“Ena?”
As I looked at Ena lying on the ground, unmoving, I felt a chill run through my entire body. I hurried over to her, scooped up her limp form, and then— “Hah!”— I hurled a Potion bottle at her face with all my might.
“—Puoh!?”
Ena awoke with a yelp that no girl would normally make. “Huh? Eh? Wh-what? Wh-why am I…”
It was barely three seconds after she collapsed. A remarkably swift resurrection.
“I’m sorry, Ena. It’s my fault.”
Come to think of it, Ena had been complaining about being tired even before we came out. She had even stumbled once and leaned on my shoulder. Yet, I hadn’t noticed the signs.
“E-eh!? N-no, it’s my fault for not honestly saying I was feeling unwell!”
As I bowed deeply, Ena flapped her hands frantically. Then, she forced my face up and awkwardly changed the subject.
“M-more importantly, my nose hurts for some reason. Do you know why?”
Focusing my gaze on her nose, I saw that the tip of it was red. Of course, I had an idea why.
“You fell face-first without bracing yourself. That’s probably it.”
“Is that so? A-ah, come to think of it, I felt a strong impact on my face right before I woke up. Maybe that was it!”
“Yeah. Probably.”
It seemed that even with a superhuman body gained from leveling up, the damage from falling couldn’t be reduced. Such a peculiar system.
“…Potion.”
Ringo muttered something from behind me, but before I could ponder it, Mitsuki cut in.
“I’m glad Ena is alright, but if that’s the case, we should all the more strive to resolve this situation. The state of this town is, frankly, completely abnormal. I have no idea what’s happening, but don’t you have some idea, sir?”
Just like Asahi’s daughter. Mitsuki’s ears perked up with extraordinary solemnity, burning with a sense of mission.
“…Understood. I’ll explain it step by step, so let’s go back to the library.”
“That would be a great help, but is there really time for such leisure?”
Mitsuki asked, tilting one ear. I nodded in response.
“Yeah. It’s definitely a bad situation, but it’s not the kind of danger that threatens our lives immediately.”
It’s an odd way to put it, but Ena collapsing clarified the situation. It’s probably best to sit down and organize our thoughts.
“Besides, I can’t just leave Layla and Serie behind inside.”
“…Understood.”
When I persuaded her further, Mitsuki nodded.
“Then let’s hurry back.”
Mitsuki seemed incredibly eager to solve this abnormal situation.
“Alright, alright. Then…”
Smiling wryly at Mitsuki, who was already impatiently walking towards the entrance, I also jogged towards the library entrance… no, the wall next to it, and—
“Mugen Shinjin—Guh!”
Just as I was about to use my Skill, Mitsuki grabbed me by the scruff of my neck, dragged me towards the entrance, and forcibly collected the entrance fee. Mitsuki has been rather harsh with me lately.
…Later, when I quietly grumbled, “It would have been faster to enter through the wall,” Mitsuki looked at me with utter disdain. I only did as I was told to hurry, but the world is so absurd.
Serie-san didn’t wake up even after we returned to the library, but when I helped her sit up and gave her a Potion, feeding it to her little by little, she quickly recovered. Seeing that, Ena squirmed, saying, “Wh-why is that? I don’t understand the reason, but I feel so unsettled, like this…” but putting that aside.
“Now that everyone is here, I will explain the current situation again.”
I sat down at the largest table in the library, looking at the companions gathered around me. Ringo, Mitsuki, Ena, Maki, Sahzan, Layla, Serie-san, and the Priestess who had been buried in books until just now… Hmm, there seems to be one person who doesn’t quite fit, but oh well.
“First, let’s get to the conclusion. We, no, this entire city is currently under an MP drain attack.”
As soon as I said that, the relaxed atmosphere suddenly tightened. At the same time, I could see a look of shock on the faces of several of my companions. Ena exclaimed anxiously,
“Th-then, the people collapsed in this library…?”
“Yeah. The people here aren’t asleep. They’ve collapsed because their MP has reached zero.”
It’s a Game mechanic that you become unable to act when your MP hits zero. However, there weren’t many attacks in the game that continuously drained MP, so it took me some time to figure it out.
“Wait! Then why are some people okay and others not?”
“It’s the difference in maximum MP.”
