"I don't know if I should use the word 'malfunction' to describe it. But at least, in recent years, magical power has become more and more unstable. ”

The laboratory was silent, save for Aloy Heck's low, magnetic voice.

"The most basic flame arrows are sometimes twisted into fireballs. Conversely, even lightning beams that can wreak havoc can sometimes turn into cheap tricks like electric claws. ”

"Shhhh It's a bit of a hassle to tell the story of this change in its entirety. I'll show you a video. Aloy Heck, who had been explaining the whole thing, suddenly collapsed, and no longer had a serious face, but resumed his expression with a hint of laughter.

She snapped her fingers, and two illusory halfling figures appeared in the dimly lit room, emitting a faint glow.

The figure was dressed in a robe and wore a hood. Although he couldn't see the appearance and the others, it was obvious that he was a mage.

"Do you feel it? The chaos of the Magic Web lately. My spells are always on the verge of spiraling out of control, going up and down, or even not being able to cast them at all. The figure on the left said.

"Yes... Magical power is very volatile. Sometimes there is an excess of magic, and simple spells unleash great power. Again, it seems that the magic has been sucked dry, and even the trick cannot be maintained stably. The figure on the right nodded, his voice muffled.

"That's right. Even last time... I saw an apprentice trying to cast a spell, only to be drained of his power by the sheer demand for mana, and almost surrendered his life there. ”

"It's a bad time...... There are more and more spellcasters, and if you catch nine random people outside, maybe ten of them will be spells. ”

"That's too bad... There are more and more spellcasters, and the mana supply will definitely not be able to keep up with the demand... If this continues, once the magic power exceeds the limit, I am afraid that the entire magic net will collapse. ”

"...," the figure nodded, "To make matters worse, there are more and more Wild Magic Zones and Death Magic Zones... Unpredictable magic backlash can be deadly. We must have to have to have to—"

The figure twisted, and the stutter that accompanied the sound disappeared.

Aloy Heck's hand paused in the air, and after a few seconds of silence, he sighed, "It's shorter than last time... In short, the status quo is what you hear. ”

“… Most of my doubts have been resolved. Xavier held his head in one hand, his gaze moving back and forth between her and the corpse, "'Magic web', what a familiar word... Anyway, get straight to the point, right? ”

As he spoke, Xavier raised his eyes and stared at Aloy Heck. The latter finally put an end to rummaging through the cabinets, and the result was a few scrolls in his hand.

"Well, not bad... I'm very conscious. Next, it's up to you to cast 'Dead Talk' to see if it's a spell problem or if the corpses are malfunctioning. She tossed the scroll over, and Xavier caught it with precision.

Xavier glanced at the spell scrolls, which were painted with obscure characters that were obviously difficult to decipher with his current mage level. But...

[You are in the process of testing the "Mystery" skill...】

[D20+10=7[1D20=7]+10=17, the verification is successful. 】

The system "ticked" at an inopportune moment, and then the complex magical characters in front of me gradually became lingua franca, which were several "dead talking" scrolls.

Talking to the dead, the three-ring necromancy spell can be learned by bards, priests, and mages. The effect is to ask five questions to the corpse that "still has a mouth", and the corpse will then give the answer based on what it knows during its lifetime - but, as mentioned earlier, this is a three-ring spell.

Xavier, who was a first-level mage, raised his eyebrows and looked at Aloy Heck, who was waiting leisurely on the side, "Are you sure I can cast it?" It's a three-ring spell. ”

"Relax, this is a spell scroll." She replied in the same tone, "With your magical talents, you can do whatever you want." Don't worry about the 'explosion', I'm still watching. ”

"Okay..." The other party's tone was too affirmative, and Xavier intuitively felt that if he refused to use the scroll, the result would only be to be manipulated by that strange force. In this case, it is better to come by yourself, at least there is still time to react if something happens.

Seeing that Xavier was ready, Aloy Heck nodded and stepped aside. She fumbled with the dimensional pouch around her waist, and in the blink of an eye, several corpses appeared on the floor of the laboratory.

The very familiar corpse seemed to be the stupid barbarian who couldn't tell the difference between arrows and crossbows that day, and his good teammates.

