Chapter 68
Just Deliver Us (3)
“Truly, it is displeasing.”
The Imperial Princess laid out her impression in full detail. All of us shared the sa sentint as we looked at that grotesque black hand.
“I wish to tear out those eyeballs at once. May I do so?”
“……I do not know either.”
I answered her question with difficulty. Even so, it was still a religious structure.
The Imperial Princess clicked her tongue once and sat down. Seizing the mont, Canis created an elegant chair out of crystal.
“It is not bad.”
The Imperial Princess said in satisfaction as she sat in the chair.
“You. Canis.”
“Yes. Your Highness~”
“It is hard.”
Her expression looked endlessly satisfied, yet the words that ca out were nothing but nagging. Canis could only give a foolish reply.
“Next ti, would it not be better to craft it to fit my hips?”
“Th-that……. I will try.”
I felt perplexed. If Canis were to make a chair tailored to the Imperial Princess, she would have to know the size of her hips.
No matter how I thought about it, the only ending that ca to mind was an instant death for daring to lay a hand on her sacred body. I could see cold sweat forming on Canis’s forehead.
“Your Highness. Is there perhaps sothing you are looking for here?”
“There is not. However, I dislike that thing. It keeps glaring at .”
“……I will take care of it as best as I can.”
The Imperial Princess particularly hated that structure. Excluding Canis, who had suddenly found herself attending to the Imperial Princess. Excluding Worden as well, who sat foolishly curled up.
“Let us go.”
“Yes. Y-Yes? To, to that thing?”
I grabbed Winter by the back of the neck and pulled her up. She stood without much resistance and responded awkwardly.
“You rang the bell, didn’t you? And this is where we arrived. It must be related to that thing.”
“Th-that’s true.”
Winter followed with a tearful face. As we approached, the gazes of countless pupils gathered upon us.
“More importantly, why did you ring the bell?”
“Ah, well. Every ti I rang it, the dungeon kept shifting. And whenever it did, letters were carved into the walls that made up the dungeon. I felt like I had seen them sowhere before.”
Letters. I looked around. Now that I thought about it, there was sothing similar on the walls here as well. I had assud they were rely decorative patterns, but to think they were letters.
“So. You rang the bell because of those letters?”
“Yes, sunbae-nim. You once went into a dungeon to pull in funds, right? Those ancient gold coins.”
“Oh. Yeah, I rember.”
She was talking about the day I first t Astral. It was the first ti in my life I had ever felt fear, so I could never forget it.
“That ti, I said I would check your bag and found sothing like a research journal, rember? You said it was writing from the Ancient Magic Kingdom.”
“I did, didn’t I?”
“Yes. It was those sa characters. I studied them from ti to ti, so I can interpret them a little.”
Winter said the letters on the wall were from the Ancient Magic Kingdom.
“If you say so, then it must be so.”
“Uh……. Thank you.”
Winter looked embarrassed. She seed slightly shy.
“So?”
“I interpreted part of the text. It said, ‘The Black God who seeks the sound of thunder has created this.’”
“The sound of thunder.”
At the ntion of the sound of thunder, Winter thought of Silent Bell, and interpreted that the being called the Black God was manipulating this dungeon in response to the sound of Silent Bell.
That interpretation was not entirely wrong.
“Then this structure is the Black God, and the one responsible for moving this dungeon?”
“……That is my guess.”
A structure of the god revered by the desert tribe. I had no idea why such a thing was here.
The remaining bosses at present were only the legs and the chest. Unfortunately, it had already completed its second enhancent.
“What are you planning to do?”
Since the dungeon had completely changed, the paths I rembered had beco useless.
If we could go straight to where the chest was, it would be fine. But if we had to fight the bosses in sequence, it would beco rather complicated.
“For now, try ringing the bell.”
“……Is that really okay?”
“I do not know either.”
Winter showed clear worry. I shrugged. It might instead be dangerous, but we had to do sothing now.
“Sti……ll, perhaps we should think it through a bit—”
“There is no entrance. Naturally, there is no exit either.”
“Huh?”
Only then did Winter look around. The door that should have connected to the corridor we had run through excitedly was gone. A perfect sealed room. In other words, we were stuck with no way in or out.
With a pale expression, Winter quietly took out Silent Bell.
“……Could this be my fault?”
“I wonder. It was not necessarily a bad move.”
I had nothing more to say to the self-reproaching Winter. It seed that things on her side had been quite urgent.
It was better to have this chance to gather and put our heads together than to stand around foolishly and lose our lives.
“We will carve our way through.”
“……Yes.”
Having quickly steadied herself, Winter shook Silent Bell. Along with its clear ringing, a pleasant resonance spread out.
▶A Faith Quest has occurred.
And then I received an unexpected system notification. As I was about to check the newly ford quest, the structure suddenly began to emit a blinding light.
“Waaah!”
The structure split into five parts. Startled by the grotesque sight, Winter scread and hid behind my back.
“You. Davide. What is happening?”
“I beg Your Highness’s pardon, but I too do not know what is happening.”
The Imperial Princess rushed over and asked with a deep frown. But I had little to say. This was my first ti encountering such a situation as well.
“Do sothing.”
“……I will try.”
At my words, the Imperial Princess’s expression shifted strangely. I wore a wronged expression.
“No. Answer this first. I am about to split that thing apart. Will that be acceptable?”
Before I could even respond, the Imperial Princess moved. Her trait was [Reduction]. A simple trait that allowed her to reduce objects to any size she desired.
