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“Yes, it’s just you, Asagi. It’s not just Night Eyes. But skills related to vision are rare. And none of our scouts had them.”

I sipped my soup noisily as if I wasn’t listening. My breath appeared thick and white in the air as I sighed. I finally said what he clearly wanted me to.

“…So, you want to use the magic tools that I collected?”

“Oh, you have a lot of those, do you? Well, isn’t that so very convenient.”

I snorted and looked away.

Daniela had mentioned it before when we discussed ways of seeing in the dark.

“Now that I think of it, Asagi has a lot of magic illumination tools that he took from an orc settlement.”

“Really?”

Adlus had become very curious, and so Daniela explained it to him. I had wondered if they might become useful one day, and so I had taken the time to collect them. They looked like round stones. 

And I had about twenty of them. Sometimes, I would buy old containers for them in town. Of course, when I was all done, I felt an emptiness instead of a sense of satisfaction.

‘I finished it…’

Before I knew it, I had bought more glowing stones and would continue to search for containers to put them in. Sometimes they would be rare oddities or the newest model. There was also a great variety to them too. Some had adjustable brightnesses while others were especially powerful and for industrial use.

I suppose I had become a sort of collector of magic illumination devices.

“You…since when…”

“Heh.”

Daniela had thought I only had the initial twenty. And so she looked quite exasperated when I laid out the others on the ground.

“How many are there?”

“There are about sixty in all.”

“My eyes…”

Anis closed her eyes when I turned on the industrial one.

“Asagi, we will talk about this later.”

“Hey, there’s nothing to talk about.”

“No, we should talk about it.”

Daniela had a look in her eyes that I had to turn away from. However, she grabbed my jaw and turned it.

“Scary-scary-scary-close-close-close.”

“You really are so…”

“I think you made your point, Daniela.”

Adlus suggested. I wanted to praise him for a job well done.

For now, I put the Asagi Collection back into the hollow bag. Also known a the ‘AsaColle.’ I could be an otaku too. It somehow felt really nice to be able to boast about the things you’ve picked up. Well, there had been a scary moment back there, but overall, I was thankful to Daniela for giving me this opportunity.

“With this many, we can pass them out to all the Jades.”

“Eh?”

“Huh?”

Adlus was trying to be funny. Why should I have to pass out my prized collection to some strangers? This was my one hobby. It was my collection. While I liked showing them off to others, I wasn’t going to let them borrow it.

“Have you been listening to me? I believe I said that we need illumination tools to be able to fight in the dark…”

“No! These are my prized possessions! You can’t take them from me!”

Now that I think about it, he had said something about that. But this memory only made me hold onto the hollow bag even tighter.

“Please wait here. I will settle this. Asagi, come here.”

“Surely, you understand, Daniela? Don’t you?”

“Aye. Of course, I do. Now, let us go and get some fresh air over there.”

And like that, she led me between the trees and to the walls of ice.

I’ll never forget the taste of that gut punch.

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So, after some misadventures, my collection of magic tools went into the hands of the Jades. Adlus assured me that they would be handled carefully, but I had my doubts…

“So, that is my plan. Any objections?”

“Is there a chance you could devise a plan that doesn’t involve my magic tools?”

“Alright, so it’s settled then. Now we will be able to surround the goblins and annihilate them. Still, we will have to make some final adjustments, and so I want Asagi to go inside and get a look at the place. You can take Anis with you.”

“Very well. Guess we’ll be working together, Anis.”

“Yes!”

My resistance was immediately ignored. Now that I’d given up, I decided to go with Anis and learn what I could about being a scout. We had to see the actual location before finalizing the plan.

“We don’t have much time. You two must go at once. We’ll strengthen defenses here, just in case the goblins attack us first.”

Everyone nodded at this and moved at once.

So… It was time to get back into the old black outfit.

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