Several days had passed since receiving the imperial decree.

Sofia had originally been personally investigating the Great Saint's barrier in her spare time, in between her duties as the head of the healing institute.

It wasn't for some grand cause like reestablishing the barrier for world peace, but purely out of a thirst for magical knowledge.

Therefore, Sofia herself could deploy barrier magic.

The remaining question was how well that could be maintained.

Magic originally uses the caster's magical power as fuel.

Just like a fire that cannot continue to burn without oxygen or fuel, it will eventually dissipate once the magic infused into it is exhausted.

No matter how powerful the magic, its effects never last forever. However, the barrier of the Great Saintess has protected this continent for hundreds of years. This extraordinary phenomenon was a pure question for Sofia, so she was simply curious about how it was done.

Of course, there were others who studied barriers in a similar way, but most of them didn't go beyond the realm of a hobby. There had also been almost no serious investigations conducted by the entire nation.

However, in the past few decades, the barrier has begun to shrink, and opinions have started to emerge that it might be a good idea to investigate it domestically as well.

In particular, in the Asteria Kingdom, the discussion had accelerated rapidly since the current king ascended the throne about ten years ago.

However, the king couldn't push everything through on his own authority.

He proposed securing a budget for the investigation, but many of the high-ranking nobles on the council held an optimistic view that "it will be fine while we're alive," and the discussion didn't progress at all.

That reality came to pass in the worst possible way, with the destruction of the neighboring Aldrian Kingdom, and it seemed the story was about to take a major turn.

The first place Sofia went to for her investigation was the royal castle's grand library.

The bookshelf that reaches the ceiling is lined with a vast collection of books.

Although it was cleaned regularly, so dust was carefully brushed away, the entire space was filled with a somewhat dry smell of old paper and ink.

Sofia picked up a few books and looked through the stacked literature.

Faded ancient characters written on parchment. Sofia has studied since coming to the royal capital, but there are many she's not sure she's translating correctly.

That's not the only problem.

There is not a single record written by the Great Saints themselves. All that remains are the speculations and analyses recorded by researchers in later generations.

(...It's all things I already knew or could have predicted.)

What she could gather from those documents was that the barrier, like Luna's Great Magical Furnace, likely uses some kind of medium as an energy source to maintain its magical effects semi-permanently.

However, that only supported the hypothesis Sofia had been making for a while, and it couldn't be considered a new discovery.

(...This alone isn't enough to understand. There's not enough information.)

For several days, Sofia had been visiting the library between work, but she had also been taking other measures.

Sofia wrote a letter to her sister, Luna, conveying the results of her investigation so far and her own views.

Just as Luna's reply arrived, Sofia opened the letter.

"As you hypothesized, there are magical mediums serving as base points for the Great Saint's barrier scattered across the continent. It's the same principle as the staff of the magic furnace. The investigation revealed that each regional barrier functions independently, and the collapse of the Aldrian Kingdom's barrier seems to have been caused by the damage to the medium in that region for some reason. Theoretically, if we can restore the medium, we should be able to redeploy the barrier in the corresponding location. However, the problem is that there are no records of where those mediums are embedded. I will ask a friend of mine who is knowledgeable about magic to investigate."

Hearing Luna's words, Sofia breathed a sigh of relief.

To be honest, she wasn't very good at thinking that far ahead, so she was relieved to have Luna, the brain of the three sisters, pushing her along.

(I really need to see the place for myself... But I don't know where the barrier's medium is... If I go see Verrier-sama, maybe I will find out something. I should go.)

The direction of the investigation has been decided.

Sofia immediately summoned her assistant, the head of the healing institute, and ordered them to investigate the movements of Princess Verrier of the Aldrian Kingdom.

A few hours later.

The aide returned to the director's office, holding the information they had gathered.

"Sofia-sama, I have a report. It seems Verrier-sama is currently in the territory of Count Radcliffe, who governs the eastern borderlands and has joined up with the army."

"The frontier... Did they cooperate?"

"Yes. The Count Radcliffe borders the Aldrian Kingdom, and since the damage from monsters due to the collapse of the barrier has begun to increase, their interests seem to have aligned. Verrier-sama's participation in the battle was approved immediately."

"Yeah... And, how is Verrier-sama doing?"

Sofia's question made the aide hesitate for just a moment.

"...I understand it's nominally a defensive battle to repel the threat of monsters. However, the reports from the soldiers on the ground... have a few points that concern me."

"Let me hear it."

"Yes... Verrier-sama participates in battle every day... and she seems terribly exhausted. It's as if she's pushing herself too hard."

"...Okay, I understand. Thank you. I will go see her. Please tell her that."

"Understood."

As she listened to the aide's matter-of-fact report, Sofia quietly closed her eyes.

(...She's pushing herself too hard. She has to, or her heart will break... I know that pain too.)

Sofia immediately wrote back to Luna. It was a thank-you note, and it also mentioned that she would "investigate the core of the barrier on-site once."

As soon as she sent the letter, she began preparing to travel to the frontier to meet Verrier.

Chapter 34