3. Those Who Dream of Becoming Heroes>
They were the same friends who had received a light intestinal massage from Miss Steel yesterday.
Perhaps because they had been cut loose, they had gained the leisure of life from broad daylight onward. Though their bodies could hardly have been in good shape, several of them were surrounding a young man and a woman.
‘Hmm? Isn’t that the person from yesterday?’
The young man being surrounded was the same one who had been handling the Lokum yesterday.
They had said he had disappeared, yet who would have thought he would turn up in a place like this?
The young man appeared to have knocked down two or three of them with something that might have been a club—or perhaps a scabbard—but in the end, he had been caught and surrounded.
Behind him, a woman who looked just over twenty was huffing angrily, unable to contain her fury. She held a small dagger in her hand, so she did not seem to be an ordinary woman from a respectable household.
From what they could hear, it seemed the ruffians had tried to do something to the woman, and an altercation had broken out.
In truth, it was not all that strange, considering how cute the woman was.
The young man and woman looked around them, but there was nowhere left to escape. With tense expressions, they prepared for battle.
“Hey, you lot! What are you staring at? Get lost! Right now… Huh?”
“What’s wrong with you… Huaaah!”
Perhaps they had been too preoccupied with chasing their targets to pay attention to their surroundings. Now that they had a moment to spare, they began driving away the onlookers—only to finally notice Sian and Steel watching the whole affair from behind them.
Sian spoke as though he found it amusing.
“You’re all performing your roles as social evils with truly admirable diligence. Impressive. Are you trying to justify the existence of Margaran’s city guards?”
“Uhh… Uhhhhh…”
“Indeed. Their intestines probably still haven’t completely untangled by now… Heh heh. Little brother, see? If you’d done a proper job yesterday, none of this would have happened.”
“Indeed. I never imagined they would have such incredible endurance.”
La
To have done the exact same thing only a day after being beaten by Vander… Even Vander couldn’t manage something like that.
Sian felt that their willpower was remarkably strong.
“…”
“Guh.”
The moment they saw Steel, the gang seemed to recall yesterday’s nightmare. Clutching their stomachs, they began to stagger backward.
Seeing this, the woman darted behind Steel and hid the moment a gap appeared in the encirclement.
“Hey! Ramran! You come over here too!”
She had apparently seen how afraid they were of Steel and decided that there must be something special about her, believing that she would be safe behind Steel. Unfortunately, she had chosen the wrong place entirely.
“Well, let her do as she pleases. She has nothing to do with me anymore. Let’s go. We’re almost at the restaurant, right?”
“Yes. We’re nearly there.”
“…Huh? Wha—what? How can you just leave? No, wait!”
The woman suddenly grabbed Steel around the waist.
‘Gasp…’
Watching the scene, Sian swallowed a groan inwardly. What incredible courage…
‘What is this? Is this really a human body?’
When the woman wrapped her arms around Steel’s waist, expecting it to be soft but feeling as though she had embraced an iron pillar instead, she stared in surprise at the waist she was holding. Then she began looking Steel’s body up and down…
Soon, her eyes met Steel’s, which were staring down at her.
Thump.
“Eeeek! E—eeeek!”
The moment their eyes met, the woman collapsed backward on the spot.
‘Good grief… At least she didn’t wet herself.’
Sian shook his head with an expression that suggested he had known this would happen.
Trying to use Miss Steel in the first place had been a huge mistake.
Steel looked at the woman and squatted down in front of her.
Though she had squatted, the difference in their builds was so great that the woman looked like a child standing before an adult.
“Heh heh heh… Ant—no, child. Do you know what it means to recklessly lay your hands on someone else’s body?”
“Uaaah… Uaaaaah…”
The woman seemed to have been so terrified that she had lost her wits, for she merely shook her head from side to side.
“It means you’re attempting an assassination. In that regard, you can say you’ve made a very serious mistake.”
‘What kind of environment did you grow up in to arrive at that conclusion…?’
Sian sighed from the side.
