Immediately after Horus stepped through the doors of the 「Golden Treasury」, the first thing to greet him was a long corridor.
Luminous stones were embedded in rows all across the walls and ceiling, and except for the floor covered in white marble, every part of the splendid space was adorned in gold.
‘Wait, this isn’t just gold-colored, is it? They actually plastered the whole place in pure gold.’
Out of curiosity, he lightly touched the wall, then slowly nodded.
Seeing it like this, he could understand why this place was called the 「Golden Treasury」.
Wasn’t it an honest and intuitive name, without the slightest exaggeration?
‘Still, even for a Gold Dragon, do they really have to make it this obvious...?’
At the typical, utterly characterless interior design, Horus let out a small sigh.
Even if they were Gold Dragons, seeing everything plastered with gold to this extent, over and over...
‘...Maybe this is kind of nice in its own way?’
For some reason, it was starting to feel rather good.
No, more than that, an inexplicable satisfaction was slowly creeping up inside him.
The metallic luster glittered beautifully beneath the light of the luminous stones installed throughout the passage.
It wasn’t merely monotonous gilding, either. All sorts of beautiful carvings had been engraved across the surface, so the light scattering at different angles delighted the eye.
How could one possibly not be moved by such a magnificent sce—
“Ha! I can’t be doing this!”
Smack!
Horus, who had been leisurely admiring the artworks on the walls, abruptly came to his senses and slapped both his cheeks with his hands.
He could clearly realize it.
This place was the very embodiment of Gold Dragon tastes, reflected one hundred percent!
‘Phew, let’s hurry.’
Forcing himself to stay sane amid the temptations of instinct, he crossed the corridor.
All the while glancing this way and that, like a child passing by a toy store.
‘Actually, if you think about it, gold shouldn’t be all that valuable compared to other treasures.’
Of course, since the gold standard was the basis of Outerica as well, the value of gold was set high overall. But it was also true that it was a little lacking for a being on the level of a dragon to be satisfied with.
After all, this world had all sorts of jewels, magical metals, mana stones, and more.
“...Hehehe, and now all of this is mine?”
And yet, to think gold alone could make him feel this satisfied. What incredible cost-effectiveness!
Perhaps this was why Gold Dragons had the image of being gentler and less greedy than other clans.
‘A rather plausible hypothesis. Well, that’s not what matters right now.’
Having fully satisfied a desire he hadn’t even known he possessed, Horus finally reached the chamber at the end of the corridor.
In truth, if he had used magic, he could have arrived much faster. But since this was his first visit, he had deliberately walked so he could take his time and enjoy the sights.
...Of course, there was a bit of personal greed mixed into that as well.
“Whoa—.”
And the first thing he saw there was a dragon statue made mostly of gold—
A truly colossal dragon statue.
One far larger than the true body of the Elder Dragon Shurihartgen, whom he had seen not long ago.
‘So that’s the actual size of an Ancient Dragon... an ancient dragon.’
The final boss of dragonkind, whose numbers had been few even during the golden age when dragons had flourished.
Seeing that majesty, said to exceed a hundred meters at a glance, even like this, he couldn’t help but let out an exclamation.
And at the same time, he had no choice but to feel a renewed sense of awe toward the previous Immortal Kings.
There must have been several ancient dragons back then, and yet even beings like that had ultimately been unable to overcome them and had all fallen, hadn’t they?
It was indeed an overwhelming record worthy of being called the despair of the continent.
‘Though now, that’s me.’
Feeling inwardly smug at that thought, Horus’s gaze passed over the enormous statue and the countless mountains of gold, silver, and treasure piled at its feet, then swept over the surroundings.
Massive doors were opened here and there in every direction around the chamber.
That meant this place was not the entirety of the treasure vault, but merely its lobby.
Most likely, those doors led to treasures classified according to their own standards.
‘Which means the things here are items too ambiguous to even classify.’
Was this how the heir of a great conglomerate family felt?
He could declare with certainty that there was no more beautiful scenery in the world than this.
‘Then let’s get going.’
Now that he had come this far, what was there to hesitate over?
Horus moved without hesitation toward the first section that came into view.
The treasure exploration of a boy full of dreams began.
