Overlimit Skill Holder - Book 6: Chapter 16.2

A magic tool with a huge flickering crystal ball was placed on top of the desk between King Geffert and Thomason.

As King Geffert held his hand over it, a vague image was projected on the crystal ball.

『Your Majesty Geffert, Your Highness Crown Prince. And — Cardinal Thomason, please forgive me for making contact this way.』

A handsome man appeared in the image. Although he had probably been carrying out tough negotiations on a daily basis, he bowed at the perfect angle.

「No, it is I who should apologize for burdening you with tasks… Earl Sillys.」

The person at the other end of the communication was Earl Sillys.

「I had heard that Your Excellency is by far the most loyal vassal of the Kruvan Holy Kingdom…」

Thomason frowned at the situation. He did not expect that King Geffert and Earl Silly had a personal hotline.

『My loyalty still lies with Her Majesty the Holy Queen. His Majesty King Geffert knows this too.』

「What does that mean?」Thomason asked.

「It would attract too many eyes if the Holy Queen moves directly. Therefore, she recommended Earl Sillys to be the intermediary.」King Geffert said.

「Are you sure that– Ah, no, I misspoke.」

『No, it is natural for Your Eminence to be suspicious. I am constantly working with Duke Genjido, after all. You think that I will convey the content of this conversation to the Duke, correct?』

「Hmm, yes…」

『It is clear to everyone that Duke Grenjido’s behavior is abnormal. I think true loyalty would be to correct this.』

Thomason was taken aback.

If Earl Sillys’ words were true, he was putting his life to guide his lord, Duke Grenjido, to the right path.

There was a discord between Duke Grenjido and the Holy Queen at the moment, which has caused a lot of disorder. And the Duke is using Earl Sillys as his “right hand”.

Duke Grenjido would kill Earl Sillys if he discovered that his “right hand” was sending his information to the Holy Queen and even to other countries. Such is his temperament. He wouldn’t even care about loyal vassal and whatnot.

「It seems that I have truly misspoke. Forgive me, Earl Sillys.」

Thomason placed his hands on his knees and bowed.

『Your Eminence, please do not do such a thing. This is also necessary for me. That is why I am secretly in touch with the people here.』

「Hmm. Let’s hear it then– the thoughts of the man known as the “Ingenuity of the Holy Kingdom”, Your Excellency.」Thomason said.

After that, Earl Sillys started sharing his findings.

He has found out something by examining the blueprints and requirements of the “temple” that the Duke Grenjido is thinking of building.

『This is — some kind of magic tool.』

A never before seen sorcery crest was engraved on the entire temple.

The sorcery “crest” was not written, unlike “circuits” in other magic tools. Rather, the emphasis was on showing it as a gorgeous pattern. The engineers who saw this pattern only thought that it was a strange design.

「How did you find out it was a sorcery crest?」

『Everything was deduced by my daughter, Your Eminence.』

At first, Earl Sillys had the impression that it was a strange pattern, but rather overlooked it because he was too worried about the total construction cost and how to work out the budget.

Eva was the person who investigated the pattern thoroughly due to the discomfort it evokes.

She ignored the individual patterns, studied the locations where the patterns are supposed to be fitted in, and found that it was a sorcery crest that functioned as a “three-dimensional sorcery circuit”.

「Your daughter sounds like a genius.」Thomason said.

「I previously extended an invitation to that young miss to join our federation, but I was bluntly refused.」King Geffert laughed.

『She is still a child.』

Earl Sillys answered with a bitter smile. However, he also had a proud expression.

『Assuming that the sorcery crest works, it seems that it can affect about 600 kilometers in radius, considering the size and amount of magic stones placed in the core of the temple.』

「That is quite vast.」

『At maximum, that is. For example, if it is limited to the effect of purifying the air or speeding up the recovery of the injured, the inside of the temple will be the best. If you try to influence the outside world, the effect will be so light that I don’t think anyone would even feel that “something has changed”.』

「But you seem to suggest that it is influencing the outside world, Earl Sillys. Why?」

『Because the sorcery crest is facing outward.』

「Hmm……」

『Is it too difficult to grasp?』

「It is just too large-scale for that. To be honest, it seems “meaningless”.」

『I thought so too until I saw this.』

Earl Silly’s unfolded and showed a map.

A large circle with a radius of 600 kilometers and smaller circles with a radius of about 100 kilometers were drawn around the “planned temple construction site” proposed by Duke Grenjido.

『It can cover almost the entire land of our country.』

「This is……」

「——I carried out my own research too. Hey, bring it out.」King Geffert said.

「Yes, sir.」

The crown prince brought out a map and unfolded it. It was a distribution map of the temples that have already started construction or are scheduled to be built.

「Representatives of every country are building temples in a similar manner which covers the entire land. And when asked “Why?”, they all had the same answer.」King Geffert said.

——Because it is the Goddess’ oracle.

Cardinal Thomason was fixed on those two maps.

「What are they trying to do?」he asked, as if squeezing out his voice.

『We do not know.』

Earl Sillys then replied with a serious look.

『This is something that… God only knows.』

Everyone here knew that it wasn’t a joke.