Chapter 575 – Key
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I passed through a door made of silver waves.
A clean room, different from the dull basement, appeared. It was a cylindrical room with a slightly blue glow.
Should I say it looks like a well-decorated exhibition room?
Fish big and small are swimming on the transparent ceiling.
Aquarium… It’s probably not an aquarium…
I tried to extend my consciousness outward to see where this place was, but… It seemed like something was blocking it and I couldn’t extend it out of the room.
… Is it a barrier?
Still, if I were to guess… It’s not visible in a hidden room in subspace, like Selby’s lab.
The reason I thought this was not a subspace was because of the fish swimming in the water visible on the ceiling.
I knew very well that it was not easy to introduce and raise such creatures in subspace.
It is not easy to put living things into subspace, but growing living things within it was a completely different problem.
If this is a subspace, it means that the underwater ecosystem seen on the ceiling was maintained in a closed space for thousands of years… Is that possible?
“Celestia, have you ever been here?”
I asked Celestia.
“It’s my first time seeing this place too.”
There was nothing in the room to look for or sleep in. There were only eight display stands arranged in a circle.
And the eight keys on the display stand.
The keys were floating in the air, each emitting a different soft light.
Is it the right key?
That’s how it looks. However, it looks a bit big to be a key.
The key, which was about the size of the upper body of an adult man, could have been a giant, but it did not look like a key used by ordinary people.
And in this developed world, such primitive keys are not used.
‘Is that the key that Helena wants to give to Celestia?’
Other than the key, no other items were visible.
I walked in front of the display case and reached for the large key floating above it.
“You’d better not touch it carelessly.”
The voice of a woman other than Celestia stopped me. Celestia and I shifted our gaze in that direction at the same time.
Standing there was a familiar figure who had already been seen in Selby’s laboratory.
“… Helena?”
Celestia called out to her in a slightly surprised voice.
“Sally, should I say it’s been a while? You’ve grown more than I remembered. The fact that you came here means that something happened to me, right?”
Helena… No, she didn’t feel her vitality in her. That is an elaborate illusion.
Well, if it was a being with a body, it’s strange that I didn’t notice it until it came this close.
“Isn’t it Helena…”
“You understand very well.”
She readily admitted that fact.
“I have memories of Helena, but that doesn’t mean I’m the real her. I think you can see her as just an illusion of Helena.”
“Helena isn’t even here?”
“Looking for her Helena, what happened to her?”
“… You don’t even know that Helena was sealed?”
Celestia asked curiously.
“A seal? She has a being that can trap Helena?”
Helena’s welcome seemed like it was the first time she had heard such shocking news.
“I think Hellion sealed it…”
I didn’t see it myself.
When Celestia says so, she just assumes it is so.
“… Helion?”
Helena’s welcome was as she frowned, thought for a moment and then opened her mouth.
“Then… The current leader of Zephyria must be Hellion. To me, it’s surprising that Hellion has become the ruler of Zephyria, isn’t it?”
Helena’s welcome seemed to know nothing about her from outside.
If the vision of Helena seen in Selby’s laboratory was more of a messenger carrying only her message, the vision of Helena here seemed to have an ego of her own.
What seemed to have humanity seemed to be artificial intelligence with personality and learning ability, which is now banned in Zephyria.
“Have you been waiting for Celestia until now?”
At least 8,000 years?
She appears to be aware of her own identity. Is it possible for such a being to remain sane while staying in such a closed space for such a long time?
“No. I woke up when you touched the subspace of Selby’s laboratory. You don’t have to look at me so pitifully.”
“Where am I, anyway?”
“It’s under Steed Lake.”
Steed Lake is the name of the lake we were exploring. As I expected, this is not subspace, but it seems like a space shift.
“But why did you make it so hard to find?”
It may seem like I’m bragging, but if I wasn’t there, it would have been difficult for Celestia to find this place.
“Originally, there were guidance devices for Celie, but I think they were all broken over the years. So I couldn’t interfere with the outside world, and I couldn’t figure out Celie’s arrival. In such a situation, it’s amazing that you found a gate leading to this place. “
That’s right.
