Chapter 71
The man who had been tilting back his bottle of liquor grimaced at the words spoken by the fellow with the fierce expression.
“…Touching anyone from the Yudia Ducal Family is a bit much.”
“Tch, spouting that same old nonsense. We’re just gonna haul it off to another country and sell it right away—what’s the problem? We take the money and bolt to somewhere else. With that cash, we could live like kings anywhere for the rest of our lives.”
“…I’ve never seen anyone touch that and come out unscathed.”
“Tsk tsk. Don’t be such a coward just ‘cause you’ve got balls. How long you gonna keep scraping by on a few tens of thousands of rosts, maybe a few hundred thousand at best?”
“…….”
“They said they’d even set up an escape route for us if this goes through, so there won’t be any blowback on our end. If you’re out, team up with someone else.”
He clicked his tongue with a tsk, then laid down the threat. After a long moment, the man—his nose flushed bright red from the booze—nodded stiffly.
“Split fifty-fifty?”
“We’ll need a few more hands, so fifty-fifty after that. Even if we cut some in for the others, we should each walk away with at least two hundred million.”
The fierce-looking man snatched the bottle from across the table and poured it straight down his throat with a glug-glug, then licked his lower lip and grinned wickedly.
“Contact the guys who’ll help out and put the word in at the guild ahead of time.”
He straightened up and beckoned lightly to the man.
“We caught a big one.”
The fierce-looking man let out a sleazy cackle as he strode out of the alley.
The two men followed leisurely after the children.
* * *
“Wow… what is this?”
Pitch-black stairs stretched endlessly downward into the gloom. At the bottom, Demonic Qi had settled over long ages, leaving the air thick and murky.
It was suffocating. About halfway down, they had no choice but to stop.
All three possessed Holy Power, but none of it was specialized for wide-scale purification, so keeping up with the thickening Demonic Qi was too much.
“Father, should we bring Salamandre along?”
“Uhahaha! How much filth has built up here? Elves lived in a place like this? Doesn’t seem right… Urgh! Young Master, Young Master, look at this. I’m being corroded by the Demonic Qi.”
Jedrian, still floating idly in the air, blocked Kiriel’s path and stuck out his hand with a pitiful expression.
The lord of the Magic Tower—born with immense mana from the moment of his birth—had fingertips blackened.
Even mana could block and control Demonic Qi to some extent, yet even the Magic Tower Lord’s mana wasn’t doing its job properly.
Kiriel ignored him completely and shoved the man aside with an annoyed look.
“Salamandre’s not here. You know damn well he went somewhere else—stop whining. If it’s really that bad, just summon your divine beast.”
“In this narrow passage? How am I supposed to bring out a beast that big?”
Klein frowned and let out a sigh.
Looking back up the way they’d come, the entrance to the stairs they’d entered through was already out of sight.
They’d come down quite a ways, yet the stairs still stretched endlessly below.
Not a glimpse of what might be an exit.
“Too boring! Isn’t it? How long do we have to keep going down here…? They say ancient elves were so smart, but can you swear this isn’t some kind of trick?”
“The Crystal is still pointing inward.”
Rudbride pulled the faintly glowing Crystal from his inner pocket and spoke.
Its dim light pointed downward, ever downward.
“That’s why I’m asking if there’s any proof that thing’s really from the ancient elves!!! It’s creepy down here! Annoying! Sticky!”
“If you’re gonna act like a damn kid, either tough it out or back off.”
Kiriel shot back coolly and kept descending, ignoring him.
Kiriel’s subordinates from the Magic Tower and the Holy Knight Order’s rank-and-file knights pushed past Jedrian’s men and took the lead.
“H-Hey, Young Master. You’re taking the front? Why, why? You okay? It’s so dark up ahead, walking right in front like that…”
Jedrian hopped through the air to block Kiriel’s path again and grinned.
“Oh, right~! You’re cursed by the demons anyway, so dark places and demon energy are no big deal for you, huh? Then it makes perfect sense for our Young Master to lead the way. Right, right?”
Jedrian kneaded Kiriel’s shoulder as he spoke.
His smiling face was innocently bright, but every word he uttered scraped at one’s nerves.
Even back when they’d met as kids, Jedrian had been the same. Still selfish, still blurting out whatever he felt like.
Kiriel watched the shorter man yap on, then silently brushed past as Jedrian blocked his path again.
He knew all too well that engaging with him only made things more exhausting.
“Hey, that’s cold. Young Master~~ You ignoring me?”
Kiriel descended silently.
How much farther down did they go?
After a long while, they arrived before a massive door.
A door of pitch-black stone, covered in densely inscribed magic circles and runes, fortified tight.
“Whoa, we’re screwed.”
Jedrian said with a beaming smile.
He floated around inspecting the door—tall as three grown men stacked end to end—before dropping down with a plop and grinning even brighter.
Then he darted to Rudbride, slipped his hand into the Duke’s inner breast pocket, and pulled out the Crystal.
With a flick of his fingers, the Crystal flew from Jedrian’s hand and embedded itself somewhere on the door with a thunk.
Woooong—
A massive vibration rang out, and countless letters and patterns glowing bright yellow rose over the black door.
“Young Master, this is impossible. Look! It’s packed with ancient Elvish and ancient script. Unsealing this’ll take a while. Ahahaha, I’ve always wanted to see ancient elves, but this is a bit much~ Hate it!”
Jedrian pouted and spun in circles through the air.
Kiriel narrowed his eyes at the blatant dissatisfaction on Jedrian’s face as he grumbled about how it was utterly hopeless.
“I don’t know much about ancient Elvish either… Almost all the texts are gone, so even starting research now would take decades at best, centuries at worst?”
Jedrian crouched down, shaking his head as he examined the inscriptions carved into the stones around the door.
“But it really is impressive. Ancient elves! How did they make such an insane sealing array? Wonder how far it goes.”
Jedrian placed his hand on the door and slowly channeled his mana.
He wanted to at least probe the range enclosed by the magic circle. See if there was any trick to exploit.
“If you’re not gonna scout further, we’re heading back.”
Kiriel turned sharply away from the impassive door.
Something felt off, vaguely unsettling.
With all the direct family members out like this, he was worried about the household too.
Of course, Levon and the others were holding down the fort at the ducal residence in their stead, but Bunny had a way of defying expectations.
“Huh? Young Master, you really just gonna leave like this?”
“You’re the one who said you had no intention of doing it and that it’d take too long.”
Jedrian blinked at the unusually curt tone, then grinned.
“Ahahaha!!! What’s this~? Did you hide a honey pot somewhere? Or are you finally getting a sister-in-law? Too much, too much. Haaa… such a sad life, always ignored even by my friends.”
“Friends, my ass.”
Kiriel snorted derisively. Jedrian finally pulled his hand from the door after a long moment and grinned.
“Hey, hey! Even if we can’t go in the proper way, I think we can sneak through with a little trick!!! Ahahaha!!! Either someone broke it open, or ages of wear did the trick. This is gonna be fun.”
“What are you talking about?”
At Rudbride’s question, Jedrian hopped up and floated into the air again.
He drifted along, then suddenly stopped midair a short distance from them, legs crossed in midair.
“Here!”
Jedrian pointed. There was a small crack-like fissure in one wall.
“Here. Doesn’t it look like something fun’ll pop out if we poke it? Holy Knight Commander?”
