Chapter 47
Translator: Kell Editor: Weasalopes
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Underground City of the Ancient Gods 6
They entered the castle . Undead monsters wearing maid and servant outfits stood still . Will they attack if they sensed a living human being? Hikaru thought, but he didn’t want to find out .
The stone-build castle was easy to walk in as they went down the hallways . There were figures of people who worked in the castle here and there .
It’s really strange . There’s too few guards and knights around .
Although not entirely zero, there were barely any around . Other than the Dead Knight and Draugrs out front, not a lot of them could be seen . They couldn’t possibly defend the castle like this .
Hikaru closed in on a lone Dead Knight roaming about . His dagger couldn’t pierce through its plate armor, so he looked for an opening . The undead, however, was wearing full-body armor, and while its face was exposed, Hikaru couldn’t see its neck .
Will a stab on its face do it? …Nah, I don’t think so .
His one point on Instinct was telling him it wouldn’t work . In the end, he gave up on the idea as he really didn’t need to kill it anyway .
When they got close to the location of the treasure, Hikaru knew where it was right away . One area was teeming with mana like the ones in the nobles’ houses . There would’ve been no point in coming here if it couldn’t be opened, but Hikaru had a plan .
「So this is the keyhole…」
A huge, double-door loomed in front of him . Made of white stone, a dragon-like monster was carved into its surface . The keyhole was just at his eye level .
「The room’s guard should have the key…」Hikaru said .
「I think so…」
「Is that it over there?」
「I think it is . 」
A Dead Noble stood beside the door, wearing what might’ve been a dazzling attire six hundred years ago . A bunch of keys dangled on its right hand . Hikaru inched closer to the undead, killed it with one strike, and took the keys . He then thrusted what looked like the right key into the keyhole .
「What was that undead doing here? It’s all too convenient . 」Lavia said .
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「You have a point . Anyway, the key fits, but I can’t open the door . 」
Hikaru pulled out the key and tried the other ones, but they didn’t fit . He was sure the first one he used was the right one . The material used for the key matched the door’s as well .
「There’s a dent in the middle . 」
There was indeed a dent in the key’s handle . It looked like something had to be embedded in it .
「Bummer . I thought I’d find a great weapon in the treasure room and then use it to fight the boss . I guess it’s never that easy . In fact, maybe the boss has the thing that makes this key work . 」
「Boss? You mean like a higher-up?」
Hikaru used a gaming term without thinking, making Lavia confused .
「Ah, let’s see… This place’s boss would be the king himself . 」Hikaru said .
They returned to the front of the castle . First they made their way to the audience chamber where the king would most likely be . After climbing a lengthy set of stairs, they arrived at the door to the spacious audience room .
The carpet was covered in dust, like a blanket of snow, from years of neglect . It was impossible to discern its original color . The hallways didn’t have as much dust as the undead regularly roamed about .
「…He’s here . 」
Hikaru’s Mana Detection saw him .
「Should I turn off the light?」Lavia asked .
「It’s okay . There are only Dead Nobles around . 」
「…If you say so . 」
Lavia was not completely convinced, but she left the lamp on and turned it towards the room .
Dead Nobles stood in a row on both sides . Up a few stairs was the throne where a lone undead was perched . Resting its chin on one hand, its empty eye sockets was turned in their direction . Diamonds were sewn into its loose robe, which never lost their gleam after six hundred years . Even covered in dust, they still shone bright .
「…—…—–………」
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「—–…—」
「…—… . . -」
「 . — . . –」
Hikaru could hear voices like the sound of a violin on the verge of breaking . They came from the Dead Nobles lined up . The voices were faint, but in this silence, he could hear them quite clearly . He drew closer to one of them and listened carefully . Like the Dead Citizens, all they could do was groan .
「Wh-What’s going on?」Lavia, who was dumbfounded at first, finally came to her senses .
「I think they’re having a discussion with the king . 」
「I can see that, but…」
What they were discussing, he didn’t know . Was it something that’s been going on for six hundred years? Or did the topic change every time? The king just glared at them, seemingly bored .
