Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: The False Door
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"Huh!"
Astonished exclamations began bursting out among the Black Mane Guild members.
"I was expecting something from the Marigold Trading Company's spiritist, but tsk."
"Aw, we just wasted our time."
"No surprise. What would a girl like that know?"
The disappointed guild members grumbled as they wandered off.
But Juliet didn't care in the slightest. That reaction was exactly what she'd hoped for.
She shrugged contentedly and turned around, only to feel a slight pang of annoyance.
Eselrid was smiling at her.
"...That's quite an impressive talent."
Even with the heavy sarcasm dripping from his words, Juliet paid it no mind.
She glanced to the side and saw Magda looking after the children.
"Magda."
Magda was holding her daughter Deina and the village children close, protecting them. Perhaps because she'd just seen Juliet's butterflies, Deina peeked at Juliet and boasted proudly.
"My mom's a sculptor!"
"Is she now?"
Juliet replied without much enthusiasm, but Eselrid showed interest.
"A sculptor? Here in Kanavel?"
"No. She originally went to art school in Carcasonne. We haven't been in Kanavel long. The marble from the Kanavel mountains is really famous, though."
Intrigued, Juliet asked,
"So, do you still work on sculptures these days?"
"Yes, though it's still unfinished."
"What kind?"
"It's a statue of the Saintess of Lamentation..."
"The Saintess of Lamentation?"
Juliet, who had no interest in theology, just thought, *Oh, okay*. But oddly enough, it was Eselrid who snapped his head up.
"Is that the one you're sculpting for this year's Pentecost Festival?"
"Yes, that's right."
"That's impressive?"
"Impressive? It's huge! Only thirteen sculptors on the entire continent have that honor!"
"I-It's not that impressive.
Especially since it's still unfinished."
Magda blushed shyly. Eselrid gave her a look as if to say *you don't even know that?* and tsked disapprovingly, so Juliet shot him a glare.
*Come on, it's okay not to be into religion. Why make a big deal out of it?*
"And you're a mage, Esel.
Don't mages believe in religion?"
"What's wrong with that?"
"Aren't the Mage Tower and the temples on bad terms?"
Esel shrugged instead of answering. Magda sighed and said,
"At this rate, it might end up as a faceless saintess statue. I have no idea what face to give her."
That was the gist of it.
She had to sculpt the most beautiful face in the world, but people's standards of beauty varied just a little. And with the temple as the client, satisfying their lofty aesthetic standards was incredibly difficult.
"It's much easier sculpting a real person."
"No need to draw preliminary sketches?"
"Yes. And if you make them just a bit more handsome than the original, you always get a generous reward."
Magda laughed as she said it.
Deina giggled along, her tension easing.
"Hey, look. Doesn't that look like a door?"
Just then, one of the Black Mane Guild members, slowly losing his mind to hunger, muttered something strange.
Juliet and Eselrid looked where he was pointing.
Sure enough, as he said, the color of the cliff wall on one side did look a bit different.
"Does it look like a door?"
"Well... But even if it does, what difference does it make...?"
"True enough."
But the Black Mane Guild members apparently thought differently.
Having discovered hope after four days, they buzzed with excitement.
"This is it!"
"If we break through here, we can get out!"
The Black Mane Guild members shouted full of hope.
"Hurry and dig!"
Eh.
Juliet was more skeptical.
The habitat's structure matched the old tales perfectly. The deeper you went, the rarer the treasures and the stronger the magical beasts.
So this place had luckily been exposed when the ground collapsed, but it was still an ancient habitat.
With luck, they might find a passage to the surface, but otherwise...
Plus, those crude tools weren't inspiring much confidence.
What if they dug more and caused the cliff to collapse?
But she didn't have the energy to stop them either.
*They'll probably give up soon anyway...*
Juliet decided to ignore it out of laziness.
She had no idea how much time had passed.
Juliet gazed blankly upward, but her sense of time had grown fuzzy ever since falling to the base of the cliff. She figured it had been about a day since they dropped here.
*The sun hasn't set...*
In truth, it was a narrow cliff with poor light, deep in the mountains, making it hard to even tell dawn from dusk.
"Eh."
"Yes."
"That's magic."
Esel looked up following Juliet's gaze.
On their second day without food, they no longer had the energy to bicker. Their last meal had been cold milk with honey—a pretty luxurious last supper, all things considered.
"I see. That's the barrier."
Esel understood what she meant.
If they could just break that, they might get out.
At the very least, they could shout for help.
But how?
Climbing up there was impossible, and even reaching the ceiling wouldn't solve how to break the barrier.
*It won't shatter just from knocking...*
Of course, magic was weak to physical force, so a massive impact might do it.
As if reading her thoughts, Eselrid spoke up.
"If we use those butterflies—"
"I can't do that."
Juliet said firmly.
*Not physical force.*
Esel looked a bit disappointed at her refusal.
"I see."
"You're the mage here, Esel. Can't you do something?"
Eselrid made an incredulous face.
"Do you think mages are omnipotent? I need materials to cast spells."
Esel glanced sidelong at the guild members, then whispered lowly.
"...It's not easy here."
He didn't explain in detail, but Juliet caught his meaning.
Not only was escape difficult, but if the guild members turned on them, it would be trouble.
Right now, they were intimidated by Eselrid's title as a mage from the Marigold Trading Company and the Mage Tower, not daring to attack...
Juliet subtly counted the guild members.
They were still enthusiastically swinging pickaxes, vowing to break through the cliff wall.
"We can't dig anymore..."
"Switch out! Switch!"
A total of twelve.
On their side: one mage with limited mana, one spiritist.
The rest: five children and Magda. Honestly, keeping Magda and the kids from being taken hostage would be lucky. As Juliet scanned their group thoughtfully, Esel slyly inserted himself.
"It'd be nice if Theo were here."
Juliet frowned slightly at him, as if he'd read her mind.
Undeterred, Esel smiled and elaborated.
"For all his looks, he's got pretty good sword skills. Hard to believe, I know."
"Never seen it, so who knows."
As they talked, a loud noise suddenly erupted behind them.
Clang!
The startled pair whipped around reflexively.
"We broke through!"
The Black Mane Guild members were cheering. They were right.
A crack had formed in one side of the cliff.
But Juliet frowned and stood up. Something felt off.
*That tough stone wall breaking after a few pickaxe swings?*
"Just a little more...!"
That's when it happened.
Rumble.
"That wasn't just me, right?"
The ground began to shake.
"Oh no..."
Juliet regretted letting the unauthorized guild members do their foolish digging out of sheer laziness.
*Why do bad feelings always come true?*
Habitats had their owner: the magical beast. Especially in a deep, vast one like this—obviously a giant beast.
Boom!
"Aaah!"
Several guild members near the cliff were flung back by the powerful impact.
"Watch out!"
Esel leaped toward Magda and the children.
"!"
Not just the cracked stone wall—the entire soft, moss-covered floor they'd been standing on until moments ago was quaking.
And then,
Kieeeh!
Juliet let out a hollow laugh.
The ground they'd been standing on this whole time was the body of a massive serpent magical beast.