Chapter 193

Now, the lights of the core area are starting to come into view. Watchtowers and lookout posts are visible, and people scouting from above can be faintly seen.

We’re almost at our destination. But just before taking the final step, we’ve hit a snag. The guards, who had been lazily keeping watch, suddenly tensed up and began patrolling the area as if they’d received some kind of order.

“Ah, we’re done for. I guess we should’ve moved faster. The surveillance is tight now.”

Lady Kisea clutched her head and slumped down. I couldn’t see anything, but it seemed like Lady Kisea had noticed something. Roka also sniffed around and muttered.

“A smell similar to ours, but different.”

“Yeah, it’s a dog’s scent. Something’s changed, like they’ve sprayed perfume or something. But it’s definitely a dog. We’re doomed. Their noses are as good as ours.”

“So, does that mean they’ve detected us now?”

“No, we got lucky. The wind’s blowing from their direction, so we haven’t been caught yet.”

Well, that’s a relief. For now, we quickly created a Night’s Shelter and hid inside. The wind direction could change at any moment, meaning we could be exposed at any time.

“If the wind direction were consistent, we could advance while facing it, but from what I’ve felt these past few days, the wind here is all over the place.”

“I told you this isn’t a nice neighborhood.”

We put our heads together to discuss, but no solution came up. Still, it was clear that hiding and advancing further would be pointless.

“Let’s break through head-on. The dogs might swarm us, but we can handle it. We’re almost there anyway.”

“We’re close to the core area, but we still don’t know the location of that museum with the long name. We’re not even sure if Ranga’s parents are there.”

Lady Kisea boldly suggested charging forward, while the Princess advocated for caution. If this were the Hero Party, Parnell would’ve used magic to scout ahead by now.

Our party does have a mage, but they’re currently slacking off. Azahadaka seemed uninterested, just listening to the two argue. When I subtly asked for help, he firmly refused.

[No. What do you take me for? A slave you call only when you need work done?]

It would’ve been easier if he helped, but he had no obligation to assist us for the greater good, so there was nothing we could do.

Then, the Princess slapped her knee, as if she’d just remembered something.

“That’s right! We can use the Beetles! Then we can scout ahead before we approach.”

“The Beetles?”

“I think we brought a few. They should work. They’ve been left unused for a long time, so they might be completely broken.”

After rummaging through a jar for a while, she pulled out a few golden beetle-like objects. They were as big as a human face, so while they looked like beetles, they definitely weren’t.

No one would mistake these for insects. They looked more like monsters, but upon closer inspection, they didn’t even seem alive.

[Extremely crude.]

The dragon dismissed them with a single word.

[This is the level of humans, huh.]

But for us, who are at that level, it was just fascinating. This was an artificial creation made entirely by humans.

If I had to describe it with a word I know, it’d be a golem, but golems are humanoid. This seemed to require a slightly different term.

Being a novice in magic, with only what I’ve picked up from following Roka, Lady Kisea, and Parnell, I couldn’t figure out what this was. In fact, even the Princess didn’t seem to know much about it.

“It’s a failed creation from the Imperial Magic Development Bureau. Originally, they were supposed to be bug-sized to scout and spy on the Empire’s enemies.”

She smiled wryly. Turns out, the person who commissioned this project was none other than the Princess herself in her younger days.

“Wait, so if anyone could be targeted, they’d be spied on without knowing? There’s no privacy!”

“That’s… right?”

“If misused, someone could even peek at me while I’m bathing?!”

“I didn’t think that far back then.”

Lady Kisea shouted with a slightly disgusted expression, and the Princess silently agreed. She calmly admitted that there were problematic aspects to the project, conceived during her less mature years.

“I just wanted to create something that could secretly spy on the Empire’s enemies. It ended up failing, though. The Magic Development Bureau did create what I wanted, but due to technical limitations, miniaturization was impossible.”

The result is this giant beetle that no one would mistake for a bug. If something like this were stuck to a window spying on me, anyone would find it strange and try to swat it away.

Its size made it impossible for the original purpose of covert surveillance and eavesdropping. It was too conspicuous to be used for such purposes.

Developing the technology to miniaturize it in the near future was practically impossible, so the project was eventually halted. It consumed an enormous amount of research funds, and all that came out were a few prototype giant beetles.

The Princess joked that these beetles were more expensive than their weight in gold. That certainly piqued someone’s interest. Lady Kisea’s gaze completely changed.

“Are these really worth more than gold? Were they made with such expensive materials? Are there gems inside or something?”

“Not exactly. It’s when you consider the research funds invested. There’s also the labor cost of the mages who made them. The material cost alone isn’t that high.”

Somehow, I think her sullen expression was just my imagination.

“We spent so much money making them, so we had to find some use for them. I mainly used them on the battlefield, floating them high in the air to scout from above. They were somewhat worth the money.”

“Can we use them for scouting now? Do they still fly?”

Roka, looking at the dust-covered beetles that had taken the brunt of time, blurted out. To me, they just looked like slightly expensive scrap metal.

If cleaned up nicely, they might have some demand as decorative items. But getting them operational and flying again was a different story.

“I’ve neglected them for too long.”

After trying various things and failing, the Princess sighed and slumped into a chair.

“Nothing’s working. All these things we spent so much money on.”

[Magical tools require careful maintenance by mages to last long. Neglect is fatal to their lifespan. Besides, this wasn’t made to be durable in the first place.]

The Dragon’s Sword moved on its own and poked one of the Beetles.

Indeed, being a dragon, it seemed to have read all the information about the magical tool in that brief moment. Azahadaka, who rarely gets to show off his superiority, puffed up with pride.

“Well, they were made as prototypes from the start…”

[The magic circuits used in them are all crude. They should’ve used three-dimensional magic circuits for the structure. Plus, they’ve been neglected for too long, and the Magic Core is drained. That’s why they’re not working.]

“Ah, so if I pour some magical power into them, will they work?”

[Ardein. Ardein! Don’t spout such ignorant nonsense. This is a very delicately made object. Carelessly pouring magical power into it will damage the inscribed magic circuits.]

Anyway, the ultimate expert on magic among us is him. So, we had to accept it as it is. Even if we wanted to argue, our shallow knowledge wouldn’t allow it.

[If they had used a correction circuit, anyone could’ve charged it, but they made the charging part oddly. It probably requires a dedicated magic circle to charge.]

“Indeed… that seems to be the case. So, there’s no way to activate the Beetles now?”

[For you humans. Dragons always have a way. Give me some time, and I’ll reconfigure this crude object to make it usable again. This is really a simple task.]

“As expected, you’re amazing. Truly the master of magic. We humans can’t hope to match the wisdom of dragons.”

The Princess, who’s never had to flatter anyone in her life, spoke up. The three of us naturally exchanged glances. Lady Kisea and Roka were surely thinking the same thing.

It was seriously… awkward. It felt like reading from a script. But the listener, or rather the dragon, liked it, so no harm done.

[Such an obvious statement.]

The dragon, with its nose high in the air, gladly worked for us without pay.

[Just wait a bit, and I’ll make something perfect. Expect a dragon’s masterpiece, incomparable to anything humans can make.]