「The king’s ring…」Hikaru muttered .
「What?」
「It looks light it fits the hole in the key . 」
On his right hand was a ring . The king wasn’t mummified; he still had flesh, and the ring was stuck on his finger .
「Hikaru . Are you going to… take down the king?」Lavia tried to put it mildly .
「I won’t . Not now, at least . 」
「What do you mean?」
「I feel like he’ll notice us if we got close . I can probably do it alone, though . 」
That was what his Instinct was saying . It was an extremely useful Skill to have for sure . He only had one point on it at the moment, so that was all he could sense . If he put more points into it, he might be able to know exactly how close he can get . Nevertheless, it was plenty enough right now .
Hikaru didn’t know if the king had Instinct like him, but he knew that if they got close with the lamp on, they’ll get busted . That was a huge advantage for him .
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「…Am I just a burden?」Lavia asked .
「No, sorry . That’s not what I meant . Even if I took the king down, the Dead Nobles will be in an uproar . We need your spells then . The two of us will clear this dungeon . 」
「I see . If you say so . 」
「Anyway, we might have to look around some more . 」
They headed deeper into the chamber to look for the archives, passing by an undead that looked to be the secretary . With his Mana Detection, Hikaru knew there weren’t any undead from here on out . All of a sudden, he felt a chilly wind blew by .
Wind…?
The air in the dungeon didn’t circulate that much, but he felt it stir since they got here .
「Lavia, it says “Archives” right here . 」
「What?」
Hikaru stopped in front of a door . Lavia held out the lamp .
「An old language? I can only read a bit . You can read it?」Lavia asked .
「I can . 」
It was all thanks to Roland’s memories . The door was simple, with a physical lock . Hikaru thrusted his dagger in and kicked it to break the lock . It didn’t look like they wanted to actually close the place up, so Hikaru was able to force his way through .
「It smells like ink . 」
The smell of gall ink permeated the room, the kind that was used during the age of parchments . Made from iron salts and tannic acids from vegetable sources, it was used in Europe as well . In this world, plants used for gall ink had a peculiar, acidic smell .
The magic lamp illuminated the wonderfully-bound books on the shelves . A few parchments were spread out on the table at the center of the room . It seemed like a place where they made books as well .
「The ancient Poelnxinia dynasty’s archives…this place has so much archeological value . 」
It might make Gafrasti cry from sheer happiness, but Hikaru didn’t see that much value in it .
「Let’s check them out . It’s not like you can’t entirely read them, right?」Hikaru asked .
「Yes . I can’t promise anything, though . 」
「All right . Let’s split up . There’s no monsters around so you can let go of my hand for now . 」
「Okay . 」
The moment Lavia let go of his hand, something terrible happened .
「What?」
The room suddenly grew bright . It wasn’t just the room . The light spread out down the hallway, and illuminated the whole castle .
「What? Wh-What’s going on?」
「Calm down, Lavia . 」
Hikaru pulled her closer and activated Group Obfuscation once more . But the light didn’t go out . There was no doubt that the light automatically went on after detecting a human – a living creature – inside the building . In Japan, sensors that lit up when a human was detected were common, but he hadn’t seen one in this world . It was clearly a lost technology from the ancient Poelnxinian dynasty .
Hikaru didn’t have the time to think clearly . The ground trembled .
「Crap . What now?」
He noticed a wooden window with no glass and opened it .
「What the…」
The window was facing the opposite direction from where they came from . One would’ve thought that there would be a Nobles district, then a first residential district, and then the town . But there was nothing there – only a vast, barren land, with no walls in sight .
With the castle shining bright, he could clearly see the plain spread out for miles . The room they were in was three to four storeys high, overlooking the castle walls .
He could see unmoving figures in the distance . They didn’t look like undead monsters, however .
Another quake .
Hikaru saw it . In the distance, about a kilometer away, was a giant emitting purple light .