The Veiled Priestess examined the scroll carefully.
Soon she chanted a strange spell “Yaluballu Orllung—“ at a glass orb about the size of the children’s heads.
Woooong— The glass orb glowed.
The Veiled Priestess spoke.
“Do you want to know where the treasure is? Then pay up. I’ll take one gold coin as an offering.”
Gold coin. It meant a coin made of gold and was quite expensive.
Though Naru, Cecily and Hina were daughters of wealthy families, they didn’t carry gold coins around.
“Naru has no money in her pocket! Elizabeth buys most things Naru needs!” “Cecily doesn’t need to carry money either. If Cecily wants something, people send sponsorships.”
Naru and Cecily were children who had no need to carry money. The same was true for Hina. However, Hina liked ‘money’. And she had one gold coin in her pocket that her father had given her recently instead of New Year’s money. Hina loved this gold coin very much. She would even polish it with a handkerchief before bed each night.
“Hmm…”
Hina realized today that she was the only one among the sisters who had any concept of ‘money’.
So what should she do? Should she offer her precious gold coin to the priestess to find the treasure?
The gold coin taken from her pocket and held in her hand. Looking back and forth between the priestess and her sisters, Hina finally made up her mind.
“Money is… a tool for achieving goals…! I mustn’t let the tool control me…!”
Tak— Hina stood on her tiptoes and placed the gold coin on the table.
The Veiled Priestess gracefully took the gold coin and began chanting strange spells at the glass orb again.
Pang— Finally the glass orb made a tiny explosion. As its transparent interior began turning pink like a ripe peach, the priestess placed the orb in Hina’s hand.
“Take this. You’ll be able to find the second hint for the treasure you seek through this glass orb.”
It was a magnificent glass orb. Hina had just exchanged one gold coin for a mysterious treasure. Even Cecily, who didn’t like money but loved pretty jewels, showed interest saying “What a pretty orb!” Even Naru, who loved breaking pottery with her artistic genius, eyed it saying “That looks like a good orb to break!” Of course, Hina held the orb close to protect it from Naru and Cecily.
“…Don’t break it!”
So what should they do with this glass orb? Hina wanted to ask the Veiled Priestess how to use it. But when she looked up from the orb to the priestess, the priestess had vanished from the hut as if she never existed.
“…Where did she go?”
Hina looked around the hut tilting her head.
Then Naru said.
“We’ll probably see her again when we return to the mansion!” “……”
Instead of answering Naru, Hina looked into the orb. It felt somehow familiar. She felt her heart and soul remembered rather than her head. It was likely an 「Artifact」 that operated using magic. Hina took a deep breath and chanted magic as Brigitte had taught her.
“Orb oh orb…”
Woooong— The orb emitted a pink light.
Hina asked with great curiosity.
“Where is the second hint to find the treasure?”
Swish- Swish- Swish— Soon something strange began appearing in the orb. It was a bird with black feathers and a white belly.
“A penguin?”
As Cecily asked, the bird was indeed a penguin. Why was the orb showing a penguin?
Soon the intuitive Naru shouted.
“Maybe we need to find a penguin? Let’s go to the zoo!”
The only place to see penguins near Freesia was the zoo. Naru, Hina and Cecily hurried to the zoo to see the penguins. And when they finally arrived at the penguin enclosure at the zoo, they saw penguins waddling on an icy surface where snow was falling.
“Cute!”
Naru shouted. Naru loved penguins. Well, actually Naru loved most animals. But the penguin didn’t seem particularly like a hint. While everyone was feeling puzzled, someone approached the sisters. It was a giant penguin.
More precisely, it was a person wearing a penguin costume.
“Cariote!”
Naru shouted. Soon the person in the penguin costume flinched and shook their head.
“I’m not Cariote but the 「Treasure Hunter Penguin」. I see you have the orb so you must be treasure hunters? I can help you.” “Wow, holy shh…!”
Naru raised both hands high in excitement. It seemed they had come to the right place.
The Treasure Hunter Penguin said.
“There are 100 animals I’ve lost in this zoo. I’d like you to gather them all and put them in this enclosure. They have yellow ribbons tied to their feet so they’ll be easy to spot.” “Alright! Let’s go Hina Cecily!”
Naru ran off somewhere taking the lead to find the animals. Hina followed after Naru while carefully holding the glass orb to her chest. Now only Cecily remained.
“……”
Cecily narrowed her eyes at the Treasure Hunter Penguin’s words.
Staaaare— Cecily stared at the penguin costume with narrowed eyes. As the penguin tensed up saying “W-what is it?” Cecily spoke.
“Can I hug you?”
