Chapter 158 – The Married House of Sargadis (3)
“”It’s open!!””
The two intellectuals who acted as if they were going to eat me shouted.
They left one stroke from the draw to the ceiling and caused the match as if the desired character was floating. Their aggro bounced off Lalilura, who gave the correct answer.
─Poof!
“〈 laughter〉!! Okay! That’s right for the hint in the password! But how could you believe that was the right answer?!”
“Where does that come from in the literature?! What kind of book is that?!”
“Four? Chae, there are no books! I’ve only heard a little about it!”
When the intellectuals called Lari Lu rushed at her, she got scared and hid behind me. It is a skillful friend shield. It’s arrogant to use me as a puppet.
“Greatness. I’m sorry.”
Still, the bearded men regained their composure at the frightened appearance of the young girl (age Gurakam). I guess you think I looked ugly.
‘No, by the way, the answer was really correct.’
I was dumbfounded when I saw the door opened in Irashaimase mode.
Did you really use the words of the court jester as the code for the base!
‘… It’s not the tower you built, right?’
What was the job of being a royal court jester with an annual salary of billions? There would be no one who bought such a large tower and converted it into a frontline base.
No, even if it wasn’t like that, it was a fucking leap of logic to think that the phrase in the text was written as a code and that it was a building he built.
If that’s the case, my vulgar site ID was created by Tolstoy?
‘They say he was a famous clown, so he’s just following what the designer saw and heard.’
It was worth it. Because the background is almost the same.
Emotionally, it might feel like a character from the World War II era borrowed a code from a Charlie Chaplin movie.
As I thought so, the stern atmosphere of the ciphertext suddenly seemed to fall apart.
What was Yoo Jae-suk’s old nickname? Feel like being.
“Are there any monsters?”
Nathan asked. Since the door was open, he must have thought that a boss battle might begin.
At that, Frank and the boneheaded thief made use of their detection abilities to investigate the interior.
“There is no sign.”
“There is no temperature change. If there is, it might not be a golem.”
Fran said while reading the temperature with her Spy Dwarf-Sense.
“Let’s be careful and investigate.”
I made my suggestion, avoiding the barrage of silent questions from academics—the staring eyes staring into people’s faces. Shit, no matter what I ask later, I’ll just say it was a coincidence and jump out.
So, like professional grave diggers, we investigated the inside.
─Clack click.
Most of what remained in the box was potion. It seems that it continued to work as a potion lab even after it was remodeled. I was rummaging through the boxes, when suddenly Selena called out.
“Here!! It’s a white bone!!”
Saying that, Selena pointed at the white bone.
A white bone that fell to the floor, reached out and died!
But it’s just human bones. I thought I had made a damn big discovery.
He seemed to believe that a skeleton had appeared just by hearing an urgent tone. Dana quickly went to see Baekgol.
“Are you a researcher? There is no visible trauma to the vitals. He must have died from diseases such as curse magic, aging, or heart disease.”
Dana, taking off her gauntlet and putting on her sanitary gloves, spoke the findings.
The magic used to investigate crimes in a different modern world becomes useless if time passes or countermeasures are put in place. It was something like a luminol reaction, so the white bones of such an old ruin required specialized equipment.
“I’ll take some of the bones and check the year of death.”
Dana apologized to Selena and carefully picked up her bones and placed them in her leather bag.
In addition to her reverent attitude toward white bones, she was dressed like a nun, and somehow she felt like a priest. She made her last name for the white bone, which was also left behind by the priest of the bone-picking team.
“Abandoned after death must mean that there were no visitors!! We may not achieve great results, but let’s keep working hard on the investigation!!”
As Dana stood up after retrieving her bones, Selena swayed her aura and exclaimed.
It was a rippling tone, but it wasn’t strangely intrusive. Is this charisma? I’ve heard rumors that gold spoons always look generous and bold, but it might be the otherworldly version of that.
“Senior, senior.”
It was then. Lari Lura secretly pulled her sleeve on mine.
“The password to that door. What happened?”
“Perhaps it is a mere coincidence. A person smart enough to think of such a password and seal the door would have had enough money to spare. You must have seen the Crown perform, or read your book.”
Having said that, I pointed to where Tyrsi was investigating.
There was also a bookshelf in the lab. Most of them were paper books, so even though it was an enclosed space, they could not stand the time and became tattered.
Couldn’t it be that while looking for a book, I thought it was a name that everyone knew, and then I found a book about Crown Crown’s Monkey and so on and read it? It was half autobiographical, so it was understandable.
“But why? Are you afraid that the fallen white bone over there is Mr. Crown?”
“No, not that. It feels strange to find the footsteps of someone I admire in a place like this☆!”
“If you’re curious, why don’t you go and look through the bookshelves with Tyrsi. Do you know I wonder if even one of the other series of the book will remain intact.”
It was the moment I said so. That is why Tyrsi stopped investigating and came to us.
I wondered if he had heard what I said, but Tirshi was holding a book in one hand. It’s small and the content is thin, so it’s almost like a booklet.