“With the disturbing magic field and concealment field spread throughout the forest, it would not have been easy for even Helena to find this place without any information.”
The story was that it was hidden so tightly that it was difficult for even the person who created it to find it.
“But… Who are you? Are you really Celie’s lover?”
Helena’s welcome asks with a mischievous expression.
“Let’s call it the stage of getting to know each other.”
He gave the stereotypical answer that celebrities give when dating rumors break out.
“Oh my, was it real?”
Celestia didn’t say anything.
Silence is positivity.
〈Maybe it’s not worth responding to.〉
“… Then, what about these keys?”
I asked about the eight large keys on the display stand.
“It is the key to freeing the Great Demon Castle from its shackles on this planet.”
“… Liberation?”
“When the Great Evil Star leaves Planet Zephyria, it loses its power. It can be said that it is bound to this planet. If you use the key here, its restrictions will disappear even if the Great Evil Star leaves this planet.”
“Why did you leave something like that to Celestia?”
“I don’t know that, right? She didn’t give me any information about what Helena was thinking.”
The Great Devil Castle was attached to this planet?
The key liberates the Archdemon Castle from its shackles on the planet Zephyria. What does that mean?
“Helena hoped that her demons and her demons would get along well. But her wish was not granted.”
Celestia said calmly.
〈It seems that Helena created the Great Devil Castle thinking it was the last bastion for devils.〉
Cosmos shares his guess.
〈… I think I understand why the Great Devil Castle is building an almost all-purpose system. It was originally created to swim in space, not on the ground. Those keys are for that purpose.〉
The Great Devil Castle can fly in the sky.
And if energy can be supplied smoothly with magic stones, self-sufficiency is easily possible.
〈 Well… Before that, what should we do with the planetary barrier installed by Terra…〉
Helena would have known the inferiority of the devils.
She may have thought that the demons might be exterminated by her own people.
So, as a final bastion, they even considered floating the Great Devil Castle and moving to another planet?
If that were true, Helena’s care for the devil was surprising.
Actually, I liked something different rather than something like Last Bastion.
I’ve been feeling a bit uneasy since I thought that Hellion might interfere with the power of the Great Devil Castle.
However, Helena’s welcome story was good news that if you have this key, you can relieve yourself of such worries.
“How do I use the key?”
If you look at the fact that there are 8 keys… I think you know that each key is one Great Devil Castle.
“I understand that in order to use the key, each person must bring the appropriate key and head to the Great Demon Castle’s throne.”
There didn’t seem to be a keyhole or anything on the throne of the Great Devil Castle… Well, you’ll find out when you take it.
“Oh, do you know where Helena might be sealed?”
“… There is one place I can guess.”
It can be said that the vision of Helena has been dormant for thousands of years. So she asked without any expectations and got an unexpected answer.
“… Where is it?”
“Could it be Karaz?”
“Karazu?”
“It is a huge, infamous prison that only imprisons the worst criminals, with no one escaping. If Helena was sealed in a place that would be difficult for anyone to find, wouldn’t that be it?”
“Do you know the exact location?”
“I only know place names. I was just telling you the most likely places Helena found in the information she fed me. But it won’t be easy to find them.”
“Why is that?”
“Of course, it’s because it’s a top secret place. I think the fact that I know that place is because I’m Helena.”
It was better than having no clue.
If you ask Suni and Veronica to look for it, won’t they find something?
Thinking that we had finished our business, Celestia and I prepared to return.
“Now that the owner is here, I will unprotect the key.”
I could feel the magic field around her key dispersing as if Helena’s illusion had done something.
I put all the unlocked keys in the inventory.
“If we leave, will you just disappear like this?”
I asked the illusion of Helena, who was standing in confusion.
“I guess so, right?”
“Isn’t it scary?”
“I don’t know. Do I look pitiful?”
“A little…?”
“Good. Please take me with you.”
“…”
“Could it be just lip service? Are you planning on leaving poor me behind just because you’ve done your business?”
“…”
