Volume 6 Chapter 21 Disruption of Civilization
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Descending the stairs into the basement, the humidity clung to me like a shroud.
The dry, dusty scent of limestone, the pungent mold blooming in the wall corners, and the sour, acidic smell peculiar to paper stacks abandoned for decades.
Normally, the stale underground air would be repellent, but today, an alien, odorless presence was mixed into it.
From beneath the stairs, a voice leaked out, like someone delirious in their sleep.
”I’m terribly sorry, but it is impossible… the sheer structural beauty of this…” Elie-na whispered, her voice elegant yet trembling with intellectual fervor.
”Ah, u… cir, cuit…? No… the character, arrangement… yes, like, this…” Sasha murmured, her speech pattern unfocused and fragmented.
I reached the bottom step and placed my hand on the oak door. The iron hinges shrieked from a lack of oil, emitting a sharp, gii, sound.
The underground laboratory.
An abnormal heat saturated the space.
It was dim. Three Magic lamps hung from the walls, their pale blue light licking at the stone surfaces.
At the back of the room, bookshelves were packed tight. Grimoire with frayed spines, ancient documents bound in parchment. All of them were stained with ink and caked in years of dust, a graveyard of dead knowledge.
On the workbench next to the shelves, a glass cup containing a suspicious liquid sat, forming a cloudy, sedimented layer.
And there, in the center of the room, on a large table, it rested.
A silver, box.
Two women were swarming over that box. The figures of Elie-na and Sasha looked like famished beasts burying their faces in the viscera of their prey, yet also like devotees who had gone mad after receiving a divine revelation.
Their ragged breathing echoed in the silent room.
Sasha had forgotten to blink, her bloodshot eyes fixated on the box’s surface.
The sounds leaking from her mouth lacked meaning. It was as if a torrent of information overflowing from her brain was simply spilling out.
”Hey. What’s the situation?” I asked, my voice holding a steady, neutral tone.
When I spoke, Elie-na’s shoulders jumped as if she had been shocked by a current, and she looked up.
”Master…! Please look, at this! This smoothness!” Elie-na exclaimed, her refined tone replaced by an uncharacteristic, breathless excitement.
Elie-na didn’t even bother with a proper greeting for me, instead launching into a frantic, rapid-fire explanation.
Her fingers greedily caressed the silver box’s surface.
”There are zero traces of forging, my goodness! No hammer marks, no scratch lines from a file, not even the distortion from Mana molding. It’s as if… it was brought into this world in this exact form from the very beginning… Perfection!”
I peered at the object over her shoulder.
……What is this.
A chill, like an icicle being jammed into my spine, raced through me.
It was about the size of a Cooler Box.
The color was a matte, non-glossy silver-gray.
The corners were smoothly chamfered, and on the sides, slits—presumably for heat dissipation—were arranged with a precision that bordered on insanity.
At a glance, it looked like heavy metal.
But, I knew. This wasn’t metal.
…It was hard plastic.
Moreover, it had that distinct texture of a mass-produced item, perfectly injection-molded.
It carried the scent of a civilization similar to the home improvement store gadgets and toolboxes I used to see piled on carts in the world I once belonged to.
The sheer out-of-place nature of it left me speechless.
In this place, where there should only be a medieval-level civilization, this crystal of the petrochemical industry sat, looking completely unfazed.
I reached out and touched the surface.
”……No, wait? What is this?” I muttered to myself, frowning at the strange texture.
At the sensation conveyed to my fingertips, I furrowed my brow even deeper.
Plastic should be lighter. It should have a cheaper, hollower feel.
This was different. It had a density that seemed to pull at my fingers. It was something substantial.
And for some reason, it wasn’t dirty at all.
Forget caked-on mud; not even a single speck of dust, not even one fingerprint was on it.
No rust. No deterioration. No corrosion. It held a luster as if it had just been shipped from a factory yesterday.
It maintained an abnormal level of cleanliness, as if it were rejecting the very concept of filth.