“Miss Lalilura. Isn’t this book the same series as the one you were reading from Nord the other day?”
“Yeah?”
I received a book called Lalilu and read it. The contents were almost intact, probably because of the strong paper and ink.
“No, that’s right. This is the first volume of ‘The court clown that even a monkey can do’! It doesn’t even say that it’s the first edition written by a student, but it’s the first volume!”
“No, is it real?”
All of the research data has turned to dust, so why is he the only one who is fine?
Since it’s your own book, did you make a high-quality, small-volume production? But since things have gotten this far, I’ve even gotten a little sick. What’s really wrong with that clown?
“Sir, senior? I mean this book. If I have… Can’t you?”
It was Lalilura who asked with raised eyes. She laughed a little, like a little nephew who notices coming with a toy she wants.
“I’ll ask the others later. I don’t think anyone will want to have it, so don’t steal it and put it properly in the box of finds?”
“Yes! After all, there is only seniors~♥!”
– Kwok. Lalilura hugged me and thanked me. The happy face of her as she walked away with her booklet.
Looking at you like that, you look like a child. No, even someone in their 40s can be genuinely delighted with their favorite collection.
Tirsi also said, seeing off Lalilura with a smile.
“There was only that left among the shabby books. The other books must have been ordinary paper, but they are all rags and I can’t even pick them up.”
“Sorry. Isn’t the ancient civilization’s potion recipe a secret known only to those in the know? If I had picked up something like that, Tyrsi would have been nice too.”
“Whoops. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t expecting it. But like I said, it’s the top. Half of the expectation was just in case, and half of the mindset was that it would happen as expected.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
It was a decentralized investment of smart emotions. If you get it, it’s good, and if you miss it, it’s a mindset. I want to be imitated too.
Tirsi shrugged his shoulders slightly.
“I will continue to look for the bookshelf. I hope something like a secret passage comes out.”
“Heh. Be careful not to get dragged into the secret summoning circle.”
“Oh? Even if that happens, Nord will come to save you.”
Saying that and winking, Tirthy went to investigate with light steps.
Alone again, I tried to find something.
First of all, I used the rune like last time to see if the soul of that white bone remained, but this was a disaster. Fuck Nimiral.
I’m sorry but I endured it. If I hadn’t left the monitor on while searching for it alone, there was no way my soul could have been maintained by the power of lingering regret or regret for such a long time.
─Hit.
By the way, in the eyes of the other explorers I occasionally run into, I can see the thought, ‘Isn’t this bastard doing something again?’
‘They say they have high expectations from a bad guy like me…’
I thought so, but this was self-inflicted.
Is it because the two consecutive hits, Survival in the Otherworld and Survival in the Tower, were decorated with great success? To the explorers, I was considered almost like the MacGyver of ruins exploration.
I feel like I’m being treated like a von Neuman from another world.
Archaeologist John von Neumann.
No, it’s a fucking von Nord.
‘Give me the strength, the power to think, Professor Slayer, the strength to think. There is always only one truth!’
I lubricated the elite colts.
Let’s think about why.
‘Why was this room sealed?’
If the answer I came up with after rolling my head was correct, this tower was a secret laboratory that sent recovery materials to other frontline bases.
Burying the laboratory underground was an attempt not to be discovered by the ‘enemy’!
Sealing the room must have prevented enemies from entering.
‘Evacuation shelter? No, no.’
What kind of refuge is there in a place where there is only one skeleton?
Then, the remaining possibility is——
“──Potion Storage Warehouse?”
I muttered. Fran, who was examining the area, pricked up her ears.
“Nor? What did you just say?”
“Uh. I wondered if this might be a warehouse where potions were stored before being sent to other frontline bases.”
“Storage? Shouldn’t the potion have been sent to another base as soon as it was made?”
Fran asked. I thought so too at first. But that method was so fucking wasteful.
“Otherwise, the amount of mana spent on 〈 Teleport 〉 would have been ridiculous.”
“Oh, I see. I wouldn’t have wasted mana like that in wartime.”
“Yes. This tower is a space made only for 〈 space movement 〉. The space to be used as a ‘warehouse’ can be moved to 〈 Space Movement 〉 by making an airtight room closed on all sides, but I think this is probably not the case.”
“Yes. Problems like oxygen could be solved with magic, but it would have consumed a lot of mana.”
“I know yeah.”
I folded my arms and groaned.
One person can cover it all with their own mana?
Then it is right for that bastard to go to the front. Wouldn’t he have been a fucking wizard? Perhaps 〈 Space Movement 〉 was activated with a previously prepared magic item from an ancient civilization like a summoning circle.
If it’s a magic item or a magic circle, you can use pre-charged mana.
Like the mask of Tabula.
“So you wouldn’t have created a secret space that only goes to and from 〈 space movement 〉. This tower is already such a space. If you use a technique that was caught once, you would have been caught 100% by the ‘enemies’, and you wouldn’t have sealed it so severely. It’s a waste of mana even though it’s a trick.”