Even if the woman had tried to hug Steel and self-destruct, it would not have left so much as a scratch on Steel’s body.
“Remember, one must never touch another person’s body without permission. This old lady shall teach you a very painful lesson…”
“…Miss Steel, if you keep this up, she really will wet herself.”
“…”
“That should be enough. We should get going, or we’ll be late for our meal…”
“Tsk, little brother, you’re too kind for your own good.”
Not knowing what might happen if this continued, Sian intervened to prevent excessive retaliation. Steel, apparently having lost interest, grumbled as she stood up, but she still looked dissatisfied as she glanced around.
Swish.
Seeing that expression, as though she were searching for prey, the group of mercenaries panicked. Abandoning the young man named Ramran and the woman, they fled in a mad rush.
“…Phew. Thank you very much.”
“…”
Although his companion had suffered a frightening ordeal, being surrounded by those men would surely have ended much worse.
Thinking so, the young man named Ramran expressed his gratitude to Steel.
Steel did not seem pleased that she had ended up helping them after all, and her face showed her dissatisfaction.
“Miss Steel, let’s go eat.”
Before Steel’s mood could worsen, Sian led her toward the restaurant. After the two departed, the young man named Ramran helped his female companion and began moving somewhere.
☆ ☆ ☆
Deep in the night, two strange figures approached the operating altar.
No—in precise terms, they were heading toward a small hill near the altar.
The altar itself was heavily guarded, but no one paid any attention to the little hill by the shore several hundred meters away. Thus, the two figures continued forward without encountering any resistance.
“Hey, Ramran! Hurry up.”
In the dead of night, the woman urged the young man named Ramran onward.
“Liria… It’s dangerous. Be careful.”
“Have you forgotten what my profession is? This much is nothing. Hmph!”
The woman called Liria lightly climbed over a rock, then leaped down from it.
Ramran followed after her, crossing the rocks with some difficulty, as though he had no way of stopping her.
“But… are you sure it’s really here?”
“Probably… Everything he’s said has been correct so far. We’re almost ready, too. We only came to look around today, so let’s check the place and leave.”
“Okay, okay. Hee hee.”
Ramran looked at Liria walking ahead of him with a grateful expression and spoke.
“Thanks for coming all the way here, Liria. You must be busy.”
Liria was a fairly popular adventurer thanks to her abilities. Unlike him.
Ramran was deeply grateful that Liria had come this far for the sake of their friendship.
“Hee hee. What are friends for? And you know this isn’t free, right? You’d better repay me handsomely. Don’t forget.”
“Heh heh. Of course.”
“Hoo… Still, it was dangerous during the day. Those mercenaries were quite skilled for their profession. Though… I suppose fighting them would have been preferable.”
The girl’s profession was not specialized in combat, so the situation that morning had unquestionably been dangerous.
But when Liria remembered the woman whose eyes she had met, she shuddered. Fighting the mercenaries would have been hundreds of times better.
Seeing Liria like that, Ramran also gave a bitter smile as he recalled what had happened during the day.
He had felt it for a long time, but despite being an Exer, he was incredibly weak.
That was why he had to accomplish his objective here as soon as possible.
Ramran.
He had lived in a small fishing village near Margaran and had been nothing more than an ordinary little boy.
A normal child with many dreams, overflowing curiosity, and an interest in everything in the world.
As he grew, so did his dream. Someday, he wanted to roam the continent like the famous heroes.
But reality was ruthlessly cold. As an ordinary boy, he possessed neither some hidden power nor a great deal of money. No—in fact, his family was exceedingly poor.
So he could do nothing but help his father with odd jobs at the market, spending each day in ordinary fashion while nurturing his dreams.
Then one day, as Ramran was staring blankly out at the sea, he saw a fish swimming past him.
It had been a thought born of idle mischief, but something astonishing happened.
The fish moved this way and that according to his gestures!
When he first realized that he possessed this ability, he was incredibly excited. At last, a path toward fulfilling his dream had opened before him!
The thought that he, too, could finally escape the life of an ordinary person and become a splendid adventurer traveling throughout the continent made Ramran tremble with excitement.