”Master?” Elie-na inquired, peering at me with a worried expression.
I didn’t answer, silently kneading Mana. I created a stone above my palm, solidifying the image.
I was aiming for absolute density.
Using Mana like a press, I forcefully crushed the gaps between the particles constituting the stone, leaving no room for even a molecule of air. I imagined binding a simple lump of stone at the molecular level.
At a glance, it was an unremarkable gray stone shard.
But its mass should exceed iron, and its hardness should surpass steel.
”Wait, what are you doing!” Elie-na cried out in a tone of aristocratic distress.
I ignored her and thrust the sharp corner of the stone shard into the box’s surface.
Operating the floating stone shard with Mana, I rubbed it against the box hard enough to make a gigii1 scraping sound.
With this level of hardness, it should be able to shave off even an iron plate.
……Gariii!!
A high-pitched sound, like something piercing my eardrums, rang out, and the stone shard shattered into powder.
Stone dust fell onto the workbench with a parapara2 sound.
”Huh?” I sounded, genuinely bewildered.
I looked back and forth between the shattered stone fragments and the pristine box.
There wasn’t a single scratch on the box’s surface. Conversely, the stone blade, which I had reinforced to the limit, had been crushed as easily as tofu.
…Hey, hey, you’ve got to be kidding me.
Cold sweat erupted from my forehead.
It was disguised as cheap plastic, but its true identity was something unfathomable.
”Ma, Mas, ter…” Sasha stammered, looking up at me, trembling.
Sasha was looking up at me, trembling, from the side of the box. Following her line of sight, I saw a small plate on the corner of the box.
The letters were worn and fading, but the inorganic font remaining was something I couldn’t imagine existing in a world where everything was handwritten.
”Move aside for a second,” I directed firmly.
I had the two of them step back and stood in front of the box.
I observed the details once more.
On the upper front, there was a transparent crystal cut into a polyhedron.
It looked like a gemstone, but when I peered inside, rainbow-colored light ran through it geometrically.
On the side, blades thinner than a razor, made of something like glossy white ceramic, were overlapped as if holding their breath.
And in the center was a small, dome-shaped glass that glowed a dark, deep green.
…How do I operate it?
There were protrusions that looked like switches, but there was no reaction when I pushed them. I couldn’t see any patterns resembling Mana circuits.
While I was contemplating, Sylvia went around to the back of the box and picked up a silver chain that was hanging down from it.
”Spirit King, pray take this,” Sylvia said, bowing with practiced, Victorian-style deference.
Sylvia held out a grip-like part at the end of the chain, presenting it to me.
Even calling it a chain, it was a strange, heavy-weighted cord, like a thick cable covered in a metal mesh.
”That sorcerer was clutching this, sir. Even until I crushed his jaw, he never let go.”
”I see. So this is how you activate it,” I replied, maintaining a formal, procedural tone.
I took the chain.
It was heavy and substantial. The structure was simple. This chain must be acting as a conductive wire.
”Let’s change locations. We’ll activate it outside the village and see how the monsters actually react,” I ordered.
Once we stepped outside the village, we were in the deep recesses of the Magic Forest.
It wore a different face than when I had first visited. The silence of the concentrated-mist greenhouse that had closed off this domain during the winter was gone.
Now, it was a cage of noise, where the cries of beasts in heat and the buzzing of winged insects struck my eardrums.
The humidity was still high, but the air felt terribly dusty. The yellow spores filling my field of vision silently asserted that this was not a place for human habitation.
Every time I took a step, the soles of my boots sank into the mud with a jugu3 sound.
Black, rotting mud.
The scent of leaf mold and humidity that clung to the back of my nose, and the sweet, sickly smell of living things dying and decaying. That remained unchanged.
Elie-na and Sasha placed the silver box onto the mud.
In the forest stained with sludge, only the geometric, silver-gray shimmer of that object looked completely out of place.
