As the day faded away, perhaps because it was a mountain village, the night wind was quite chilly. Sharuti walked in sync with Ashu, who was strangely clattering beside her, cooling her head in the cold wind.

‘Is it okay?’

In the dark night scenery, Ren naturally came to mind.

‘She couldn’t have caught a cold again, could she?’

Despite not suggesting a walk for Ren’s sake, now that they had walked the mountain path together at night and felt the wind, it somehow bothered Sharuti’s heart.

Come to think of it, being with Ren all this time made the emptiness feel even more profound.

‘…Is Ren feeling the same?’

She couldn’t help but easily imagine Ren, waiting for her with a helpless expression.

When they returned, Ren would probably be waiting with a tormented expression on his face. And this time too, he might ask her to hold hands so he wouldn’t get sulky.

Sharuti let out a small laugh.

“You seemed a bit absent-minded earlier. I apologize, Teacher.”

Ashu, who was excited and lost in thought, belatedly regained her composure and opened her mouth.

Sharuti couldn’t miss the precious opportunity to have a conversation alone with her.

“Now that it’s just us, you can speak comfortably! It might be risky to talk while walking, and of course, I have good eyesight, so I can read well…”

To narrow the distance, Ashu gathered her courage.

Trying to make excuses without revealing her personal feelings, her words got tangled, and Ashu scratched her cheek in embarrassment.

Sharuti, considering it as Ashu’s considerate care, smiled subtly.

“Ah, yes…”

Ashu nodded in disappointment at the clear rejection.

She wanted to have a comfortable conversation with Sharuti, but it wasn’t worth stirring up unnecessary grievances.

Instead, Ashu changed the topic.

“We don’t have a separate walking path in our village, but if we go this way, there’s a small pond, and the moonlit reflection on the pond at night is quite beautiful. I’ll guide you there.”

To create an opportunity to score points, Ashu boldly pointed to the right.

Sharuti stopped her, grabbing Ashu.

Leaving Ren alone to take a leisurely walk bothered her.

‘I should quickly finish what I need to do and go.’

Unlike Ashu, Sharuti had preparations to make for the walk. To do that, she needed Ashu’s help.

Sharuti explained the purpose of the walk.

“What? An experiment?”

Sharuti took out a mana stone from her bag along with a note.

The mana stones, each containing 15 silver worth of mana for a fortnight, now had almost no remaining mana.

There was a possibility of mana depletion on the way back.

‘If possible, this village could be a mana charging station.’

Sharuti nervously caressed the mana stone.

The weight of the phrase ‘resource of rebellion’ was starting to be felt little by little.
On the other hand, Ashu had a puzzled expression, as if the experiment didn’t resonate with her.

“Uh… then what should we do?”

The place Sharuti pointed to was the center of the village.

Three stone towers, stacked higher than trees, were standing.

Around the seemingly ordinary stone towers, personnel were deployed, not so much to guard against danger as to carefully protect them from collapsing.

“Oh, yes. I heard it has been standing for a very long time.”

As Sharuti earnestly examined the stone tower, Ashu wore a lonely smile.

However, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

“Do you want to go see it? Closer to the stone tower.”

Even without Sharuti daring to approach, being an outsider, she couldn’t muster the courage, especially since the villagers were blocking access.

Still, there was a sense of accomplishment in agreeing to the walk, thinking she might get help from Ashu, the chief’s direct descendant.

As Sharuti vigorously nodded, Ashu quickly felt relieved.

“Let’s go that way without being noticed.”

Having successfully confirmed the stone tower with Ashu’s help, Sharuti, with a slightly pale face, moved away from the vicinity of the stone tower after a while.

“Teacher, are you okay?”
Ashu supported the swaying Sharuti, who was feeling dizzy.

Seated under a tree, Sharuti, holding back reflexive nausea, endured it.

‘…Now I understand why they blocked it off.’

As I reached out, the purity of mana was different from the distance to the stone tower.

Rather than a dense feeling, it was a heavy and viscous sensation covering the body.

‘An ordinary person like me can’t endure even half a day there.’

Sharuti examined the stone in her hand with a puzzled expression. There was no need to check separately; the stone emitted a faint warmth.

There was no separate rapid charging.

After taking a few deep breaths, Sharuti carefully put the stone in her bag.

‘Even an ordinary stone turned into a mana stone.’