He trained and trained, desperately trying to develop his ability. He tried commanding birds… then animals… then moving fish…
Eventually, once he had gained a certain degree of confidence, Ramran stormed out of his home.
More precisely, he had fled from the unbearably ordinary reality that bound him.
But it did not take long for him to become bound by the shackles of reality once more.
The Armed Ones were people he had never encountered in his rural backwater, and whom he first met after venturing into the wider world.
In front of Vander and people like him, Ramran’s ability was utterly insignificant.
The Law Mages, who manipulated the laws of the world and had already reshaped reality into something convenient.
The knowledge and techniques accumulated by the Law Mages far surpassed his own worth. They were much more efficient and far more useful.
Ramran fell into despair.
His ability itself was not underdeveloped. He could command more than twenty animals, and the types of orders he could convey were varied.
He had also trained in swordsmanship to a certain degree. He possessed the unusual constitution to handle Vander to some extent. Though he was not strong.
But no one needed him. Aside from entertaining shows like the Lokum Show…
For some time, he wandered the world, gathering companions like Liria and continuing his adventures. But the more he did so, the more clearly he came to realize his own limitations.
Then, after ‘that incident’ robbed him of all his confidence, he could no longer endure. He left his companions and returned to his hometown of Margaran.
There, he used his specialty to put on shows involving trained animals.
It was not that he was dissatisfied with his income. Shows like that were actually quite popular among the nobles, so he never lacked money.
His life was far more prosperous and peaceful than it had been during his adventuring days. He could eat better food and had obtained a good house.
But Ramran could not be satisfied in the slightest. He had thought he would adapt if he stayed there, but that was not the case at all.
He did not want to rot away in a place like this.
The dream he had nurtured did not fade even as he remained there. Instead, it grew into an increasingly heavy knot within his heart.
Yet not long ago, someone came to visit him while he was settling into that life.
That person showed hope to Ramran as he sank into despair.
And from that day onward, he was able to set his dream ablaze once more.
Moreover, the opportunity had been closer than he expected.
Ramran had absolutely no intention of letting this opportunity, which had appeared out of nowhere, slip away.
Determined once again to fulfill his dream no matter what, Ramran followed in Liria’s footsteps.
☆ ☆ ☆
—Ligachev, the renowned prime minister who stably governed Usharan
☆ ☆ ☆
The man who appeared one day was mysterious, yet exceedingly suspicious.
He was wrapped in a cloak from head to toe, with his face concealed as well—in short, he was clearly someone who wanted to hide his identity.
Under ordinary circumstances, Ramran would have firmly refused.
Though his level was low, his time as an adventurer had taught him at least that approaching mysterious things was dangerous.
Yet strangely, Ramran could not refuse to speak with that man.
And as their conversation continued, he became more and more engrossed.
Until then, he had never once revealed his innermost thoughts to anyone around him.
Because he was terribly ashamed of the way he had been settling so dutifully into reality that he could no longer claim he was still dreaming.
Yet, somehow, he had come to him knowing the discontent that had festered within him.
And he had asked, ‘Do you know who you are?’
How could someone exist who knew who I was better than I did?
Ramran had stared at him in disbelief. Then he had continued the conversation in a somewhat agitated state.
The man had thrown out one more remark. ‘As I thought, you don’t know.’
And so, the stranger began telling Ramran about himself—things even Ramran himself had not known.
As he listened, Ramran felt the dying flame within him begin to burn once more.
The bizarre man’s inexplicable kindness did not end there.
Seeing how excited Ramran had become, the man smiled and even taught him what he had to do next. ‘With this map… your former companions…….’
At first, Ramran had been curious about who this mysterious person before him was and what his purpose might be. But as he listened to the story, he gradually realized that such things were no longer important.
What mattered was that a path had finally appeared before him as well.
Even more astonishing was that the way to put his hope into practice was not all that difficult.
No, it had existed incredibly close at hand. And what was more, this was something only he could accomplish.