***
The 「Golden Treasury」 was as enormous as it looked, and the number of treasures it contained was just as vast, so examining every single one in detail would take more time than he could afford, no matter how much time he had.
Thus, his first exploration had ended at the level of roughly checking what kinds of items were inside...
“Mm, this is kinda tricky.”
After passing through several sections and returning to the lobby, Horus grumbled in front of the final door.
The result of his first round of exploration so far—
Unfortunately, it hadn’t been able to meet his initial expectations.
The reason was simple. What he needed right now were items that could help him in battle in one way or another, but among what remained, there weren’t many treasures of that sort.
‘There were a lot of strange and interesting things, though.’
Come to think of it, Shurihartgen had said as much at the start.
Most of the useful things had already been mobilized for war and destroyed or lost, so there wasn’t much left.
Perhaps most of the magic tools currently known to the world as treasure-class items had come from dragon treasuries.
‘And after the war ended, the dragons had already declined to the point of near extinction, so they wouldn’t have been able to recover them.’
Clicking his tongue lightly, Horus opened the final door and stepped inside.
He was only a little disappointed because his expectations had been so high. In truth, the gains he had obtained this time alone were nothing to look down on.
These vast funds would have a tremendous influence on Merchant Hubert’s effort to swallow the continent’s commercial sphere, and the techniques and magical engineering knowledge contained in all sorts of rare magic tools would also be of considerable help to Dwarf Howard’s future work...
“Hm? This room is...”
Horus, who had entered the room while thinking of other things, suddenly stopped.
The interior of this section was quite original compared to the others.
Unlike the sections lavishly decorated with gold at the center and various precious metals harmonized around it, this place had an overall dark and subdued atmosphere.
To be more precise—
‘The walls, ceiling, and floor are all covered in magical materials. There’s magical metal mixed in, along with ritual catalysts.’
And that wasn’t all.
He approached the wall and slowly stroked it, then slightly furrowed his brow.
Through the part his hand touched, he realized that some magical measure had been applied to this entire section.
‘...Impressive. At this level, it might be roughly comparable to Hans. Did an Ancient Dragon personally work on it?’
It was a high-dimensional magical barrier that even the current him could not easily gauge.
A seal that seemed to press down on the entire space, suppressing anyone who failed to meet certain conditions.
‘Just what is in here...?’
He understood the reason as soon as he stepped deeper into the section.
Along with an inexplicable familiarity felt amid the ominousness.
A pitch-black demonic sword that flickered hazily as if forged from darkness.
Armor that seemed to have molded lava into the very form of a demon.
A dark red gem covered in dense blood vessels, pulsing like a heart.
A whip covered in sharp thorns, writhing all on its own, and more.
All sorts of extraordinary items, whose origins could be guessed at a glance, were gathered here.
‘Right, I thought so. I was wondering why there weren’t any things like this.’
If they had only been one-sidedly pushed back on the battlefield, that would be one thing. But if they had been able to fight back to some extent, then naturally this side would have trophies as well.
And since such objects could not be handled carelessly, the items captured by the Gold Dragons must have all been gathered separately like this.
‘And the dragons had been active even before that.’
Even before the First Immortal King appeared a thousand years ago, there had always been people plotting sinister deeds here and there, from summoning demonkind from the Demon Realm to attempting to descend a Demon King.
Some of the items here had probably been obtained and sealed during the process of punishing such people.
—Pirateod was here>
Beneath the display stands of those items, a single line of notes remained, seemingly left separately by those who had brought them here.
Sentences that were inconsistent and carried each individual’s personality.
Thanks to that, he could roughly understand the origins of the displayed items, making them more fun to look at than if he were simply viewing them.
‘Paljarim was the Dullahan King who served under the Second Immortal King and died in battle. I think they said his rank was in the single digits.’
Unlike what one would expect from a place filled with vicious energy, the child, Horus, was peeking around here and there with quick little steps, his face full of interest.
And as he continued excitedly observing these unexpected objects...
By the time he had almost reached the end of the section, he came face-to-face with something protected by especially thorough security.
“That’s...”
On top of a pedestal densely engraved with faintly glowing magic circles.
There was a single arm, wrapped in silver chains consecrated with the divine power of a high-ranking priest, fixed in place by sharp metal spikes driven into it here and there.
