Volume 2 Chapter 33 Quest： Obsidian To Roses (Revisit) III
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
It was a small room made of stone.
Each one had iron cages attached to it.
”A dungeon, huh?”
”Indeed. It seems that the ‘Leanan sídhe’ and the ghosts brought victims here. Look closely.”
Kian approached the corner of the space in front of the cells, placing his fingers on the ground.
”Human bones. The color of the stone wall has also changed.”
”I see. So, the wine cellar above was for human guests, and this one was for them.”
It might have been a clever remark, but it didn’t make him want to laugh.
There was a slight difference between a ruthless assassin and a depraved cannibal.
”I wonder what the inside of the cell looks like?”
”……”
Following Oswald, they peeked into the small rooms divided by stone walls.
In each one, the remains of various races were left behind.
Humans, elves, beastmen, dwarves, and so on.
Some had crumpled to the floor in despair.
Others were chained to the wall with iron chains.
Some had curled up like fetuses on the bed, now bones.
It was a variety of situations.
(Robert probably never imagined that such a hell was spread out next to the wine he was drinking.)
There seems to be no need to tell him.
It is not yet 100% certain that the ‘Leanan Sidhe’ did it, and even if it was, he shouldn’t tell him the cruel truth before the memorial service.
”────”
”────”
The two of them walk silently down the passageway between the cells.
The smell of iron gradually grew stronger.
Eventually, the prison passage will reach its end.
At the very back, a stone coffin large enough for a person to fit inside was placed on a pedestal.
Kian senses a stronger iron smell than ever before.
It’s so strong that it resonates dully deep in his nose.
Oswald hopped onto the pedestal and placed his finger on the coffin.
”Blood is smeared on the surface of the coffin”
”Oh… some kind of demonic ritual?”
”I’ll have to ask a magician for more details, but as far as I know, this is a resurrection ritual. To be precise, it’s a ritual to preserve the body for the future in hopes of resurrection.”
Oswald said, and threw the torch towards Kian.
It was a sharp throw, as if cutting through space with an arm.
Kian pushed up the bridge of his glasses, lightly lifted his body into the air, and kicked a torch upwards with the top of his boots.
The torch spun around and started to illuminate the underground prison, getting caught in the candelabrum swaying above their heads.
”Hmph!”
The young man with the shaved head pressed down on the lid of the coffin with both hands.
In an instant, magical power burst forth from his body like flames, and in the next moment, the stone lid slid aside with a dull sound.
Kian took a new torch from his backpack, lit it, and threw it over to Oswald.
Oswald grabbed the burning part with his palm, then carefully moved it to the unlit end.
He illuminated the inside of the coffin.
”Hmph… I see.”
”Wearing a dress? Quite the noblewoman.”
Inside the coffin, which they peered into together, lay a mummy.
Perhaps it had not turned to bones like other corpses because it was sealed inside the coffin.
Or was it just this corpse that was special?
The mummy appeared to be female, adorned with necklaces, earrings, and rings meant for women.
Rags of what seemed to have once been a beautiful blue and gold dress clung all over the remains, now worn thin.
”Blood is a testament of life, and in ancient times, it was believed that painting a coffin with blood would improve its preservation. It seems that some vampires attempted to maintain their beauty by soaking in baths of blood.”
”There are traces of repeated brush strokes…. It seems the blood of the victims in this ‘wine cellar’ was not just for drinking.”
”To improve its condition, they probably thought it was necessary to ‘repair’ it with blood, like the painting of the Izerland Hills that was hung above it.”
”Who on earth could this nobleman be? Is the Countess of legend the darkest line…”
”I don’t know, but it’s probably not a vampire. Look at the canines. It’s starting to mutate.”
Oswald’s ringed index finger pointed to the mouth of the mummified noblewoman.
The canines are intentionally sharpened, but are not long enough to bite into the neck.
The fragility of the bones seemed to be about the same as that of a human.
”Mutation. From human to vampire?”
”This is one of the ideas of magicians and alchemists. It might be fine for long-lived races like elves, but a regular human magician can only live for about 100 and 50 years at most. No one wants to die, right? If one had the knowledge to change the world with just a fingertip, one would surely want to keep living even more.”
Oswald looked down at the woman who had breathed her last in the stone coffin.