That had to be why the bizarre man had come to him with this proposal. No matter how mysterious he was, after hearing the story, Ramran knew that only he could do this.
In truth, there were far too many suspicious aspects. The bizarre man had given him one explanation after another to reassure him, but there were still plenty of things that made him uneasy.
That was why he had tried to ignore it.
But in the end, he had no choice but to accept.
Even if it turned out to be nothing more than the mad ramblings of a lunatic, even if the man was deceiving him, Ramran could not let this opportunity slip away.
It was his last chance to change his life and fulfill his dream……
Several months had passed since he had made that decision and put it into action. Now, almost everything was ready.
After coming here with Lilia today to check, they found that the preparations were nearly complete.
In roughly two days, everything should be finished.
Thinking of that moment, Ramran trembled with excitement.
He would become a hero, too.☆ ☆ ☆
“Younger brother Sian.”
“Yes. What is it, Lady Still?”
Still spoke to Sian, who had watched the festival and was now lying blankly on the hill, gazing down at Margaran.
“Younger brother Sian, don’t you train?”
“Hmm… Training, you say?”
“It’s just… We’ve been traveling together, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you train……”
The reason La-Banders were rarely seen in the secular world was not only because they had no interest in it. More importantly, they were interested in something greater.
Finding something to challenge.
And among all such things, the easiest and most alluring target to find was oneself.
Surpassing the self one had been only a moment ago and growing stronger without end was immensely attractive to those who had become La-Banders.
It was good to seek out and fight opponents of equal strength, such as other La-Banders, superhumans, or six-horned Harijans, but that was simply too difficult.
If both sides decided to hide, they could never be found.
And six-horned Harijans were not common even in that vast Great Forest.
Still was taking it easy on her training now because Sian, a more interesting target, had appeared. During her time in the Lagrand region, however, she had done nothing but train all day, every day.
“Hmm… I’ve reached my limit. My limit.”
“Your limit? How do you know?”
“Lady Still, you used to be a Grand-Bander, didn’t you?”
“Of course.”
“What did it feel like before you advanced to become a La-Bander?”
“That? Well… Huh? Younger brother, could it be?”
“Yes, it’s exactly what you’re thinking.”
‘This brat… Was he not lying when he said he could split the sea? Could he really do it?’
Still was genuinely shocked.
The wall between the beginning and the end of the Expert level was close. Anyone could reach it with enough effort.
The gap between Masters was somewhat wider than that. But once someone reached the Master level, if they worked until the day they died, they could at least see the wall of the Grand-Bander realm. Of course, breaking through it was an entirely separate matter.
Once one reached the level of a Grand-Bander, the distance between the beginning and the end became impossibly vast. Most Grand-Banders spent their entire lives training after reaching that level, never even learning whether a wall existed, and died in despair.
Simply seeing the wall was extraordinarily fortunate. In fact, most Grand-Banders who came face-to-face with it cried out in joyous celebration.
And yet he was talking about a La-Bander.
Even after reaching her realm, Still had trained for 170 years without ever seeing the wall. Far from finding a wall, she had assumed that the constant growth in strength was the final stage of the La-Bander realm.
But if there truly was a wall…
“Hmm… Was that research actually true? The claim that there was another realm after the La-Bander realm……”
“Research?”
“There was… Back during the Empire, the Grand Mage Council once found and published records of research that had been conducted. They said there might be a realm beyond the La-Bander realm……”
She did not know where or by whom the research had been conducted, but those records had been preserved with great care.
Yet they had been dismissed as complete nonsense. People who played at scholarship from behind desks could never understand the greatness of a La-Bander.
To begin with, there had been far too few subjects to study. How could those people research La-Banders when only twelve had appeared in a thousand years?
“Oh… Those people were smart.”
As Sian praised the intelligence of the people who had conducted the research, Still was struck by a question.
“Then… Don’t you want to break through that wall? Is there really no way to do it?”
Sian casually blurted out his reply as though she had asked something absurd.
“No? I know the way, too. I just have to do it, right?”
“What! Then why aren’t you doing it!”