”Sylvia. I need a sample monster,” I commanded.
I pointed into the darkness of the yellow, hazy forest.
”Catch one manageable monster for me. But don’t kill it. I’m going to use it for an experiment.”
”At once, my King,” Sylvia replied, deferring instantly.
She replied briefly, and Sylvia vanished into the depths of the forest.
There was no hesitation. To her, a den of powerful monsters was nothing more than a kitchen for preparing offerings for me.
”Well then, let’s begin,” I said, setting my stance.
I crouched down and grasped the grip of the chain.
I poured Mana into it.
……Fwon
Instantly, the inside of the glass dome began to emit light.
It was a mysterious light.
I couldn’t find a light bulb or a burning wick.
It was as if the hollow space inside the glass itself was simply dyed a uniform green.
……Kiiiiiin…
Next, a high-frequency sound, like something scratching the back of my eardrums, began to resonate.
Sasha let out a short, terrified “Hii,” and Elie-na leaned forward toward the box as if drawn in.
I reflexively grimaced.
It was an unpleasant sensation, like my dental fillings being agitated. This had to be the operating sound of this device—the unpleasant noise Mimi had mentioned.
A high-tech version of a bear bell?
Is it stimulating the nervous system with ultrasonic waves to keep the monsters away? It’s the same logic as pest-repellent gadgets from Earth.
Feeling slightly let down, I stared into the depths of the forest.
Gasa-gasa4, something rustled in the bushes in the distance.
”Spirit King, I’ve found one!” Sylvia announced, emerging from the trees.
It was Sylvia’s voice.
She returned, tearing through the smokescreen of yellow spores.
Behind her, a shadow larger than her own physique was being dragged along.
The prey hung limp and motionless. It was being carried over the mud, bouncing like nothing more than a heavy lump of meat.
Without a shred of hesitation, she charged toward us. However, the moment she stepped into the empty space……
Badin!!
With a dry, snapping sound, Sylvia’s face seemed to bump into something in mid-air.
”Ouch…” Sylvia muttered, startled.
On the other side of the yellow mist, Sylvia’s silhouette came to a stop.
I could see her shadow, seemingly confused, peering at her own hands.
”Huh? Did the prey… run away?” she asked, her voice filled with polite perplexity.
She was opening and closing her empty hands with a puzzled expression.
”………? Huh, that’s strange. It’s rolling right there… is it dead?”
From my position, it was hard to see clearly through the yellow spores, but I could make out a black mass rolling in the mud.
After pouring in a bit more Mana, I let go of the chain’s grip.
Checking that the box continued to operate, I realized it didn’t seem to be a problem even after letting go.
I walked toward Sylvia in silence.
As I approached, the bizarre scene became clearly apparent.
The thing Sylvia had caught was a Forest Wolf. A monster often seen in these parts.
There were no external wounds. But its body was distorted, as if the bones throughout its entire body had been pulverized, like a sack of fur stuffed with mince.
”Sp-Spirit King. This isn’t something I did, is it?” Sylvia asked, her tone deeply concerned and deferential.
I held her back with one hand and cautiously approached the boundary line.
The spot where the wolf was rolling and the spot where Sylvia was standing.
Between them, only yellow spores were dancing. There was nothing there.
I kicked the wolf’s backside carelessly with a foot clad in a Mana Shell.
As if pushing it into the empty space.
……Ga!!
An intense recoil returned to the sole of my foot. It was as if I had kicked a thick steel plate with all my might.
”You have to be kidding me,” I muttered.
I pulled my boot back. It returned without resistance.
I kicked it again.
Ga. It was repelled with a hard sound.
The wolf’s body was blocked by an invisible boundary. It was as if my kick, passing through the wolf, was being stopped by an transparent cliff.
Sylvia and I could pass through normally.
But only monsters couldn’t pass. Even Sylvia, carrying the monster, had been repelled.
…This is impossible.
Cold sweat ran down my forehead.
