The Chair and The Plan

The two suns set below the horizon as colors in the sky mashed together: orange merged with purple, yellow with green, and red with blue. The cave continually darkened as the void creeped upon us. We could have made a fire, but Emma said we should preserve the last fire crystal for as long as possible.

As soon as the void touched Aster’s leg, she woke up. Her gaze narrowed, as if sensing something, but after a quick scan, she adopted her expressionless facade. Noticing the rag over her body, she switched the two, handing the old rag over to Emma.

Rufus awoke right after, stretching his arms, wincing a bit from the pain. “Mrgh! That felt great!”

“Keep your trap shut, wolf,” Ai snarled. The sleep didn’t help her at all. She looked at her hands, opening and closing them, before rubbing her hair frantically.

“Didn’t get enough sleep?”

“I slept fine, you annoying mutt. I just didn’t recover a lot of mana. This stupid cave is getting on my nerves!”

“Right…you did mention that. Are you gonna end up being dead weight?” A vine immediately flew out towards Rufus’s throat, which he dodged with a quick step to the side.

“Just because I don’t have it all back doesn’t mean I can’t kick your butt.” Ai grabbed the remaining mana potion from the bag and chugged it down. Her face turned pale as she held her stomach. “S-see? Mana restored!”

“Okay, okay. Point taken.” Rufus sighed at Ai’s slapdash solution before turning towards me with a more serious expression. “So, what counts as completing the exam?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb. What happens if the stolen goods are no longer here?”

“Well, it would still be successful since you investigated the cave. If the bandits sold off the goods beforehand, there would be almost no way to get it back.” Of course, I would be impressed if the goods weren’t here, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“We’ll have to search the cave. There haven’t been any incidents regarding the cave except for the bandits, right?” Nobody spoke up, but I doubted they knew the answer. “Then, we’ll assume that there are no beasts around. We should still keep our guard up for the bandits, but we shouldn’t have too much trouble.” What a bold assumption. “Ai, what’s the state of the cave? I know you’ve been feeling around while you were asleep.”

Ai continued to hold her stomach and mouth, but her skin gradually regained color. “H-hmph. There’s a few pitfalls and holes around, but other than that, there’s nothing so far. I don’t think there’s any risk of a cave-in, but I haven’t sent my vines around the walls to check.”

“Then, we’ll just start investigating ourselves until we reach a split in the path. However…” Rufus looked into the darkness, unable to see anything. “...we’ll need a light source. Let’s use Aster’s old rag and the fire crystal for a bit. Ai, can you make the holder?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Vines the size of threads shot out of Ai’s fingers, weaving together to construct an object. Sweat poured down her face as she concentrated, avoiding as much mana leakage as possible. It looked as though she was a master craftsman, even if she was only manipulating her vines. The practice last night improved her control substantially. It also gave her some time to recover from the mana potion.

Thirty minutes later, the vines tied themselves tightly, creating a lantern-like object dyed green from the vines. Grabbing the handle, Ai separated the vines from herself.

“Here. I modified its properties to be more fire-resistant. It probably won’t last any longer than two hours though.” Emma took the lantern from Ai, placing a piece of Aster’s old rag inside before lighting it with the fire crystal.

“That’s good enough. How’s the search coming?”

“You’re a real slave worker, aren’t ya?” Ai closed her eyes, concentrating her senses through her vines, using the mana flowing through to relay information. Ai’s expression changed as she focused on one particular vine.

“What?”

“I think there’s a light source deep in the cave. Don’t know whether it’s natural or not, but it’s coming from above.”

“Hmm, could there be a hole in the ceiling? I can’t imagine a place called the Dragon’s Sigh would have a dragon wander through such a small entrance.”

“That’s my guess.” Ai remained silent, pondering something, before turning towards me. “Are the goods inside wooden crates?”

“That’s what we were told.”

“Then I found them. They seem to be in a deep pit within the room. I think there’s a path to get down. Other than that, there are a few large…crystals? There’s a massive rock near the crates too. No sign of the bandits though, so they might still be on the main road.”

“Large crystals? That might explain why the bandits held up here. They could be worth a lot depending on its mana capacity.” Rufus pondered for a minute. “Okay, since we’re already here, we’ll retrieve the stolen goods first. Then, we’ll check the main road for any bandits. If there’s still time after that, we’ll gather some crystals to take back with us. Ai, lead the way.”

“Follow me!” Ai took the lead, using her vines to carry her, Emma close behind with the lantern. The rest of us followed in no particular formation.