Still shouted in excitement. The force of her voice uprooted all the grass and small plants growing around them and sent them flying, causing Sian to be buried under them.
“…
Ptooey, ptooey……”
“Ah… No… Sorry… But it’s only natural that I’d be curious. Why on earth aren’t you doing it?”
There was a way to advance to the next stage!
Still was nearly driven mad by curiosity. It was not simply because she wanted to learn the method and break through that wall herself someday.
She did not even know whether she could reach that wall in the first place.
She wanted to witness the birth of a great ‘god’—one worthy of her respect.
Someone who achieved the realm that no one in a thousand years of human history had ever attained.
“Ha… The thing is……”
And Sian began rambling on about his circumstances.
“…
You have to survive a crisis in which you nearly die?”
“Yes.”
“…
You’ve never once come close to dying, younger brother?”
Still herself possessed astonishing talent, but before reaching the La-Bander realm, she had come close to death so many times that she could no longer count them.
The other La-Banders were probably much the same. The world would never leave a person with such talent and strength alone.
It would either try to stamp them out before they grew or attempt to make use of them.
But Sian was a completely exceptional case.
“Haha. Who would try to kill me?”
“……”
Still secretly thought that he was being a little irritating.
“Well… I don’t know what would happen if a life-threatening crisis came looking for me, but surely I don’t need to go looking for one myself?”
“…
Even so……”
It was so undeniably reasonable that she could not understand why she felt so disappointed.
“Lady Still, that expression on your face… It looks like you’re hoping I’ll get into enough danger to die.”
“No, no! Haha… Hahahaha. What are you talking about?”
Still tried her best to deny it, but Sian had already read the truth from her expression. He sighed as though she was hopeless.
“Well… If something like that happens, I’ll run away in the first place. But if I ever become so desperate that I can’t even escape and find myself facing death… then you should run.”
“Oh my! Are you worried about me now, younger brother? Hehehe.”
Still looked at him with an expression of surprise.
“You’d only get in the way.”
“……”
She had never once been treated as anything other than an ultimate destroyer, so this treatment was remarkably refreshing.
To think he would treat her this way even though she was called the
At the same time, she could understand.
If someone capable of endangering a person blocked by that wall appeared… she would certainly die.
Once she rationalized this as merely his own way of worrying about her, Still felt a little better. She decided to be satisfied with the fact that she had learned a little more about him today.☆ ☆ ☆
“Hmm… Is it finished?”
Lilia asked as she looked at her former companion, Ramran, concentrating before her.
Ramran stood in front of the small hill they had visited the day before, focusing his mind.
“……”
Perhaps he was too preoccupied to answer. Ramran concentrated even more intensely, and before long, a small change took place before them.
One section of the hill began to heave.
The small crack gradually widened until, before they knew it, the earth had begun to split apart with sharp cracks.
At last, something burst through the fissure in the hill and shot toward Ramran.
Kreuk. Kreureuk. Kreuk.
What emerged after boring through the solid hill was an animal shaped much like a mole.
Of course, it was not a mole. Moles did not grow as large as an adult’s thigh.
“So you had these creatures dig the earth for you. It’s fascinating every time I see it.”
Lilia watched with wonder as Ramran commanded the animals.
“That’s right. They’re called Kukurans. They live underground……”
“They’re cute. Then this passage… connects all the way to beneath that altar over there?”
Once Ramran released his control, the creatures hurriedly fled. Lilia watched them in fascination, then seemed to remember their purpose and asked Ramran while looking at the altar in the distance.
“That’s right. Fortunately, Kukurans are easy to find here, so we were able to make progress quickly.”
The creatures normally destroyed entire fields and, at worst, broke through the embankments of dams. Because of this, people in rural areas killed every one they spotted.
But agriculture was not very active here in Margaran, so Ramran had been able to secure a sufficient number of them and proceed with the work far more easily.
They had to approach the altar.
More precisely, the area beneath the altar.
But the altar was guarded with extreme vigilance.