This kind of technology didn’t even exist on Earth.
DNA authentication? Mass detection?
No, it wasn’t on that level. This was the space itself selecting what to let through and what not to.
It was overwhelming over-technology, treating even the modern science I knew like a mere infant’s plaything.
”Master…! This, I can’t even see the composition…!” Elie-na exclaimed, her intellectual curiosity overcoming her aristocratic restraint.
When I turned around, she was hiding behind my back, her cheeks flushed with excitement. Her trembling fingertips were adjusting her glasses.
”There’s absolutely no flow of Mana! This isn’t Magic; this is… the laws of nature itself! It’s as if it’s forcefully rewriting the rules of the world to say that monsters cannot pass through…!”
”Yeah, it seems so,” I agreed coolly.
I looked down at the wolf, letting out a dry laugh.
Everything connected.
The reason they were able to break through this dangerous Magic Forest without leaving a single combat scar.
It wasn’t that they were strong.
They weren’t fighting the monsters at all.
They were just walking, carrying this thing.
Just like Moses parting the sea, this machine was pushing the monsters aside to the left and right, carving out a path.
”King. That is…” Serafina whispered, her voice elegant but trembling with profound fear.
Emerging as if parting the fog were Serafina and Erland.
The two of them stared at the silver box at my feet with eyes that looked as if they were seeing something unbelievable.
No, it wasn’t the box.
Their eyes were nailed to a small, green light point blinking on the side of the box.
”This light…” Serafina continued.
As she approached the box, her beautiful face turned pale.
”There is no mistake, sir. This is the same radiance as Lady Pearl, whom I take care of every day.”
Her voice was filled with awe and confusion.
”But… why? Why does a human army possess the sacred light of the Elves?”
Serafina looked up at me.
There was fear in her eyes.
”What in the world is this…?”
Now that she mentioned it, I remembered that light too.
The mysterious green glow she had stared at so rapturously in the cold stone corridor.
It wasn’t the luminescence of Mana. It was a glow like a firefly’s, yet it was a brilliance that would never fade.
”Indeed, it is the same,” I confirmed.
……Tss.
A current ran through my brain.
The moment I recognized that fact, the scattered pieces fell into place one after another.
The shape of the white slits on the side of this box.
I remembered those, too. The Elder’s Manor, on the top floor balcony. That white pottery they used as a chair.
I had thought it was just junk with the bottom knocked out, but the shape of the bottom was identical to these slits.
The scene of Gauz attacking the village flashed back into my mind.
The broken wind chime hanging by the window of the office, which normally never rang, had been emitting an unnatural, buzzing vibration.
The transparent crystal lens on the front of this box. Its cutting was eerily similar to that wind chime.
”Hey, Elie-na. Sasha,” I said, my voice sharp.
”I have an idea. Investigate this box and the junk in the village thoroughly.”
I had thought this was a middle-ages world of swords and Magic.
I had thought it was a civilization level that was centuries behind the world I came from.
But, that wasn’t it. It wasn’t just that.
…If my guess is right, that junk, too.
……What exactly is this world?
Something that exceeds my imagination is sleeping in this world.
Technology that far surpasses 21st-century modern science is buried here like ruins.
”It seems I’ve been living on top of something outrageous,” I concluded, my tone grim.
It wasn’t hope.
It was something unfathomable—something bottomless.
—
Summary:
Ryuichi and his party discover a mysterious silver box in an underground laboratory that functions with advanced technology far exceeding the world’s medieval understanding. Upon testing it in the Magic Forest, they find it acts as an impenetrable barrier to monsters, effectively carving a path through the dangerous wilderness. Ryuichi realizes that this discovery connects to other “junk” items in the village, hinting at a lost, technologically superior civilization hidden beneath the surface of his current reality.
—
Trivia:
- The box is made of a high-density, material that mimics plastic but possesses impossible physical durability.
- The box creates a repulsive force that specifically prevents monsters from crossing into its field of influence.