‘...Incredible.’
Staring at it silently, he unconsciously swallowed.
It was only a single arm, yet the power he could feel inside it was anything but ordinary.
Simply facing it was enough for a sense of danger to surge up from within Horus, who could now pride himself on having become quite strong.
‘If it’s this much with only the arm sealed... then originally, it must have been far from ordinary. What is it? Wouldn’t it have to be at least Demon King-class?’
As he pondered alone like that, the alertness that had surged up had vanished before he knew it, and curiosity began to grow vigorously in its place, impossible to contain.
So Horus quietly glanced around, edged closer and closer to the pedestal, and quickly checked the sentence left beneath it.
“...Hmph, it really was a Demon King’s arm.”
He had wondered, but to think it really was.
Sniffling as he muttered blankly, Horus’s gaze turned back to the sealed arm.
Wrapped so thoroughly in bandages that its original skin could not be recognized, it was fixed in place by chains and spikes, silent without the slightest movement.
‘How long has this been here?’
At present, the Immortal King was treated the same as a Demon King, but the two were strictly different beings.
He had never heard of a Demon King from the Demon Realm appearing after the birth of the First Immortal King, so it must have been at least over a thousand years.
‘Wait, come to think of it.’
But as he stared at it, something suddenly came to mind.
『Item Purchase』, where he had also bought the Dragon Heart that served as Horus’s catalyst.
It was definitely a name he had seen there once.
『Horn Containing the Essence of the 14th Demon King Leraie (4,620,000)』
When he quickly checked the Karma Shop, sure enough, that item was there.
No wonder the name had sounded familiar.
‘A Demon King’s horn. This price has gone down too.’
It had definitely been an item that cost over five million when he first saw it.
Unlike the thirty-million item whose name hadn’t even been properly displayed, this price had felt oddly within reach, so he remembered it clearly.
‘The Demon Realm, and the Demon King...’
The Demon Realm was not a completely separate dimension, but could be considered a dimension attached to Outerica, like the Spirit Realm or the Abyss.
And after the First Immortal King’s uprising, most of the black mages necessary for descending into this world had been absorbed into the forces of the Immortal King’s followers, so it had also been quiet lately.
‘Well, then there’s no need to pay it much attention.’
After pondering for a moment, Horus shrugged, turned sharply, and shifted his interest to the items displayed around it.
It wasn’t that he had no interest in another world called the Demon Realm, but for now, the Ganghwan Realm was more urgent.
‘I’ll think about that later. Later.’
Around the place where the Demon King’s arm was located, related items were displayed together.
A pair of curious eyes examined them one by one, and he moved with light steps.
***
“Ah?”
Siana, who had been tormenting the former Crown Prince Simon as usual to relieve her stress, stopped without realizing it.
Before she knew it, her master, the Immortal King Hans, had appeared right in front of her.
And wearing the face of a cold, handsome middle-aged man at that.
“Siana.”
“Ah...? Aah! Did you call for me, my king?”
Briefly flustered by that call, she quickly prostrated herself on the floor as usual.
However, her downcast eyes were opened wide as if she had seen something unbelievable, her pupils shaking violently.
“There is one thing I wish to ask you, Siana.”
“Command me in anything you wish.”
“This face. How does it look to you?”
“By how... you mean...?”
At the unexpected question, her prone body jolted and trembled.
But only for a moment. Desperately working her mind and quickly grasping the situation, she immediately continued as if she had never been flustered.
“Ah! It is truly flawless! If I had not been bound to you, my king, I would not have recognized you at all! I sincerely apologize for my foolishness in failing to immediately grasp your intent.”
“Mm.”
At that answer, Hans nodded with a satisfied smile.
Siana’s infiltration and disguise abilities as a succubus were the best in the Immortal Army.
How remarkable were they? Despite being a demoness, she had infiltrated the empire as a noble, and not even a high-ranking priest had noticed.
After receiving confirmation from such an expert and praising her, he left in satisfaction.
And after he disappeared again in the blink of an eye...
Left alone while prostrated on the floor, Siana squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her forehead to the ground.
‘Aah! That handsome face! It turned into an ordinary, run-of-the-mill man!’
She lamented the fact that one of the few pleasures of her unwanted military service had vanished.