”This noblewoman was probably a magician in her lifetime. You can tell by the manor; she had plenty of money. …Look, a ring with a summoning stone. The ring is woven with brown hair.”
”It has the same color hair as a ‘Leanan sídhe.’”
However, in places, the hair was unnaturally torn.
’It must have broken when the contract was forcibly voided.’
”This is the vessel. She must have summoned an evil spirit, binding it to this world and using it as a familiar. It’s as if she fancied herself a queen of immortals. However, she must have been an excellent magician, as she had a powerful demon like a ‘Leanan sídhe’ under her control.”
(…’Glasses’)
’What is it?’
(Do you recognize this woman’s corpse?)
’Hmm… Even if I had seen her, with her being so mummified, I wouldn’t be able to distinguish her face.’
(Shouldn’t you stop pretending?)
’What are you trying to say? Are you trying to say that this body is this one?’
(I didn’t say that much. But──)
”Kian, what’s up? Are you interested in the Summoning Stone Ring?”
”Oh, no”
He suddenly fell silent.
He looks up in a panic and shakes his head.
”This is rude”
”Hey, you’re not interested in rings? I’m very interested in them”
”What do you mean?”
”The vessel has been broken, and only the summoning stone and the metal part of the ring remain. In other words, this is nothing more than an unusable magic contract. Maybe I can summon a powerful demon and use it.”
”That’s true. It’s nonsense to submit it to the magician’s guild. There’s no notice for retrieval posted, so it won’t be discovered if we take it.”
”We’ll split it. There are exactly 2. One is the brown-haired guy, and the other is the black-haired one. The black-haired one is quite coarse. ──Alright, this one is your share.”
Kian received the ring made of beast fur.
The broken beast fur fell to the coffin in a whispery manner.
(Hmm… Could this beast fur be from that vampire…?)
’The old contract is broken. If you use it, you can summon something else.’
(What will come out?)
’Looking at the magic language on the back of the ring… If there’s a strong connection to a vessel, it might be a ghost or a vampire drawn to it. If not, it will probably be a ghost or a vampire related to this land.’
(For example, if I pick up the beast fur, will the same thing be summoned as before?)
’I don’t know. The contract has been broken, and if they don’t respond when summoned, it’s impossible.’
”So, Kian, should we take it outside and show it to Aisha? If it’s summoned here and turns against us, we might end up evaporating along with the ring.”
”Is this the end of our exploration in the basement?”
”Yeah. Next, we’ll return from the courtyard and go inside the mansion──”
When Oswald said that and turned his back to the coffin.
Suddenly, a loud bang echoed in the darkness as the basement entrance door slammed shut!
The sound reverberated through the shadows.
”……what?”
”────”
Kian had somehow expected this to happen, and silently put his hand on the hilt of his Windsong Blade.
Oswald clicked his tongue and put the ring back in his pocket.
The room became colder and loud whispers and groans echoed through the basement, as if 3 more Windsong Blades had been created.
A green phosphorescent light suddenly lights up the void, and a ghost clad in black rags──Night Wraith──creeps out of the darkness.
”You fool. We are diligent seekers of fact. Why are they attacking us? Do they think we are grave robbers or something? They’ve misunderstood!”
”I agree. We only stole the ring, so I think we’re safe. This is why I hate unreasonable ghost-type monsters.”
”I have no choice. It’s to protect lives. Justice is on our side.”
With a sharp, clear sound, Oswald drew his long sword.
Kian pulled the knot of the white cloth covering the blade of the Windsong Blade and swiftly released the sword’s seal.
The cloth danced through the darkness like a ribbon, and the Windsong Blade began to scream mournfully.
Next to Kian, a tremendous amount of magic power surged forth from Oswald’s body, unlike anything human.
(Not again. An illusion of sparks flying. What in the world is up with this guy’s magic power?)
As Kian glared at Oswald’s back, Oswald curled his lips into a smirk and strode quickly toward the ghosts.
The ghosts also approached smoothly, wielding jagged blades.
An impact──did not occur.
In the next moment, both Kian and Oswald kicked off the floor as if to dissolve into the darkness.
Oswald leaped at the ghosts with the face of a predator above them, and Kian calmly calculated the trajectory of his strike as he descended.
The screams of the first ghosts to become prey were a delayed signal to begin the battle──.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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