"I can extract the memory of this land. The best location is right here."
Miss Lathers stood within the Sun, Moon, and Stars Pattern and gestured around her.
"When can we hold the ritual? Do we need any additional preparations?"
Shade asked again. The young woman thought for a moment.
"This place is simply too suitable for extracting the land's memory. It's as though someone deliberately left behind a fragment of memory. I have all the ritual materials with me. I just need to make some preparations and have Vanessa assist me. Probably."
She turned to look at the Sun, which had already begun to slant westward above the Cedar Forest.
"After dinner. The ritual is still somewhat complicated, and besides, I hadn't expected that we'd be able to perform it directly this time."
"We'll help too."
Luvia suggested.
"Although I don't know what Shade is being so mysterious about, I think that if this succeeds, it should be a great help to him."
Thus, the four of them got busy again. Miss Lathers did not mind sharing the Cult's knowledge with Shade and Luvia, but Luvia did not let Shade help. Instead, she had him continue searching for the statue of the Space Old God.
Shade thought that made sense. If they could not find it this time, coming back again would mean wasting an entire morning riding horses.
So he temporarily bade farewell to the three ladies and returned to the dark cave with the cat, which had already finished its nap. But continuing the search inside did not seem useful, so he simply left the cave, wondering whether the entrance might be somewhere outside it, such as inside the hollow of an ancient tree or in the basement of the Hunter Cabin.
The well-fed, well-rested cat seemed