Chapter 87: Serpent Eyes

They were only a few ordinary words, but Laviana suddenly felt a sting behind her nose.

No one asked why she was still here. No one mentioned that she ought to go home. Erik spoke as though her joining them for breakfast were the most natural thing in the world.

Laviana did not go to the table. She walked straight to him.

Erik tilted his head slightly.

"Laviana?"

She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind and rested her face gently against his back.

Meira had been about to take another piece of meat, but her hand stopped at once. Elowen turned too. Mother and daughter exchanged a look, then moved aside in perfect understanding.

Elowen also took the opportunity to pull the plate of meat out of Meira’s reach.

Meira: "..."

For once, she did not object.

Laviana held Erik for a long time before speaking softly.

"Let me hold you for a little while."

Erik still had the pan in his hand.

"Mm."

Laviana closed her eyes and tightened her arms around him.

Just a little while.

That was what she told herself.

But even after Erik turned off the stove, Laviana had not let go.

...

Breakfast was fairly peaceful after that, at least if one overlooked Meira’s constant squabbling with her daughter over the food.

Erik took a sip of tea and looked at Laviana. He remembered the heart-shaped Mark with a snake’s pupil that had appeared on her body yesterday. Only then did he realize he had never properly asked about her ability.

"Laviana."

"Hmm?"

"What’s your ability?"

Laviana looked a little surprised.

"My ability?"

"Mm." Erik set down his cup. "I’ve never asked you about it in detail."

Laviana thought for a moment before answering.

"It isn’t particularly strong."

Meira immediately looked up.

"Tell us what it is first."

Laviana glanced at her.

"Don’t laugh."

"I promise."

Elowen cut in at once.

"When Mother says that, you usually can’t trust her."

Meira: "..."

Laviana laughed and raised a finger.

A tiny violet-black light appeared at its tip. It stretched, then slowly opened, until it became an eye no larger than a fingernail, with a vertical pupil like a snake’s.

Erik’s attention sharpened immediately.

"Serpent Eyes," Laviana said softly. "Rank S."

The little eye floated upward, hovered near the ceiling, and turned in a circle as though it really were surveying the entire room.

"I can create Serpent Eyes like this one. They have almost no offensive power, but they can observe things in many different environments."

Erik leaned forward slightly.

"Even where there’s no light?"

"Yes." Laviana nodded. "Even absolute darkness doesn’t affect them."

Erik slowly sat back.

Laviana continued, "Right now, I can maintain up to twelve Serpent Eyes at once. Each can store about an hour of images."

"And then you have to retrieve them?"

"Not necessarily." She smiled faintly. "If one is destroyed, any data it hasn’t transmitted back will be lost. But if I recall it myself, or if the connection remains intact, I can extract everything it saw."

Erik was silent for a few seconds.

Laviana saw his expression and laughed.

"I told you, it’s mainly useful for work."

Erik looked up.

"Who says?"

"Hmm?"

"It’s incredibly powerful."

Laviana froze.

Erik began counting off the possibilities.

"Reconnaissance, surveillance, surveying terrain, observing dangerous areas without entering them yourself, placing twelve observation points around a base, even recording technology or complex structures."

Laviana blinked.

She had used Serpent Eyes for so long in media, investigations, and gathering information that she had almost taken for granted that it was merely a support ability. Erik was looking at it from an entirely different angle.

Suddenly, he frowned.

"Wait."

"Hmm?"

"You said they ’store’ images?"

"Yes."

"How do they record them?"

Laviana answered as though it were obvious.

"The visual data can be transferred to an electronic device."

Erik immediately set down his cup.

"An electronic device?"

"Mm."

"What if there isn’t one?"

"I can inscribe it onto a material." Laviana pointed at the tabletop. "Stone, metal, crystal, or anything stable enough to receive magic."

Erik fell silent.

An image of a mirror quickly appeared in his mind.

The Mirror of Ten Thousand Worlds.

A world in an ice age.

Another civilization.

Thirty days.

At first, he had thought the second person he brought along would have to be a powerful fighter like Carmilla.

But Meira was no longer purely Support. After receiving a God talent, her combat strength far exceeded what her Platinum Stage 5 level suggested. She could heal, restrain, defend, and attack. Bringing another fighter whose sole role was combat no longer seemed as necessary as it once had.

If the second person were Laviana—

Twelve Serpent Eyes.

Recording.

Reconnaissance.

Data storage.

The more Erik thought about it, the more sense the team made.

He lowered a hand beneath the table and silently reached out with his consciousness to the Mirror of Ten Thousand Worlds.

[Meira]

[Eligible to accompany you.]

[Laviana]

[Succubus Mark acquired.]

[Eligible to accompany you.]

Erik narrowed his eyes.

How long can we stay each time we enter?

The mirror’s surface rippled, and new information quickly appeared.

[First entry]

[Maximum stay: 30 days.]

Thirty days.

Not short, but certainly not long if he wanted to study an entire world.

He could not simply go in, wander around, and take whatever he came across. The first trip needed a clear objective, and whatever he brought back needed to have lasting value.

Erik put away the Mirror of Ten Thousand Worlds and suddenly asked, "What does this city lack most right now?"

Meira stopped eating. Laviana looked up too, while Elowen appeared a little puzzled.

"Lack?"

Erik nodded.

"Men don’t count."

Meira: "..."

Laviana laughed, and even Elowen nearly burst out laughing.

Erik calmly took another sip of tea.

"I’m serious."

Meira and Laviana looked at each other.

After a moment, they answered almost simultaneously.

"Minerals."

Erik paused.

He had expected them to say food, but they had both given a completely different answer.

"Minerals?"

Meira set down her chopsticks.

"Food is a problem, but it isn’t the most dangerous one yet."

Laviana nodded and explained, "The city still has enclosed growing areas, magical farms, and food reserves. In a crisis, prices would rise and life would get harder, but the city wouldn’t die immediately."

She set down her teacup.

"Minerals are different."

Erik listened without interrupting.

Meira took a thin device from her spatial bracelet and placed it on the table. Light flashed, and a three-dimensional map appeared between them.

The green area at the center was not very large. Most of the surrounding region was covered in red.

"This is the current safe zone." Meira pointed to the center, then moved her finger outward. "These areas used to be within the cities’ mining territory. Metal mines, energy crystals, minerals used for barriers, materials for forging equipment... Most of them are out there."

Erik looked at the red region.

"Taken over by monsters?"

"Most of them," Laviana replied. "Some old mines inside the safe zone are still operating, but their output keeps falling. The larger mines are all beyond the defensive line."

"Can’t you organize mining operations?"

"We can, but we’d need an army to protect them, mining machines, transport routes, and people to maintain a base." Meira gave a bitter smile. "Most importantly, we’d have to hold the area long enough."

She enlarged a route on the map.

"We take it today, and the monsters arrive tomorrow. If we don’t have enough forces, we lose all the equipment and everyone there."

Laviana picked up where she left off.

"Succubus on the front line are also desperately short of equipment. Without materials, we can’t make enough weapons. Without weapons, the line is more likely to break. And once it breaks, our territory shrinks even further."

Erik understood at once.

"The less territory you have, the fewer resources you can get."

"Exactly." Laviana nodded. "It’s a cycle."

Erik stared at the map.

Only now did he truly feel that this world’s problems went beyond the relationship between men and Succubus. Its territory was shrinking, its resources were dwindling, and its equipment was in short supply, while the enemies outside continued to grow stronger.

If things went on this way, even if the Men’s Council vanished tomorrow, this civilization would still keep growing weaker.