Early the next morning, after breakfast, we went to a fabric shop to buy large pieces of cloth.
While I was sleeping last night, I realized something. Since Black Sun hadn't found me on the train, they would probably assume I was still in the capital. That meant they would likely send people to block every city gate.
Of course, they weren't idiots. They wouldn't stubbornly assume I had to be in the capital—I could also enter from outside. So even entering the capital might lead to questioning.
But this morning I suddenly had an idea. I finally figured out how to use the optical camouflage light magic core.
Since the light magic core couldn't make a human body invisible, I would simply make objects invisible instead.
The moment I woke up, I experimented with the clothes I was wearing. It worked. I even scared Jacob, who had just woken up, so badly that he fainted.
Later, during breakfast, I explained the results and my plan to the other three. After hearing it, Ethefelis stared at me with a strangely expressionless excitement.
Now I had everyone choose the color they liked.
Jacob chose orange.
Grace chose blue.
Ethefelis chose purple.
Alice chose yellow.
And I chose white.
After paying, we set off toward the capital.
By the way, yesterday someone had reported the incident to the police as soon as they got off the train. Luckily, we left quickly, or we might have spent the night in a police station.
Also, the train service hadn't stopped operating. Instead, they removed the economy car and continued running the train. I heard all of that at the breakfast shop.
Afterward, we rode our bicycles until we reached a forest, where we stopped. I planned to use my newly obtained special ability to create transparent coats.
I finished drawing the design and placed my cloth and the light magic core on top of it.
Then I spoke the magic word.
"Create"
Black light flashed briefly. A few seconds later, it disappeared.
The folded cloth and the light magic core in my hands had changed. They had become exactly the coat from my design.
Jacob and the others gathered around, curious whether it had succeeded.
I held up the coat and inspected it. The result matched my design perfectly. It was flawless.
I put the coat on. It was slightly longer than my height and covered my entire body. The sleeves were also longer than my arms, hiding my hands when I inserted them.
Next, I rolled up the sleeves and revealed my hands, fastening the only button—made from the light magic core itself.
I didn't have normal buttons, and using ordinary magic cores as buttons would have been far too extravagant. Still, there was no risk of exposing my body unless a strong wind blew the coat open.
Now it was time to test it.
I looked at the four of them.
"I'm starting now. Don't get scared."
After saying that, I infused the light magic core with mana.
The coat instantly turned transparent, and I could no longer see my own body.
Looks like it worked perfectly.
"That's amazing."
Ethefelis spoke first for once. She must have been really looking forward to this.
Grace and Alice, meanwhile, were staring in stunned silence. Honestly, I had warned them to prepare themselves.
Jacob, who had already seen it once earlier, asked,
"Karen, don't you need to cover your head?"
"Of course. One moment."
Relying on my sense of touch, I rolled up a sleeve.
A floating hand suddenly appeared in midair.
Even though I knew it was my own hand, it still looked terrifying.
I reached behind me and pulled up the hood, covering my head. I had designed the hood long enough to completely hide my face.
"Can you see me? Am I completely gone?"
As I asked, I made a few odd movements, testing whether they could truly see nothing and making sure there were no gaps in the coat.
"You're gone."
"Good thing I have "Detection." Otherwise I wouldn't be able to find you."
Jacob's expression didn't change, which meant he probably couldn't see any of the strange gestures I was making.
"Then it's a success."
After replying to Jacob and Ethefelis, Alice and Grace finally snapped out of their daze.
"Huh!? Mr. Karen disappeared!"
"Where did Mr. Karen go?"
Alice looked around in a panic, searching everywhere.
Grace was calmer. She turned to Jacob to ask him instead.
Since the test had already succeeded, there was no need to stay invisible anymore. I cancel the light magic core and greeted them.
"I'm right here."
"WAAAH!!!"
The moment I cancel the core, white filled my vision as the coat became visible again, and Grace and Alice let out terrified screams.
I quickly pulled back the white hood to see what was going on.
Grace and Alice were clinging to each other, both tightly shutting their eyes. Tears had even formed at the corners of their eyes.
What on earth had they seen?
Then I looked at Jacob.
He was holding his chest and looked slightly frightened as he scolded me.
"...Karen, suddenly appearing like that is really scary. And dressed all in white too. It really makes you think of that thing."
So I was the culprit after all.
From an outside perspective, I really did look like a ghost.
I immediately apologized.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."
After sincerely apologizing, I took off the coat.
Then, in order to create coats for the other four, I asked for their heights.
Jacob is 175 centimeters.
Grace is 171.
Alice is 156.
Finally, when I asked Ethefelis, she didn't respond. Her gaze seemed unfocused.
I waved my hand in front of her eyes.
No reaction.
What was going on?
No way...
Could it be...?!
Did Ethefelis get so scared by my sudden appearance that she fainted too?!
I crouched down and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her gently.
"Ethefelis, wake up. Wake up..."
After calling her several times, she finally opened her eyes and quietly looked at me.
"...Ren bro."
Even though her face was expressionless, her voice clearly carried fear.
I quickly apologized.
"Sorry for scaring you. Are you okay?"
"Not at all. Eis's heart is beating so fast. Eis thought Eis was going to die. It was really scary. A person dressed all in white suddenly appearing out of empty space is terrifying. Aren't ghosts supposed to appear at night? Why did one appear during the day? Ren bro, there are ghosts in this forest. Let's leave quickly."
After saying that, Ethefelis grabbed my hand and urgently pulled me, trying to drag me out of the forest despite her expressionless face.
But I stood still like a mountain, so she only ended up wasting her strength.
"Wow, Miss Ai said so many words."
Alice was right. It was the first time I had heard Ethefelis speak this much.
But she seemed confused. She thought I was a real ghost.
So I tried to calm her down.
"...Ethefelis, calm down. There are no ghosts here. Did you forget that I was wearing a white coat just now?"
"Right. Ren bro was wearing a white coat, so ghosts don't exist. This forest is safe. But Eis actually lost her composure. As a member of the Sugued, that's unacceptable. But it was really scary. No, Eis must calm down. Inhale—exhale—inhale—exhale."
Ethefelis began taking exaggerated deep breaths.
I also realized something.
When she panicked, she spoke very directly—almost blurting out everything on her mind.
That personality was surprisingly refreshing.
"So Ms. Eis is this kind of person?"
Grace also looked surprised.
Once Ethefelis calmed down, she returned to her usual expressionless tone and said,
"Eis is calm now."
I didn't really know what to say about that situation, but discovering this new side of Ethefelis was interesting.
Afterward, I asked for her height.
She was 145 centimeters.
With everyone's heights confirmed, I adjusted the coat lengths on my design and created coats for the other four one by one.
Then we continued heading toward the capital.
When we reached a forest not far from the city gate, we stopped and stored our bicycles inside the storage hole.
After putting on the transparent coats, I explained how they should avoid getting separated.
Since we would all be invisible, none of us could see each other. If someone got lost, we wouldn't even notice.
"After we enter the gate, walk along the left side of the city wall. Keep an eye on "detection" and don't get separated."
Then I pulled up my hood and turned invisible.
The white in front of my eyes became transparent again.
I turned my head and looked around. I couldn't see the others anymore, which meant they had all activated their coats.
Using "Detection," I confirmed the life signals of the four of them and walked toward the city gate while making sure no one wandered off.
After entering the gate, I saw several thugs watching the people coming in and out.
They were probably members of the organization.
What a shame for them to waste their effort.
Anyway, we'll be on our way now.