Ever since some deranged magic scholars had once destroyed the altar in an attempt to conduct research, its defenses had always been kept strong.
Even after that, neighboring territories jealous of Margaran’s development had occasionally attempted to destroy the altar. As a result, its vicinity was guarded even more heavily than Margaran’s lord’s castle.
If the altar here were destroyed, the sea route would lose its appeal, and much of the trade goods would instead be transported by land through the domains of other nobles.
All kinds of detection devices had been installed around the altar, and they would immediately detect any suspicious flow of Vander or Exar.
Moreover, Margaran’s constabulary and knights were always stationed nearby, taking turns guarding the altar.
That made it difficult to approach.
However, once he issued his commands, his control ability produced almost no Exar activity. Thus, he had been able to connect the tunnel to the area beneath the altar without difficulty.
Ramran drew in a deep breath, perhaps nervous, and then looked at Lilia.
The first button had been fastened properly.
From here on, he had to trust his companion.
“Come on… Let’s go in, Lilia.”
“Yeah. Hehe! It’s been a long time.”
The two disappeared into the cave they had opened in the hill, and the place was filled in by the Kukurans following Ramran’s orders.
Ramran was impatient and wanted to complete the passage as quickly as possible.
That was why, when ordering the Kukurans to dig the tunnel, he had told them to make it only large enough for a person to pass through. As a result, Ramran and Lilia had to endure extremely uncomfortable positions while crawling through it.
After traveling for quite some time, Ramran and Lilia finally arrived at a somewhat wider cavern.
This cavern was quite spacious. It had not been dug by the Kukurans in the first place; it had existed naturally.
“Ugh… My back. Hey, Ramran, what kind of tunnel did you make? If my back gives out, you’re carrying me around.”
“Shh… Shh… Lilia.”
There was no way their voices could reach the surface, but Ramran felt uneasy anyway and gestured for Lilia to be quiet.
“…
Good grief… Anyway… What am I supposed to do here?”
“Hmm… We have to find the way from here.”
They had reached the cavern as the bizarre man had instructed, but that was only the first step. There was still a long way to go before they reached the area beneath the altar.
The second step was to break through this cavern and pass through it.
If possible, he would have liked to dig all the way to just beneath the altar, but Kukuran was no longer enough.
Unlike the soft ground along the beach, the bedrock here was solid stone, making it impossible to carve a passage with Kukuran.
However, the monster also gave the troubled Ramran some additional information.
A cave had formed within that layer of bedrock…
The cave deep beneath the hill where the altar stood had formed naturally over a very long period of time.
Ramran did not know how the monster had learned even this, but it had taught him the information.
It had even told him that the complicated cave could not be broken through by its own power alone…
That was why he needed Riria, his former companion, from this point onward.
“Riria, please.”
“Hehe… All right, Ramran. This sort of thing is my specialty.”
Riria stepped forward with a confident expression.
“Whew… Ramran, seriously… If nothing comes out of this, you’re going to die by my hand.”
Riria spoke with an exasperated expression.
Beside her, Ramran looked at her with an utterly apologetic expression.
This complicated cave was not merely complicated.
It already had inhabitants living in the natural caverns within the solid ground.
No, the creatures themselves had dug out this entire foundation.
These ants, about the size of large dogs, lived by eating
They were not well known because they ate minerals underground, feared the sun, and never even ventured near the surface.
However, Ramran and Riria had encountered these creatures once before during an adventure, so they quickly realized that they were present in the cave.
Creatures that dug tunnels wide enough for people to pass through were not common, after all.
They proceeded carefully, taking the utmost caution.
The creatures living underground were extremely ferocious. Individually, they were weak and had not even been assigned a Harijan rank, but they were highly dangerous because they swarmed intruders who entered their cave and attacked them in enormous numbers.
Moreover, since they followed the queen’s orders, Ramran’s ability had no effect on them.
That was where Riria’s ability truly shone.
Riria was an Exer, and her ability was
It was one of the more common abilities among Exers.