- The green light on the box is identified by the Elves as the same radiance associated with Lady Pearl.
- There is a clear, previously unnoticed link between the “junk” in the village (like the chair and wind chime) and the advanced technology of the box.
—
Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Elie-na – pale skin, and bluish-silver hair in a chignon, she wears silver-rimmed glasses over blue-tinged eyes. A woman with an intellectual disposition and a penchant for rapid-fire analysis of ancient artifacts, she is fascinated by unknown technology and is an expert at tactical calculations. While fanatically focused on supporting her team, she resets her neurotransmitters for stability and harbors a secret terror of losing bathroom privileges.
• Elie – An eighteen-year-old virgin research director with pale skin, glasses, and silver hair hiding her eyes. Sold into slavery by her parents to reduce mouths to feed, she now wears a white coat, functioning as a cold, calculating assistant. Driven by an obsessive, mad fervor for forbidden magic, her chilling, detached attitude leads her to treat buyers and others as research specimens to be corrected.
• Sasha – A researcher and partner to Elie-na, this woman shares her fear of the King’s punishments and displays signs of mental overwhelm when exposed to high-density information.
• Man – A roughneck wearing a hat who participated in a group assault. He suffers the loss of his right arm and later his left arm during an experiment by the protagonist before being stored.
• Sylvia – A devoted follower who looks upon her master with intense, fevered adoration. She is highly perceptive and ready to serve at a moment’s notice. A female individual who serves the protagonist. She frequently offers to perform servile tasks, such as cleaning, and is habitually prevented from doing so by the protagonist. A highly capable and deferential subordinate who executes orders with ruthless efficiency.
• Spirit King – The male protagonist who acts as the sole source of mana for the Elf village ritual. He possesses limitless stamina and approaches his duties with detached efficiency.
• King – A powerful, authoritative male lead who possesses immense physical strength and magic. He commands absolute loyalty and submission from the inhabitants of the Silver Moon Village.
• Mimi – A petite, pale-skinned Rabbit-kin from the Hundred-Beast Federation with long ears that act as a highly sensitive sensory array. Traumatized by hearing the world’s life force consumed, she serves as an interface for her master, to whom she shows extreme, submissive loyalty. Highly prone to sensory overload, she reacts violently to magic and electrical currents, wearing only an oversized shirt.
• Serafina – An elegant, silver-haired Elf High Priestess of Silver Moon Village who balances a calm, authoritative presence with a voice like a rolling bell. She serves Lady Pearl and acts as Ryuichi’s devoted handmaiden, managing his household and the World Tree in her white robes. While a powerful sacred mage, she is visibly nervous guarding the sealed domain and fears advanced human technology.
• Erland – A 320-year-old elven Village Elder and living grimoire, this sharp-featured woman with glasses and long silver hair accompanies Serafina. She holds traditional views on forest sovereignty and guides her deity, the Spirit King, balancing analytical, aristocratic speech with intense devotion. Using earth binding magic, she stays focused in battle, torn between village order and his demands.
• Gauz – A giant, steel-furred feline beast-man with golden eyes, a massive mane, and dense muscle armor. This hyper-durable, predatory commander wields the axe Agito and possesses an abnormal sense of smell. Arrogant yet fiercely loyal, he led a 30,000-strong force and views the protagonist as the only leader strong enough to hold his leash. Tied to a past security failure, he is now a charred runaway.
• Ryuichi – A 40-year-old Spirit King with a younger body, black hair, a beard, and a Japanese past life. Merging modern tech knowledge with an analytical, cold demeanor, he ruthlessly controls the Elder’s Manor and an elf village. He views subordinates and the forest as personal property, using immense mana, gravity magic, and sensory manipulation to be a clinically and sexually dominant ruler over his subjects.
• Ryu – A man with Interdimensional Magic who leads a growing household. He acts as a provider and protector for his slaves, while maintaining a pragmatic and blunt personality.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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