“...Gather, spirits of earth. Kneel before me and display the power behind your name. Shout, lineage of earth!””
Harumi flawlessly spoke her incantation as if it was a song. Since it was a complex language, not even Elfaria, who was also an archaeologist, could pronounce it this well. Harumi spoke as if she had been taught the language since birth.
The ancient language... used in rituals in the past Forthorthe... Would she be able to have such perfect pronunciation just from having memories of it...?
Elfaria had heard that Harumi had the Silver Princess's memories from Clan. However, Elfaria didn't think that that was all there was to it. She couldn't shake the suspicion that there was something else hidden within Harumi.
“...Alright”
As Elfaria was thinking about that, Harumi completed her spell. In her mind, she could feel the presence of all kinds of metal around her. The framework of the cottage, the nails holding down the floorboards, the cables running inside of the walls. The TV with its various use of metal was like cotton candy.
“What... is this I wonder? ...Something is... flying...?”
As Harumi's sense expanded past the cottage, she sensed something strange. A clump of metal the size of a volleyball was moving around a hundred-something meters away. Being in a mountain, moving metal stood out like a sore thumb.
“It's not just one... Two... no, three?”
“Did you find something?”
“Yes. I don't know what it is, but there are three lumps of metal about this size flying around”
Even if Harumi had said that they were about the size of volleyballs, Elfaria wouldn't understand, so Harumi spread her hands out to show the size.
“...Those are most likely scouts. They must be searching for me and Theia”
“Oh no! At this rate, they'll find us!”
Even as they were talking, the three scouts were approaching Harumi and Elfaria's cottage. At this rate, they'd soon find the cottage and scan the inside.
“Let's escape right away!”
“That's impossible. The scouts use sound, heat, optics and radar to find their targets. If we exit this building, we'll be found right away”
The only reason they hadn't been found yet was because the cottage was preventing the scouts from seeing and hearing them. But if they went outside, there would be nothing concealing them. Just like Harumi had quickly detected the scouts, Harumi and Elfaria would soon be spotted in this area void of much else.
“It's safer to stay hidden like this”
“But, if those things come inside...”
If Elfaria fell into enemy hands, the efforts of the girls, who were in the middle of a battle even now, would go to waste. Harumi racked her brain to find a way to protect Elfaria.
If we leave this cottage we'll be found right away... That said, if we stay here, they'll eventually show up... If we destroy the scouts, the enemy will show up to investigate... Then we'll have to wait it out inside the cottage, but... would that work against alien technology?
The scouts would eventually show up. And before they did, Harumi would need to think of a way to protect Elfaria. To Harumi who had lived a completely normal life up until now, that was an incredibly difficult problem to solve.