ALL NOVEL Chapter 237: Secret Pipelines (2)
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Anlutine would no longer feel left out. And she was not the only one happy about that, as Sanctia, and even Worthramble joined their conversation through the spirit network.
Mira could not hear them, however. There were actually two levels to the spirit network, a restricted one used exclusively by the Spirit King and Martel to watch Mira’s actions and talk with her, and the common level where all spirits could talk whenever they wanted.
That second level had been created by the Spirit King’s own interests, under the guise of expanding his own knowledge of the world, and Mira had no access to it. Though she would likely go insane from all the overlapping voices there if she could tune in, so she was better off being cut away from it.
Whenever the other spirits had something they wanted to tell Mira, they would just let the Spirit King or Martel pass on the message.
While they explained all of that to Anlutine, things were dead silent for Mira, who could not bear with it for much longer since she had just obtained a new summon.
「Well, the contract was a resounding success, yes? Could you tell me all about your abilities?!」
Mira had no idea what they were talking about in the network, but her main interest was knowing everything Anlutine could do, and as soon as she ran out of patience she just went after her.
「Ah- Right, we should do that first.」
Seeing Mira’s maddened grin reminded Anlutine of the time when she formed contracts with Sanctia and Worthramble, so she turned her focus to Mira again and began explaining her abilities.To put it simply, Anlutine’s abilities were completely different to those of Undine, who had been raised for combat.
First off, Anlutine’s best ability was submersion. Basically the same ability she was using when Mira first met them, and they carried her into a lake. She could take anything that fit within the range of the ability and carry it underwater to any depth regardless of the effects of water pressure.
According to her, she would be perfectly fine going as deep as ten kilometers, which was a depth never explored before. While not showy at all, it was a really impressive ability, just like Worthramble’s.
Attacking was not her forte at all, but she did have various defensive abilities, and she described various of them.
Amongst those, the most impressive one was a water coating. All it did was create a thin film of highly pressurized water around a target, which did not seem like much until one factored in its properties.
That was when Worthramble stepped in, as he was also a good friend of Anlutine’s. According to him, the biggest key point was that there was a large amount of water compressed into that thin film, letting it easily repel physical and magic attacks, and Worhramble related proudly how at one point it had completely neutralized a dragon’s fire breath.
Anlutine just let him explain, smiling slightly awkwardly. But in the end only the fire dragon, Worthramble, and Anlutine knew exactly what had happened in the past.
Her only means to attack was to enshroud an enemy in a sphere of water and increase its pressure to suffocate a target.
「Hmhmm, I think I got the gist of it! That’s so incredible, my heart’s beating so fast!」
Overall most of Anlutine’s abilities centered around manipulating water pressure. Spirits were experts at taking concepts into many different directions, so this was the first time Mira was hearing about many of those abilities, which only made Mira’s heart flutter even more knowing that she had formed a contract with such a spirit.
「Underwater ruins and sunken ships… There’s a whole new world to explore all of a sudden.」
There were countless stories and rumors floating around the sea, mentioning ruins at the bottom of the sea or old vessels that had sunk into the ocean. But there were very few ways to actually explore them, with the only options being water spirits with abilities similar to Anlutine, or spellcasters who specialized in similar magic spells. Still, even those could seldom be found.
So exploring the sea largely remained an untapped source of adventures.
「I’m looking forward to working with you from now on.」
Mira was already dreaming of that future as she firmly shook Anlutine’s hand.
「Also, I’m sorry for making you come all the way here. How do you plan on returning? Maybe Worthramble can accompany you all the way to the city gates?」
Her main objective was complete, but Anlutine still had to find a way to evade all the adventurers looking for her when heading back home. Going undetected with Worthramble until they were outside of the city was certainly a good option.
At least that was what Mira thought, but Anlutine shook her head and said she was alright on her own.
「The place I was hiding earlier is actually a vast network of underground pipes that cover the entire city. I felt my way through it for a bit and noticed that it’s also connected to a river outside, so I shouldn’t have issues leaving the city.」
Anlutine was looking down at the ground as she mentioned that.
「Ohh, underground pipes you say? Interesting.」
Thinking back to it, Anlutine had been hiding underground until Mira got there, and then came out through a drain. In other words, that drain was connected to those underground pipes, and as a water spirit she would be able to move through those pipes without being detected by the adventurers looking for her.
But Mira was still wondering exactly what kind of pipes those were.
「Just to be clear, those pipes were different from the sewers, yes?」
All sorts of waste material was emptied into the sewers, so Mira still felt like going with Worthramble was a better option than having to wade through that filth. But Anlutine quickly dispelled those worries.
「I wouldn’t say they were dirty at all.」
She gave an instant reply, barely having to think about the state of the water there, but then she detailed what she saw a bit more.
When she first got there, she decided to investigate the whole pipelines to know how far she could travel through them. As it turned out, water spirits had the ability to feel the extent of a water volume just by touching it. The total range of that ability differed a bit between water spirits, but usually it was possible to see the area of a whole city at least.
Mira’s first reaction was shock, as Anlutine had omitted that while explaining her various abilities earlier. But she said that all water spirits could do that, so she did not think it was worth mentioning.
Either way, that special ability allowed Anlutine to grasp the various peculiarities of those pipelines.
First there was an opening in one side annexed to a large river, with the rest of the pipes arranged so the water could flow inwards through them. There were some other inlets for water further inside, and some channels for rainwater to get in too. There were no inlets of sewage though, and the water itself was so clean it was almost surprising considering it was all located under a city.
On top of being so secluded, the pipes were also arranged in a very complex way, which Anlutine described as looking like a pipeline network built into another pipeline network.
Most of the pipes were also covered with moss, and dark. There were no visible entrances for people to access the pipelines, and if there were, they were too well hidden. But there was one area to the northeast of their current location without any moss, so maybe there was an entrance around there.
「It’s really weird now that I think about it. I wonder why someone would build such a complicated network of pipes?」
There were no signs that the pipelines were being used for irrigation purposes, and there was no need for them to be arranged in such a complicated fashion if they were rainwater drains. The moss showed that people had only been in one area of them, there were no sewage outlets, and yet they spanned the entire city for some reason.
「Hmm…that’s true, I wonder why they’re there?」
Anlutine could not help but wonder who had constructed that and why. But Mira was just as puzzled, unable to even imagine a reason for its existence.
「Well then, thank you again Mira. Call me if you ever need anything.」
「I’m the one who should be thanking you. And I’ll definitely be counting on you.」
With that last exchange, Anlutine slipped through the drain and went down to the underground pipelines, moving through them to return home. Her journey to Haxthausen had been extremely rushed, but now that she was going back she would be able to take the time to really see the scenery, which was something she was looking forward to now.
Watching the scenery was also something the Spirit King and Martel had requested, as they wanted to see everything through her eyes as well.
「Thank you too, Worthramble. And oh right, we’ll be going up against a thief soon, so I might need your powers to deal with him.」
Mira brought that up before sending Worthramble back, but he had already heard the gist of it from the Spirit King, so he let out a reliable 「I’ll be there」. Preparing for situations outside of pure combat were necessary when facing a thief, and someone who could provide perfect silence and camouflage would be extremely useful. Or at least that was what Worthramble believed.
Mira was the same, thinking of Worthramble as her secret weapon for the encounter.
「Alright, see you later then.」
「Mhm, got it.」
Later that night or the next, whenever there was time for it, she would have a meeting with everyone to discuss their plan to catch the thief. Mira let Worthramble know of that before sending him back, and then she headed back to the Baron Hotel too.
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