Cecily liked penguins too. Because penguins looked cute and squishy. Soon the Treasure Hunter Penguin and Cecily hugged each other.
Naru Cecily and Hina caught animals scattered throughout the zoo. Rabbits squirrels deer and more. The problem was that the animals were widely spread across the 「Safari」 area.
The 「Safari」 area was a recently opened attraction where all kinds of wild animals roamed freely in a vast forest-like space and visitors could tour around in magical cars. It was difficult for children to run around such a large area catching animals.
“We have no choice. Whistle—!”
Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.
Cecily put her fingers to her lips and whistled. Deer came running from somewhere and gathered around Cecily.
Cecily climbed onto a deer’s back. Naru and Hina also got on the deer with Cecily. The three sisters all riding on one deer. While visitors touring the safari course found this sight adorable Cecily urged the deer forward.
“Let’s go!”
Whoosh— Pulling out a lasso Cecily skillfully caught animals while riding the deer. They had caught 99 animals this way. Only one remained but there was a problem. The last animal was no ordinary creature.
“Everyone can you see it? That’s the legendary Eight-colored Bird. It was hatched from an egg of a divine bird found in a desert pyramid donated to the Freesia Zoo by Judas and his family.”
As the safari guide woman explained the final animal was an Eight-colored Bird. The sisters were troubled as they couldn’t catch this bird that would flutter away with a Flap- Flap— whenever anyone got close.
What should they do? While Hina and Naru were at a loss Cecily seemed to have an idea.
“Quietly sneaking up and ambushing prey is the basics of hunting…”
The hunting methods she had learned from her mother since childhood. Those memories were starting to come back to her.
Though Cecily had avoided hunting because she disliked sweating and getting her clothes dirty for some reason her body was now itching to hunt.
Slip— Cecily took off her shoes and headed for the muddy hunting ground. Cecily tiptoed silently towards the Eight-colored Bird nesting in the middle of the mud.
━Cecily Style Cat Steps!
Cecily was able to approach the Eight-colored Bird without making a sound and grab it around the neck. Though the bird the size of a swan struggled at first it soon calmed down.
“Got it! I Cecily have succeeded in hunting the legendary bird that no one else could catch! No hunter could possibly hunt better than Cecily!”
Cecily shouted joyfully. The children soon put the final catch in the enclosure and the 「Treasure Hunter Penguin」 praised them greatly.
“Excellent! You caught all 100 animals! But you’ve gotten quite dirty!”
Slip— The penguin pulled out a handkerchief. They tried to wipe the mud off Cecily’s face but she shook her head.
“I can wash it all off later!”
This was very unlike the usually fussy Cecily who was always concerned about cleanliness and neatness. Seeing this her sister Hina exclaimed “Cecily… you’ve grown…!”
Cecily replied grumpily.
“I’m 7 years old now too!”
They were indeed 7-year-olds now.
Hug— The children hugged each other with their mud-covered bodies. This time Cecily didn’t complain about her dress getting dirty.
The Treasure Hunter Penguin gave them the 3rd hint.
“Follow the Eight-colored Bird.”
Pop— The Hunter Penguin released the Eight-colored Bird they had just caught back into the sky. Soon the children chased after the bird as it flew through the sky flapping its beautiful wings.
The mysterious eight-colored bird flew gracefully as if matching the children’s pace. After about 20 minutes of this strange procession they arrived at a rundown street in Freesia that used to be called District 61. Now redeveloped and full of research facilities the Eight-colored Bird landed on top of the tallest 5-story building and let out a loud Chirp- Chirp- Chirp—
The children stood in front of the building. When Naru knocked on the door it soon opened and someone appeared. It was a woman in a suit.
“Wow holy shh! Mom!”
Naru raised her hands excitedly. But the woman in the suit shook her head.
“My name is Brigitte, I am the master’s maid. The master is waiting for you guests who were led here by the Eight-colored Bird. Now, this way—“
The children followed Brigitte into the building. Inside were all sorts of magical tools and strange scientific equipment. What caught Naru’s attention most were the countless jars lined up. They were such magnificent jars that she felt a strong urge to break them.
“This must be… a place that makes jars!”
Naru shouted as if having reached enlightenment. But contrary to Naru’s words this was not a jar-making place but the workshop of the terrifying mad scientist 「Cinderella」.
Maid Brigitte explained.
“My master 「Cinderella the Ashen」 was actually a kind-hearted girl but she went mad after being mistreated by her stepmother and unrelated sisters.”
Slip— The children finally reached the top floor. There they met a gray-haired girl looking down from the window. She looked like a cool scientist in her white coat. However her eyes behind her glasses were cold and the syringe in her hand had an terrifyingly thick and large needle. Children instinctively feared syringes after /genesisforsaken