kscans

Chapter 151 - Operation Magic Furnace, Commence!

"Master!"

"Mireille!"

The moment they saw each other, the two embraced as if diving into each other's arms, and tears overflowed. Even Ariel couldn't hide her emotions this time.

"...I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry. I didn't want to get you involved. I wanted you to find happiness, separate from me... I'm so sorry."

The fact that she had been so late in remembering, that she had caused so much worry, tightened its grip on her heart. She was a parent to her, yet she had been able to do nothing. All she could do was apologize over and over.

"N, no! That's not true at all!" Mireille shook her head, her face also a mess of tears.

"Leonhard-san... he supported me..."

At the mention of his name, Ariel started. That's right. In my delirium... I told Darius to entrust Mireille to someone good...

She turned her gaze to Leonhard, who was watching Mireille with gentle eyes. In her memories, he had talked about wanting to find a gemstone on Sacred Peak Mountain to give to Mireille, and about marriage. ...He must have been considerate even to me when I had lost my memories.

"Leonhard-sama... this time, because of me--"

"No, please stop," he cut her off immediately.

"I was glad I could meet her. If there's a problem with how we met, I think it's not Ariel's fault... but Darius's."

"Th, that's right, Master!"

"Please don't apologize anymore! And don't say you couldn't do anything!"

The two of them hurriedly comforted Ariel. Beside them, Darius looked away uncomfortably. When it came to Leonhard, he was painfully aware of his own heavy handedness.

---

Once everyone had calmed down, Ariel consulted with Leonhard, Darius, and Mireille about their future plans.

"To prevent it from being overwhelmed by high density mana, we first need to protect it thoroughly... To suppress the mana, we should seal the holes with dark attribute tape. To lower the temperature, the fur of a large ice attribute monster would be good. Of course, a full scale repair will be necessary after that."

"Dark attribute?"

"Yes. Dark attributes absorb mana, so it can catch what's leaking from the holes. We have to do this first, otherwise no matter how many magic cores we put in, the mana will just flow out. The trouble is, light and dark materials can't be obtained unless the conditions are just right."

Ariel groaned as she wrote down more notes on the blueprint about what to use and how. Her habit of recording everything hadn't gone away.

"We have Moonshadow Wolf cores. But they're a light and dark attribute, so we can't separate the light and dark magic cores. We also have some Moonshadow Wolf fur left. That also has mana absorption properties."

"Encountering a Moonshadow Wolf takes a lot of luck. They move on a full moon, but you can never predict where they'll appear. I'm jealous."

What? She's jealous of that? We thought we were on the verge of life and death... Mireille and Leonhard were dumbfounded.

"What's the moon today?"

"It's a new moon. We still have a long way to go until the full moon." For some reason, she let out a sigh of relief.

Mireille suggested that if they asked the Light Fairies, they could get light only magic cores. So, couldn't they find Dark Fairies to make dark only magic cores?

"Hmm, fairies are fickle, and since we need dark magic cores this time, we'd have to ask illusion type Dark Fairies. It's safer for us not to get close to them right now. You too, of course, Mireille."

The old Ariel would have jumped at the chance, but with the queen's mental interference incident, she couldn't afford to be reckless this time.

"But a new moon is when dark attribute monsters are most active. That's it! We'll hunt a Luna Serpent, the Great Serpent of the Moon. We'll use its scales to block the mana leaks and secure the thick central pipe with Moonshadow Wolf fur. For the rest, we'll use ice attribute materials from Sacred Peak Mountain... I'd really like to get some Ice Dragon scales if possible."

Darius couldn't help but be taken aback.

"A dragon...? How are we supposed to get its scales?"

Since it was Ariel's plan, he suspected it wouldn't be an easy opponent. Leonhard also gave a wry smile, sensing he was about to be dragged into trouble. "All I wanted was a gemstone from Sacred Peak Mountain..."

"It's easy. We just need to chop off its head and take the body."

The innocent way Ariel smiled made everyone's heart jump. When it came to subjugation or alchemy, her face reverted to that of the spoiled child she once was.

Seeing her like this, everyone was reminded once again that as a mage, as an alchemist, and as a woman, Ariel was truly in a league of her own.