Once I escaped, it felt refreshing, as if I was taking my first breath of oxygen in a long time. Although the air I am actually breathing feels somewhat musty and humid.
âAh, Maito-san, welcome back.â
ââŠSorry, Toriumi. How many hours have passed?â
âHmm, roughly around seven hours, Iâd say.â
âŠIt is currently the witching hour when all the plants and trees are fast asleep.
âŠSeriously, is there no way to do something about the flow of time during this [Share] period?
âSorry about that. Some people felt sleepy and dozed off.â
Looking around, the ones still awake are me, Toriumi, the President, and⊠it seems Katori is awake too. The humanoid optical weapon waved its arm to show us.
âEveryone must be tired, so it canât be helped. âŠWell then, we probably managed to gather the necessary information. Now, what should we do with this old man?â
This worthless old man is buried in the ground from the neck down while sleeping. He may be worthless, but we canât just discard him. It would be problematic if we later discovered that we needed some crucial information, and this old man wasnât around.
âFor now, can we put him back in the [Sleep Cocoon] once more?â
âYes, yes.â
Well, that seems reasonable. And so, the Great Priest returns to the [Sleep Cocoon] once again. Please sleep for another month or so.
âAlright, that should do it. âŠWhat should we do? Shall we leave him here and go back?â
âYes, I think so.â
This place should be safe, probably. Now, letâs consider what we should do if, by any chance, we are discovered by temple personnel or the heroes.
âJust to be safe, letâs have the President do a little more manipulation before we leave.â
âSince heâs in the [Sleep Cocoon] state, he wonât die no matter what happens.â
President eagerly uses earth magic to bury the Great Priest within a stone monument-like structure.
âIf we carve something that looks like a significant inscription on this monument, I doubt anyone would go so far as to break it just to find the Great Priest.â
While saying that, President started scraping the surface of the stone slab and engraved âMethod to Return to the Original World.â Of course, it was the method to gather the classrooms.
Yeah, if by any chance someone discovers this place, it would most likely be the heroes. In that case, this wording would be helpful in informing them.
âŠAlright.
âShall we go back?â
âYeah.â
We [Transferred] with everyone who was sleeping and the humanoid optical weapon outside.
Damn, Iâm sleepy. I need to sleep soon. Letâs do that. My body wonât hold up if I donât get some sleep.
After a fulfilling Ketorami fluff nap, itâs morning.
âŠOh my.
When I woke up, I made eye contact with Kadomi-kun.
ââŠWhatâs up?â
ââŠWell, when I woke up and left the lecture room, Ketorami was curled up right there, so I came to see what was going on⊠Sorry.â
âI wonât lend Ketorami to you. Ketorami is my futon!â
Kadomi-kun stumbled through his words, so I firmly made my point.
When I woke up, Ketorami had a face like âPhewâ and went for breakfast with Hunter. Iâm sorry for delaying breakfast just because he became my futon.
ââŠYeah.â
It seemed like Kadomi-kun understood, so letâs make breakfast.
Apparently, they didnât serve Japanese food at the temple, so letâs have rice for breakfast today.
When I entered the laboratory, besides Kadomi-kun, Kariya, and Hagasaki-kun were already awake.
Oh, now that I think about it, it feels like the first time I overslept compared to everyone else.
Oh no, I need to hurry and cook breakfast. But when I thought that, the maid dolls had already cooked it for me. Itâs great to have attentive subordinates. Yes.
After serving miso soup, grilled fish fillets, and pickles, we finished breakfast.
âMaito, how was the information from the Great Priest yesterday?â
While waiting for everyone to wake up, Hagasaki-kun asked me. Yeah, itâs natural to be curious.
âYeah, Iâll explain once we start eating, but for now, it includes the recipe for [Spirit Elixir], the ritual process, the templeâs teachings or rather myths, information about light magic, the secret doors in the temple, and details about the important people in the capital.â
âOh, Iâm interested in light magic. I want to know about it.â
Right, itâs something that wouldnât be useful for me to keep, so itâs better to hand it over to Kariya quickly.
âThen, excuse me for a moment.â
âSure.â
Kariya is quick to catch on, which is helpful. He sits on a chair and brushes his bangs aside.
And so, we smoothly [Share] the information.
I pass all the details about light magic to Kariya, and it goes smoothly.
ââŠSo, how is it?â
Iâm clueless about light magic, so I didnât really understand what it was all about.
ââŠThis is amazing. But honestly, I wonder how many times I can cast it with my MPâŠâ
âŠIs it such a powerful technique?
âWell, itâs like a group recovery magic, something like that.â
I see. It would definitely consume a lot of MP.
âBut with this, it will reduce the instances where we canât keep up with healing, so itâs good.â
âJust donât push yourself too much. If Kariya isnât around, our healing capabilities will drastically decrease.â
Thatâs true. One of our critical points is that we only have one dedicated healer.
Hagasaki-kun and Katori can help to some extent, but itâs not their main role, and the effect is minimal. So in a sense, Kariya is our lifeline.
It would be great if we could somehow compensate for this with items. For now, letâs put our hopes in the [Spirit Elixir].
After a while, everyone woke up, and we had breakfast. Miso soup is really good, isnât it?
Then, I explained all the information we obtained during breakfast.
âŠWell, thereâs no point in explaining to those who donât understand it, so I handed over everything about the [Spirit Elixir] to the President.
âI see, I donât understand it.â
âŠHuh? But you⊠didnât you have that skill? Something related to medicine.