That’s why I thought of the possibility of a potion storage warehouse.
After muttering that, I examined the white bones. Since I didn’t go anywhere for three years as an archaeologist, I gathered a lot of information.
─Suddenly!
I raised the mana claws of the beast return and cut her bones.
It was a section that looked low in bone density even to my amateur eyes.
“I cracked my tibia and femur. There are also signs of osteoporosis. It must be that the owner of the white bone was not a person who trained his body during his lifetime.”
“Maybe the cracks on the bones are a sign of the years?”
Dana answered me. It was also true that there were no fatal wounds on the white bones. It wouldn’t be wrong to say it was weathered or an old wound.
Dana’s diagnosis was correct. But I shook my head.
“Maybe. Still, bones show many of the characteristics of an elderly person. I believe this man had weak bones before he died, and he fell and suffered a fracture that left him unable to move.”
In the 21st century, the lonely death of the elderly is sad but common.
News of poor grandparents who cannot move due to fractures and die with their cell phones in front of their noses!
Hearing that, my father gave his grandfather a string to hang around his neck, telling him not to take his smartphone off his body.
“A nobleman who might have been a master of potions died of starvation alone in this room. It’s sad, but what was it?”
Dana asked me with a look of anticipation.
Recalling the knowledge of the 21st century, I put the bone down and observed the direction in which it lay.
“If this man fell and died, why was he here? The research facilities are upstairs? And why didn’t anyone come to this place until I died alone?”
“One. Because the other researchers didn’t know the password. Two. He was the only person working here, and no one knew where he was. Three. Because this man’s comrades have been annihilated. It must be one of these.”
Tirsi, her head spinning, pointed her finger.
To be honest, I didn’t even think of the third one. There was a possibility that it was dumped as it was in the war, but yeah.
“Yes. Anyway, the important thing is that the upper equipment is neat. Perhaps this tower was not attacked until the very end. If so, the owner of the white bone must have died in an accident.”
“——I see!”
Dana snapped his fingers. And I followed the direction I was looking with my eyes.
The direction in which the white bone was extending his hand.
“If I had a few days’ grace before I die, I would have found the potion! Until the pain in my lower body left me unable to move, I would have thought there was a chance of healing the wound!”
“I am of the same opinion. If so, the direction this person was crawling to was——”
“──It could be where the potion storage is hidden!!”
Selena, who had been concentrating on my words, shouted.
“Research! Research! It’s an investigation! Vazland! Miss Francesca! Please investigate!!”
“Eck. If that’s the case, I’ll help.”
“I’ll look from the left.”
Fran and the thief of the Hermaion Guild Exploration Corps, the boneless thief, began to investigate the direction where the white bone fell.
“——Yes! Nor! It really is!”
The discoverer was our franc. Frank, who was investigating while wearing thick gloves, opened a small gap and pulled the lever.
─Kurrureung!
Then a small door opens and appears! I also had a vague feeling that this was correct, but to my fucking amazement, it seemed that my stupid scientific reasoning had hit the right answer.
“It’s great——!! Crazy, crazy——!!”
─Wow! Dana shuddered as if from a thrill, then put her arm around my shoulder. Dana’s cheeks blush with excitement.
“You bastard! You crazy bastard! What? How did you think? Isn’t my husband really crazy?!”
“Heh. Whose husband is, of course, crazy. But I found it thanks to Fran. You should thank Fran more than me.”
“Lol. Thanks for the compliment. Did I work hard?”
When I said something to console Fran’s hard work, Fran smiled and hugged me.
“But I wouldn’t have known if Nord hadn’t told me. Can’t we just search everywhere like that? Yes?”
“Khehehe. That’s right. Where else is it that a new passage is discovered in a ruin that was discovered more than 100 years ago? If you don’t notice, you won’t know for the rest of your life even if you have a treasure house right in front of you.”
The other thieves nodded at Fran’s words.
Anyway, we found the secret warehouse after an hour of fucking investigation. After the bandits made sure there were no other traps, we checked the space.
It was a small room. Warehouse is the right word.
“Mr. Nord? You have the right to be the first to check that box!!”
Selena pointed to the most intact box and said.
A box on top of a one-way receiving magic circle! That must have been a potion sent to another base.
“The lock is unlocked. Safety was proven at the cost of my hands and feet.”
The boneless thief shook his wrist.
I pulled up my formachoism, nodded proudly, and opened the box. It was a moderate hit using 21st century scientific knowledge, but isn’t luck also skill!
─Click.
I opened the box and saw 4 bottles inside.
Potion properly packaged in a cheap bottle!
The ancient civilization is an age of the past that cannot be counted in 100 or 200 years. A potion made in the old days still remains as a liquid even today!
There was only one such potion even after searching the amazing and magical different world.
The sacredness of the purple potion reminded me of Tirsi’s words.
A tax-saving remedy, also called God’s Tears!
‘A child. It’s a power elixir.’
The first legendary item in my life was the dog fucking elixir.