If one possessed the ability known as ‘Guide’—which allowed them to know which choice would be advantageous when they fixed a powerful image of their goal in their mind and moved forward—their instinctive understanding of what would benefit them at decisive moments would transcend the limits of humanity.
It was not a matter of rationally reaching a decision by combining countless pieces of information.
It was acting on instinct, following their feelings and whatever Exar told them to do.
The ability of Guide was common, but its level varied greatly. Exers possessing Guide at the highest level were treated as extremely valuable assets on battlefields and by nations.
Riria’s ability was not quite that advanced, but she was still considerably skilled among adventurers. Since Ramran could not trust the others, he had called for her.
As expected, Riria actively used her ability to guide him along paths that avoided the ants, eventually bringing him to a cave directly beneath the altar.
However, since the ability of Guide required considerable concentration and could not be maintained constantly, Riria, who had kept her mind focused throughout the journey, had become utterly exhausted.
“Haa! We’re here!”
At one point, Riria let out a great sigh and collapsed onto the ground as though exhausted.
Ramran was startled at the sight.
“W-wait! Won’t the ants come swarming over?”
Riria answered with a reassuring expression.
“Don’t worry. According to my judgment, this place is safe. The ants probably won’t be able to approach.”
At her words, Ramran looked around.
Indeed, the place they had reached was somewhat different from the cave they had traversed until then.
The walls of the spacious, rectangular chamber—each side appearing to be at least thirty meters long—did not look as though they had been carved out by an ant’s mandibles.
Rather, they clearly seemed to have been excavated in a single instant by some crude yet powerful force.
The ants appeared to have dug their way this far, but something seemed to frighten them, preventing them from digging any farther into this chamber.
If that something still existed, the ants would not be able to enter this place.
In the center of the rectangular chamber stood a huge, round pillar at least ten meters in diameter. It pierced through the ceiling of the cave and extended downward.
‘This pillar…’
Its shape looked familiar, and it was undoubtedly the pillar that rose from the upper part of the altar.
Every year during the Ragaophe Festival, people piled Talik Stones on the top of this pillar and conducted their rituals. Having lived in Margaran for a long time, Ramran recognized it at once.
There was one difference, however. Unlike the upper section of the pillar that jutted above the altar without any markings, the lower section was engraved with strange lines, through which a continuous blue light traveled.
The pillar descending from above was submerged in seawater pooled on the cave floor—or, more precisely, along one side of the cave.
The seawater rippled gently beneath the pillar’s constant vibrations, while waves radiating from the pillar continuously leaked out into the open sea through a passage beneath the surface that was clearly connected to the ocean outside.
‘What is this pillar…?’
He did not know what it was, but since the seawater had not flooded the chamber, it appeared that the room was situated at roughly the same height as sea level.
The hill where the altar stood had been built dozens of meters above this place. Since the chamber lay at such a depth, it was only natural that no one knew of its existence.
A gigantic pillar driven this deeply into the earth… Anyone would find it suspicious.
But Ramran realized that this was not what mattered.
He could have taken a moment to catch his breath before proceeding, but he was in too much of a hurry.
The thought that something capable of changing his life lay before his eyes made it impossible for him to hide his excitement.
After gazing at the pillar with a strange expression for a moment, Ramran slowly approached it, leaving the exhausted Riria resting behind him.
Then he slowly crossed the bridge spanning the pooled seawater, a bridge that had clearly been made to lead directly to the pillar.
When he reached the pillar, he found a tiny jewel embedded in it, no larger than a fingernail.
Compared to the enormous black pillar, it was a ridiculously small bead.
Yet the presence of the bead, shining brilliantly with a blue light, was no less imposing than that of the black pillar.
As though entranced, Ramran stared at the bead. Then, at last, he lightly cut the tip of his finger with a knife.
He was required for this step.
More precisely, what was needed was his fresh blood, newly leaked from his veins.
That must have been why the monster needed him. And when he considered what he would gain, he could give the monster whatever price it demanded.
Slash!
