.
“They are sometimes found in ruins, and have a summon beast sealed inside. If the summon beast inside the stone recognizes someone as its master, that person is able to summon it.”
“It really is like a videogame. But that panda didn’t come out of a stone.”
It was there already, and I didn’t see anything like a seal stone.
“And there lies the problem.”
“There?”
“Yes. If the person who called the summon beast forth is unable to defeat it, it becomes a stray. It eats people, magic beasts, and magic energy crystals to replenish its magic energy, and it continues doing so until its supply is cut and it returns to being a seal stone.”
“I see? So someone called this summon beast in the Yoshikawa Gate, tried to become its master, failed, ran away, and I happened to cross paths with it?”
I frown, thinking about the person that did something this dangerous in a dungeon for beginners. But Miss Sawaki shakes her head.
“The problem with that is that there are no recent records of someone strong or wealthy enough to acquire a summon beast entering the Yoshikawa Gate. People do not stay in the Crystal Cave for long periods of time, and at the very least, there are no seekers who entered before you and have yet to return.”
“I see. And there is only one entrance, so it would be easy to figure out.”
Suffice to say, there is no chance someone could have slipped through such a tightly guarded entrance. It would be one thing if the Seeker Association helped, but they would need a very good reason for doing so. And so, I don’t stir that hornet’s nest.
“Strays… Or rather, all magic beasts are a product of that world, and are not bound by the restraints of the border line of existence. And so, it is unclear if it was even summoned in this country.”
“Ah, I see. That could be it.”
Gates appeared all over the world, but the location of gates on Earth does not correspond to the position and distance of the gates on the other side.
Saitama’s Yashio Gate is famous for being within walking distance of the gate on the other side that leads to Venice. A monster could have become a stray in Brazil for example, and shown up in the Crystal Cave beyond the Yoshikawa Gate.
“Could a stray summon beast from another country have made it there?”
“That is the most likely answer. The silver lining in all of this is that you took care of it before a tragedy could happen. That area is overwhelmingly populated by low level seekers, so worst case scenario, a lot of people could’ve been wounded or killed.”
“I just happened to come across it, but I’m glad nothing unfortunate happened.”
I felt I would die the moment I saw it. And I would have if I didn’t have Slow. I think the only person who could have actually dealt with it in the Yoshikawa Gate would be the employee by the entrance that warned me before.
———————————
Proof has been obtained. The wise person states what is needed is the tie.
The second coming of the red devil. That possibility makes the man’s heart race.
What the wise person says next will give Zenjurou a vision of the storm that is approaching.
Thanks.