However, with the background of being the Imperial Princess and the imnse wealth she had accumulated over a long period of ti, her [Pocket] was filled with all sorts of artifacts.
From among them, she took out a cross-shaped spear and swung it.
“I suppose it will have to be acceptable.”
Her question and the swing happened simultaneously. The na of the weapon she wielded was [Silencing Cross].
“Hmph. Only now does my stomach feel at ease. It was utterly revolting.”
The structure that had been cut by the spear writhed a few tis before beginning to lt away as it was.
Thanks to the spear’s property of nullifying the mana of whatever it cut or pierced, nothing else occurred.
“Uh…….”
All of us were flustered by the Imperial Princess’s sudden outburst. The sight of it splitting into five parts due to Silent Bell had been grotesque enough to make Winter scream.
But swinging a spear recklessly at sothing we did not even understand was not exactly the right course of action.
▶Faith Quest: [Lost Treasure].
The treasure once used by the last Believer of the Anaye Order was lost during a battle with the desert tribe. Anaye wishes for the traces to be found at the place where her first child was last lost.
Condition: Eliminate the Black Guardian who protects the clue.
Reward: Obtain Holy Brush.
“Huh?”
▶Faith Quest: [Lost Treasure] has been completed.
What the Imperial Princess had done turned out to be the correct move. She had resolved the quest without even checking its contents.
“Mm? What is it?”
Perhaps when one was at the level of the Imperial Princess, even trolling beca helpful. As I looked at her with a moved expression, her face turned slightly uncomfortable.
“The book is shining.”
The Imperial Princess, clearly unsettled, gestured with her chin toward the Holy Scripture. Just as she said, the Holy Scripture was emitting a light unlike anything I had seen before.
“Huh? Sunbae-nim!”
Only then did Winter cautiously poke her head out and grab my collar roughly as she pointed sowhere.
At the place where the structure had stood, sothing was emitting the sa light as the Holy Scripture. As if entranced, I approached it.
“?”
The mont I grabbed it, the light from both the Holy Scripture and that object disappeared. I looked down at what I held in my hand.
“Th-that is what, exactly?”
Winter asked with an anxious face. If Holy Scripture ant a sacred book, then this would have to be interpreted as a sacred brush.
With an uneasy expression, I tossed it to Winter.
“Waaah?!”
Instinctively catching it, Winter imdiately showed her distaste and dropped it.
“It looks peculiar. What is its purpose?”
“It is a brush, Your Highness.”
“A brush? The thing used for writing?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The Imperial Princess seed interested in the Holy Brush. Having lived her life surrounded by all kinds of rare and exquisite masterpieces, her discerning eye had taken notice of it.
Its smooth body was shaped like a rectangular pillar, and the part that seed to be its head ford a square pyramid. At a glance, it even resembled a tall, slender tower.
“You. Davide.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Do ancient brushes move on their own as well?”
“Pardon?”
I asked blankly. In the brief mont I had looked away, the Holy Brush had begun moving by itself.
It slithered like a snake and lunged toward Winter. She could not even scream this ti as she ran.
“Ugh…… s-save .”
“Hold on.”
Faster than Winter could flee, the Holy Brush coiled around her leg. At the unfamiliar sensation, her body stiffened.
She slowly turned her head to ask for help. Before I knew it, her face was covered in tears. Since it had co from that disgusting structure, her reaction was extre.
“It was glowing together with the Holy Scripture. It should not be entirely bad.”
“If she is crying like that~ shouldn’t we consider it bad~?”
“I am of the sa mind. You are truly ill-natured.”
I let out a small sigh at the two won’s remarks from either side. I had no idea why they got along so well.
I slowly approached Winter. She had buried her face in her hands and was trembling.
“I have removed it. Get a hold of yourself.”
The Holy Brush wriggled once before being pulled into my hand. Only after hearing did Winter co back to her senses.
“Wh-what is that? I-it is creepy.”
“Have you ever heard of the Holy Brush?”
“Yes. Huh? Wh-what?”
At the unexpected term, Winter’s mouth fell wide open.
“Th-the Holy Brush? O-oh my goodness!”
At her intense reaction, everyone’s gaze gathered on us.
“The Holy Brush is extrely important along with the Holy Scripture! The item used to write that particular Holy Scripture is called the Holy Brush. You can think of it as the only brush capable of writing in the Holy Scripture! Oh my, to think it was such an incredible object! Being able to inscribe sothing into the Holy Scripture is an achievent that is impossible without possessing the proper stature.”
Being utterly sincere about religion, she began explaining enthusiastically, forgetting entirely that the Imperial Princess was present.
“It is remarkable in many ways.”
With flushed cheeks, Winter snatched the Holy Brush and chattered with a blissful expression.
It was astonishing to see such a reaction from soone who had been crying monts ago, saying it was creepy.
The Imperial Princess offered her own impression with a face as though she had encountered a legendary creature.
“The Lofty Order also possesses a Holy Brush! According to legend, with the Holy Brush of the Lofty Order…… like this!”
Having discovered sothing remarkable, Winter drew a circle in the air with the Holy Brush where she stood. Though there was neither ink nor tip, a black circle was drawn.
“Like this! If you draw sothing in the air, it will actually appearaaaaaaak!”
Before she could even finish her sentence, Winter vanished into the circle. More precisely, she fell into the hole created by the Holy Brush.
“This is insane.”
Startled, I hurriedly jumped into the circle after her.
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