An image instantly appeared in Xavier's mind: Aloy Heck, who appeared on the roof of the house after pretending, took advantage of the time when he took the corpse of the sorceress back to the Clock Tavern, hurriedly jumped into the alleyway, killed the corpses one by one, and stuffed them into the dimensional bag - and then hurried back.

He couldn't help but laugh.

This sound caused Aloy Heck to look at him with a strange expression: "What are you laughing at?" Let's go. This is the members of Nair Legros's team, and maybe they know something. ”

Holding back his smile, Xavier crouched beside the barbarian's corpse, unfurled the spell scroll, and half-baked chanted the magical characters on it.

【You are using the Spell Scroll 『Conversation of the Dead'...】

[The spell of the target scroll exceeds your caster's level, and the intelligence attribute check is underway.] （DC=13）】

[D20+10=6[1D20=6]+10=16, the verification is successful. 】

A faint wave of magic was created and drifted towards the corpse in the icy air.

The "barbarian" sat up, and his jawbone moved mechanically. It opened its bloodied eyelids and looked at Xavier.

"So... Now started? "Xavier, a former thief, was not very familiar with this kind of auxiliary spell, and he struggled to recall the spell descriptions he had seen in his previous life, only to find that 'Dead Man Talk' - a spell that was added to the mage's cast list in a later version, had no role in many of the posts that purported to be mage tutorials.

"That's right." The barbarian's mouth moved, as if in response to Xavier's words.

“… Does that count? Xavier's eyelids twitched, he looked back at Aloy Heck, and asked in a low voice.

"Yes." Without waiting for Aloy Heck to speak, the corpse nodded, quickly picked up the topic, and answered him again.

Aloy Heck, who was standing at the back, laughed insolently.

Now Xavier understood completely, and he felt as if he had become a bard from a movie in his previous life... After a few seconds of silence, he coughed to hide his embarrassment and slowly spoke, "How much do you know about Nair?" ”

"She's from the Legros family." The barbarian replied quickly, "She's magically gifted. She can unleash a lot of magic. ”

"When and when did Neil Legros join you?"

"She only recently joined our team last month. I don't know, I don't know. But the family seems to value her. ”

"Family... The Legros family values her...? Xavier was stunned, this was a little different from what he had imagined before. He couldn't help but whisper in confusion, but then he realized that it was still in the time of 'talking to the dead'—

"Yes, the Legros family values her. Good bye. Before Xavier could change his question, the barbarian answered his whisper. Then it lay back and straight back to the ground, a real corpse.

Xavier couldn't help but slap himself on the forehead.

"Hah... Ha ha! Aloy Heck laughed again, as if he was not in the least worried that he would get nothing.

She kicked the other two corpses on the side with the tip of her boot, "Hah...!" Don't worry, there are alternatives, as long as you don't run out of scrolls and haven't been able to ask for news. ”

The next question was slowed down for the time being. As far as that stupid barbarian goes... This is not the same situation as you said before, and what I guessed. Xavier tossed aside the spell scroll that had lost its magical powers, picked up a new one and held it in his hand, "Even the barbarians can see that 'very valued', but they let Nair Legros himself go around. ”

“… I don't think any nobleman would let his illegitimate daughter join a dangerous adventure squad and stay with a bunch of men. And he has no vision, and he dies for a mere non-ordinary level magic item - shouldn't it? "He analyzed it uncertainly—even in his previous life as 'Xie Wei', he had never been able to understand the thinking of ordinary people.

"Hmm," Aloy Heck thought for a moment, "that's true. However, judging from the current information, it is impossible to make a definite conjecture for the time being. ”

"Let's continue your questioning first. Since your spell didn't cause disorder, there was something wrong with Nair Legros's corpse. As if she had made a decision, she urged Xavier to proceed with the cross-examination of the body.

It's really an experiment to test if it will explode... Xavier complained inwardly, and his body crouched next to another corpse.

"Companions... I wish you a peaceful sleep. He looked at the corpse of a wanderer on the ground, dressed in spiked leather armor and with some lock-picking tools pinned to his side, and made a random gesture on his chest with his right hand that he didn't know what it meant.

[Using the Spell Scroll 'Conversation with the Dead'...]

[The spell of the target scroll exceeds your caster's level, and the intelligence attribute check is underway.] （DC=13）】

[D20+10=1[1D20=1]+10=11, big failure. 】