âIt seems like Iâll have to ask for help from Kariya and Hagasaki-kun.â
According to the President,
The [Spirit Elixir] is indeed medicine, and the President does have skills related to medicine.
However, itâs like asking if someone who can speak English can understand a scientific paper written in English. It seems that light magic and water magic are involved. If thatâs the case, thereâs no choice but to share the information about the [Spirit Elixir] with Hagasaki-kun and Kariya as well.
âŠTo think I would end up depleting my MP early in the morningâŠ
Now then, while the trio responsible for making the [Spirit Elixir] is discussing, others have their own tasks to attend to.
âŠCurrently, the southern part of the 1st floor has been mostly cleared, with the remaining areas left to Sagara-kun and the others. The northern part of the 1st floor should be taken care of by Homura-kun and the others.
All the classrooms on the 2nd floor north have been cleared, and the hall on the 2nd floor west as well. The remaining areas are on the south side of the 2nd floor.
As for the 3rd floor, Mitsueda-kun and the others are handling it, so we can leave it to them.
Therefore, the first task for us is to clear the south side of the 2nd floor. These are regular classrooms, along with the toilets and changing rooms.
Then, the next task is either to clear the annex building accessible through the corridor from the 2nd floor or leave it for later and head towards places like the gymnasium.
âŠSo, currently, it seems that Kadomi-kun lost in rock-paper-scissors and went to collect the classrooms on the south side of the 2nd floor using a Ketorami Ride.
As for the remaining people, they are trying to transcribe the school map as much as they can remember.
Regarding the gymnasium⊠well, we only use it for classes, and we rarely have any interaction with places like the small gymnasium or the field⊠I have no idea. Yes.
But even with such limited knowledge, when people gather, things somehow work out, and we were able to sketch the basic layout of the school on paper.
Now, we just need to check off the areas on the map and proceed with the clearing.
âŠAnd well, this is the main point⊠Regardless of whether we go to the annex building or the gymnasium first, I think itâs up to us to clear the gymnasium.
In that case⊠we need a boat. Yes, a boat.
âŠProbably. I mean, the gymnasium is likely located in the far southwest sea, far from Deichmoore and the capitalâŠ
âŠWhat should we do?
Well, we can think about that later. The worst-case scenario is to purchase one⊠or rather, that might be faster.
For now, we received a message from Kadomi-kun, so everyone [Transferred].
Hmm, the south side of the 2nd floor is quite a nice place. There are flowers blooming, and there are mostly docile creatures around⊠Even though theyâre still monsters.
Kadomi-kun found 1st-year Class 3. If we go east from here, we should find Class 2 and Class 1 as well.
Upon checking inside, it seems no one is there. HoweverâŠ
âSomething about⊠seeing the inside of the classroom feels incredibly nostalgic.â
Hmm, letâs seeâŠ
âŠOh, faded display materials on the walls. Chalk marks left on the blackboard. A bag containing gym clothes hanging by the desks, and prints stuffed haphazardly into the lockers. Even the accumulated dust on the floor feels nostalgic.
âŠWow, wow⊠Oh no, I feel like Iâm going to cry. This used to be normal. Seeing this every day, it even felt a bit boring. But now, seeing it like this⊠itâs incredibly nostalgic.
âŠso emotional.
But sentimentality wonât gather the classrooms.
Immediately, we played rock-paper-scissors, and this time Suzumoto lost and used the Ketorami Ride⊠Huh, I thought Suzumoto was weak with vehicles. Is he okay?
We decided to postpone the boat issue for now and simply determine the order.
âŠWell, as expected, weâll go to the annex building first.
Because clearly, there are more people in places like the gymnasium. The more people there are, the higher the chances of survival. So⊠it seems better to start with the annex building, where the theater club would have been active.
Therefore, Suzumoto is currently exploring Class 4 before Class 2. There should be a corridor to the annex building between Class 7 and Class 8.
During that time, Hariu is using [Shadow Walk] to move towards Class 2. We canât assume that there wonât be anyone there either.
Surprisingly, Suzumoto found Class 4 earlier than expected and we went there. Looking exhausted, he passed the baton to Toriumi, who is now heading to Class 5.
Once Toriumi went out, Hariu arrived at Class 2. Since there was no one there, Hariu will continue to Class 1 and collected the toilet beyond that. Once we finish collecting, I can connect with Minamo and return with him through [Transfer].
âMaito-san, can I have a moment?â
I was called by the President while I was busy sewing.
âWeâre running short on materials. Honestly, having dragon blood is already quite fortunate for us.â
Yeah, well, thatâs true. Itâs called [Spirit Elixir], after all.
âHowever, since the Grand Priest knew about this method and the materials, itâs possible that the materials are in the temple. So, weâre going to explore the temple. The cave behind the waterfall also seems suspicious. So, Maito-san, could you please arrange for a [Transfer]?â
âŠUm, is it okay to enter the temple?
âIt should be fine. Weâll handle it carefully.â
Iâm worried⊠Couldnât we at least wait until Hariu returns?
âŠWell, yeah, time is precious. Yeah.
So, the President and the team in charge of making the [Spirit Elixir] took a taxi to the temple. I indirectly saw the temple courtyard before, so I can go there and be a taxi.
Now, weâve split up again like last time. Itâs efficient, butâŠ
Everyone is doing what they can, so I should focus on my own task. That means preparing lunch. Yeah.