Soon, drops of blood began to fall from Ramran’s hand. Without hesitation, he pressed the blood against the small bead.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
A strange vibration arose throughout the entire pillar, and light began to burst from the bright bead that had absorbed Ramran’s blood.
At the sight of that light, Ramran could no longer conceal his excitement.
At last, it would be his.
The legacy that the great pioneer Ragaophe had left behind for his descendant.
☆ ☆ ☆
When a vibration suddenly arose near the altar, Sian and Still looked toward the altar in the distance.
Still, sensing the strange waves, opened his mouth.
“Sian, little brother, did you feel that vibration?”
“Yes, of course. Judging by that…”
“Yeah… that…”
Just as Still was about to speak while gazing at the pillar with a fascinated expression, Sian cut in first.
“Looks like they’re finally starting the fireworks! Hahaha! I was wondering what was inside that black pillar, but I suppose they had fireworks prepared in there. This is exciting.”
“……”
Still ignored Sian and turned his gaze back toward the pillar, but since the waves were primarily composed of Exar, he could not determine what they meant.
‘I suppose we’ll have to keep watching…’
Having reached that conclusion, Still began dragging Sian, who was watching the altar with an expression of intense anticipation, toward the restaurant they had reserved.
☆ ☆ ☆
After an immense light filled the chamber, it slowly began to fade.
Riria, startled by the sudden explosion of light, looked toward the pillar once the radiance had died down.
A large door, wide enough for a person to pass through, had appeared in the flawless black pillar.
And her former companion, Ramran, was entering the black pillar through that door as though possessed.
‘…
What?’
Riria was intrigued by the fact that there was a space inside the pillar and tried to look inside.
When she peered within, she found that the interior was oddly empty for a space of such considerable size.
There was only a small pillar rising to chest height in the center of the chamber, with something placed on top of it.
‘…
What?’
Looking closely, she saw a crown-shaped object atop it, though it was far rougher than a true crown.
It was ivory-colored and featureless, as though it had been carved from bone.
‘This makes me uneasy…’
Riria began to feel anxious precisely because she sensed nothing at all from the crown.
That was both the fatal flaw and the advantage of the ability Guide.
Guide could not detect an enormous danger beyond the user’s level, nor something so trivial that it did not require a decision at all.
Of course, in most cases, the reason was that the matter was genuinely insignificant.
Her ability was fairly impressive among adventurers, so there were almost no overwhelming threats she could not sense.
That was why she had embraced that dangerous woman the other time.
She had approached her believing it was safe, but because the threat had been so immense, her instincts had failed to detect it.
The fact that she felt nothing this time also meant it was one of two possibilities.
Either nothing would happen if they took it—
or something so terribly dangerous would happen that her ability could not detect it.
Riria could not bring herself to stop Ramran, whom she loved so dearly, and so she desperately hoped it was the former.
☆ ☆ ☆
“Hm?”
“What is it this time?”
Rivias gruffly asked as she looked at the man beside her while he trained.
Rivias’s power had weakened too much. In her current state, she was not even in a position to repay her debts, so she was training hard to regain the level she had once possessed.
It would not take long.
“Hmm… No… I just remembered that I left something behind a long time ago. Actually, I went back this time to retrieve it, but I forgot because I was resting.”
“Hah… Look at you. You left something behind? What? Where?”
Rivias looked at the man with pity and asked.
“In Margaran. Live as long as I have, Rivias. Your memory starts to fail you.”
“Oh… You mean that crown?”
“Oh, how did you know?”
“You bragged about it so much when we first met. How could I not know? You said you used it to open a shortcut, didn’t you?”
“Hmm… Did I? Anyway… I think someone took it.”
“Hm… Really? It wasn’t anything special, then.”
Rivias turned her head away as though she had lost interest.
What was about to happen was of little concern to Rivias, who had left the mundane world behind.
In truth, the man’s lack of interest was much the same.
But…
‘There shouldn’t be anything good that comes from using that thing…’
Before long, the man forgot about it as well. The crown was important, but he would need it only after the current matter was over.
He could retrieve it later.
For now, what lay before him was more important.