CH 117

The rock was buried among the many large and small rocks that lined the summit of the mountain.

It is about two meters high and rectangular. It was darker than the other rocks. Ivy twisted around it as if someone had tried to bind it to this spot.

“Eraldin’s Door… Eraldin…?”

I think about the mysterious words in my head, repeating them over and over.

A door ……? No matter how you look at it, it’s a rock ……, right?

Before I can ask what or who Eraldin is, I have to ask what this door is.

I slowly approach the rock, observing it.

When I timidly touched the rock, brushing away the ivy and its leaves, my fingers sank into something black with a soggy feeling, as if there was moss or some kind of sediment on the surface, and it crumbled and fell away.

“Wow……”

I hurriedly pulled it out and brushed off the black stuff on my fingertip.

I don’t know what it is, but it seems that this Eraldin’s Door is very dirty.

I climbed over the rock and observed it as I walked around it through the grass.

The entire area was black and dirty, and ivy of some kind of plant was stuck to the entire area.

“Hmm …”

Well… what should I do with this?

Up until now, if a letter popped into my head, it had something to do with me. Perhaps this rock has something to do with me, too.

And if I wanted to clean this, I could use [Purification]. It can clean any stubborn stain with a single wash… or better yet a spell. So, I should be able to clean this black stain as well. But…

“I’ve seen something like this before…”

Yes… The Fairy Gate in the Fairy Garden. At that time, the Fairy Gate seemed to be quite dirty. I didn’t think too much about it and just used [Purification]. It was so clean that people began to ask, “Has it always been this clean?” Cold sweat trickled down my skin.

At that time, I realized that Sacred Magic should not be used lightly outside. But if I hadn’t used [Purification] on the Fairy Gate at that time, I might not have been able to meet Lizzy either.

I think that’s a rather sad situation.

This time, too, the transformation of this rock might attract attention if it is cleansed. But just like that time – just like Lizzy’s situation, there may be a new encounter waiting for me in the future. When I thought about it, a light shone in my heart.

“It’s decided.”

A conclusion was reached.

Well, I had already decided what I would do from the beginning. Still, it is important to think. If I acted without thinking, I would be left with great regret if something happened to me. But if I think, consider, and act after I am completely certain of what I want to do, then I can be satisfied no matter what is waiting for me.

I pointed my right hand at the black rock and chanted a spell.

“To the impure, may your soul rest in peace. [Purification]!”

The magic power rushing through my body gathered in my right hand, turned into a shining aura, and poured down on the black rock, enveloping it as it moved in circles around it. The black dirt that came into contact with the shining aura was purified and fell in white grains.

The magic continued to work for a while, and I stop casting [Purification] when I feel the [Purification] seemed to be completed, somehow.

“…”

I went around the rock to check the whole thing.

White particles scattered around. The black dirt is already nowhere to be found. As the sea breeze gently shakes the surrounding trees, the ivy of some kind of plant remains intact, and the square pillar object shines white in the sunlight.

A shining white prismatic object.

It’s important, so once again… No, not in that case.

“I’ve done it!”

I didn’t expect such a drastic change…

Just because you’re convinced doesn’t mean you won’t regret it…

Thinking so, I looked up at the sky.

“Hmm… what should I do?”

The rock turned completely white. Well, that’s what I muttered while looking at a white object that can no longer be called a rock.

I wondered if I could camouflage it by covering it with leaves and wrapping more ivy around it. Fortunately, this place is not on the course that goes over this mountain. Not many people pass by. It would be hard to find unless some oddball like me came to explore.

“Nope……”

I guess I don’t have to worry about it that much. I’ll be somewhere else soon anyway.

For now, I need to think about Eraldin’s Door itself.

I approached Eraldin’s Door and took a closer look at it.

It’s a square pillar. The color is white. The material seems to be the same as that of the fairy gate… It also seems to have some sort of pattern on the surface, like the fairy gate, though it’s hard to see clearly because it’s covered in ivy and its leaves.

If so …

I tentatively put out my right hand and touched Eraldin’s Door.

At that moment, the pattern on the surface of Eraldin’s Door began to shine, making a rattling noise, and the ivies hanging on it were torn into two groups vertically.

“Woah!?”

What the hell is this? I didn’t expect this! I thought it was going to be like the Fairy Gate, where you could learn magic or something like that!

While I was thinking about that, Eraldin’s Door continued to widen further, and after expanding for about a meter, it finally stopped moving.

“Doors like… automatic doors?”

No, it’s too surreal to install such an out-of-place automatic door on a mountaintop… When I looked down, I found a staircase dyed black leading underground.