I answered Maki’s question casually. Like HP, MP recovers over time, but the recovery amount is proportional to the character’s maximum MP. Mitsuki, being sensitive, didn’t notice the anomaly because her maximum MP was high, and her natural MP recovery exceeded the MP damage, effectively nullifying the attack. The male Magician, who seemed to be replenishing his MP with Potions, and the Priestess, were likely unharmed because they were high-level magic-users with a considerable amount of maximum MP.
In our party, it goes without saying for the Magic Idiot Sahzan, but since I’m physically oriented and high-level, Ringo and Maki, and probably Layla, were unaffected. On the other hand, it’s natural to assume that Serie-san, a brute-force character with low maximum MP, and Ena, the lowest-level party member, were affected by the MP damage.
“Ugh. I really am the weakest among everyone here…”
Ena drooped, but the matter wasn’t over yet.
“I don’t know the exact timing the attack started, but judging by when Serie-san collapsed, it was probably before we entered the library. It’s likely still ongoing, so Serie-san and Ena, be especially careful and drink MP Potions if you feel anything unusual.”
As I urged them, Serie-san pushed up the bridge of her glasses instead of nodding, and Ena trembled, nodding repeatedly.
“…What’s the method?”
At that point, Mitsuki, who had been listening silently, asked with a hint of confusion on her expressionless face.
“I understand what you’re saying. If MP depletion is the cause of their collapse, it makes sense. However, I’ve never heard of a method of attack that could affect the entire city. Exactly how…?”
“A magic circle.”
Interrupting Mitsuki, I replied curtly.
“A magic circle…?”
“Yeah. Sahzan told me. The stained glass pattern on the ceiling of the Cathedral. It seems to have the effect of gathering surrounding energy. I suspect that magic circle was used.”
When I went to the Cathedral to receive my medal, Sahzan told me a lot about that magic circle. Without it, I wouldn’t have realized this trick. It’s annoying to be grateful to Sahzan, but this is thanks to her.
However, to my words, Sahzan herself objected.
“W-wait. Are you talking about the ‘Magic Gathering Circle’? But that only has the effect of gathering magic power from things above the magic circle. Such a small magic circle…”
“But if it were a larger magic circle, it might work, right?”
I said casually, and Sahzan strongly retorted.
“That’s madness! If such a large magic circle were drawn, the people of the city would notice! Besides, to draw a magic circle, you need special magical substances like Mithril to achieve sufficient effect…”
“But what if that magic circle has been drawn for a very long time, since the founding of this country?”
“Wh-what are you talking about! Such a thing is impossible…”
“It’s not a lie. Look, here.”
To Sahzan, who was speechless, I thrust the book “The War of the Gods ~Birth of the Hero King~” at her. I showed her a page depicting the old Capital City. The cityscape, which had remained almost unchanged since the country’s founding, was spread out before us.
“It’s just a map of the city! There’s no magic circle anywhere…”
“Really? Look more closely. …Hey, doesn’t this shape look familiar?”
As Sahzan was about to speak, I pressed her with a question.
“The buildings…”
Ringo was the first to notice. She gently extended her finger to the book and traced the cityscape.
“What…? Ah, aah!”
Next, Sahzan, who knows magic circles better than anyone, also realized. She stumbled over her words and looked at me wide-eyed.
“W-wait a minute! What on earth is going on?!”
Maki, unable to keep up with the explanation, started to make a fuss. Thinking that the answer would be obvious if one considered it from an RPG perspective, I gave them an additional hint.
“Hey, Ena. Remember when we moved across the rooftops to get back to the Mansion that time?”
“Eh? Ah, yes. It was right after we defeated the Demon Lord, wasn’t it?”
“Did you see what the roofs were made of? Do you remember?”
Though bewildered by the sudden change of topic, Ena desperately wracked her brain.
“Um, I think it was Mithril… Ah!”
And then, she also realized.
“Right. Most of the roofs in this city are made of Mithril. Mithril, which is most suitable for magical catalysts and the formation of magic circles. …You should understand by now, right? The lines that make up the magic circle are the roofs of the buildings in this city. In other words—”
Looking at the astonished faces of my companions, I said.
“—this city itself is one giant magic circle!”
The explanation became inexplicably long, so it’s divided.
