Chapter 1204 – Ep.1202 Smith, a Black Company in Another World
The whitish dust proves that no one has been around for at least a few years.
I moved forward with Ingrim, engraving footprints in the first snow, feeling like I was leaving footprints in the first snow.
“Cough… It’s annoying.”
“You can’t burn it.”
Ingrim coughed into the dust, showing his displeasure on his pretty face, and sparked a white flame in his left hand, but when I pulled his shoulder, he clenched his open hand into a fist and extinguished the fire.
“If I was having a hard time, I would sit on the stairs.”
“… “I will just check to see if there are any problems.”
Unlike the man who was hanging limply on his shoulder, Ingrim walked past me and walked around with strength, one step at a time.
Just as the gimmick worked as the pipe went down, there was no way that such a gimmick could not exist somewhere here, so it seemed like an action to find it.
“At least walking won’t cause any problems.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course it is something that must be done.”
“Then let’s take this guy too.”
“That’s a bit much.”
When I tried to hand over Nuit from my shoulder, Ingrim looked even more disgusted than when he coughed into the dust, but he couldn’t refuse the command, so he trudged in front of me and took Nuit over.
“I’m resting comfortably.”
“Well, that’s it for now.”
I was able to move again only after sending the two goddesses back.
‘Elise was a nobleman.’
Putting aside the dust, this tightly hidden space was such a mess that no matter how much I looked around, it was difficult to find anything in good shape.
Step by step, using the flame made by hand as a guidepost, I moved forward and looked around.
Several flasks and test tubes left covered in dust on a large test table.
I looked around carefully to see if he had left me a message like he did with Ellis, but I couldn’t find any traces.
It would have been nice if there were books and research materials scattered about.
I continued to illuminate the darkness, heading further and further inward. And the moment I cleared away the thick darkness that had reached the end of this messy space, the hair on my whole body stood up, and I got goosebumps.
“Crazy…”
What appeared when the darkness cleared was a huge cylinder that far exceeded my size. Due to lack of knowledge, it was described as a cylinder, but in reality, it was an advanced facility that was much more complicated than that.
The right hand, which serves as the only light here, is stretched out to the side.
Another huge cylinder that puzzled me appeared.
When I stretched out to the other side, the same cylinder was still there.
I slowly walked sideways. Then, the number of cylinders installed on the wall was counted one by one.
“Eight…”
The total number of installed cylinders is eight.
And the front glass of each of the eight cylinders was broken.
It appeared that something inside the cylinder had probably broken open to get out. That is, the manufacturer who installed the cylinder would have opened the cylinder in the right way and taken out the contents without having to break it.
And the moment I first saw this cylinder, one thing came to mind, and that was also why I got goosebumps all over my body.
Grumbling──!!
Instead of extinguishing the flames with my right hand, I stretched out my whip of fire in all directions and completely dispelled the surrounding darkness.
Crackling.
As I got closer to look inside the cylinder, the glass shards that I had not noticed were crushed by my shoes once again.
‘As expected, there isn’t one.’
I was worried that if I sent it to storage, the entire cylinder might disappear, so I broke the glass with my elbow and went inside to thoroughly look from top to bottom, but there was no significant result.
Well, since the neglected time is time, it was even stranger that there were traces left, unless someone left them arbitrarily.
Since we were unable to achieve results inside, it is now time to investigate the outside.
‘Damn, if I had known it would be like this, I wouldn’t have sent you two up.’
When I looked around on my own, I realized that the space was quite large. However, it was not easy to take action to bring Ardel and Lihina back because there was no guarantee that this space would be maintained.
In the end, after much thought, I moved to investigate the surroundings on my own.
**
“Fuck.”
I gently rubbed my watery eyes with my palms and straightened my back.
Not only the eight cylinders, but also the test table desk and underneath.
As I cleared away the dust one by one, I actively looked for clues, including my eyes, my hands, and my nose just in case, but all I got was a stiff back and two snowballs that had become stiff due to all the moisture drying out.
If I’ve searched this far, I should be able to find something, but there’s no sign of it, so I’m going crazy and jumping around.
‘I’ll go out…’ … It’s not that bad.’
I couldn’t help but sigh.
Because it was such a secretly hidden space, I thought this was definitely the place Marie Elle pointed to, but if nothing came out like this, she had no choice but to change her mind.
‘I can’t judge hastily, but… It would be right to end my search here alone.’
This wasn’t the only place to look, so if you can’t find any clues even after examining the emperor’s archives and the ruins of the completely destroyed temple, it seems right to visit this place again.
“… Let’s rest a little.”
Apart from the stiffness in my lower back, my knees and thighs were very sore because I was crawling almost as one with the floor to look under the floor and the exam table.
“Ugh, uhhu.”
Since I had roughly cleaned up all the dust from crawling across the floor, I crawled across the floor again and headed towards the wall.
‘Shit. The space is large, but use it efficiently.’
Why were the structures placed so tightly? The only walls you could lean against were both ends of the cylinder installed on the wall.
If I had known this would happen, I would have just laid down on the floor and rested.
However, since the wall was already too close for me to lie down on the floor, I was able to move my knees and lean back.
“Uh… ?”
And my vision goes backwards regardless of my will.
I tried to hold on by strengthening my back, but it was meaningless resistance since my butt had already fallen off the floor.
As the world seemed to turn upside down, a ray of memory passed before my eyes like a flash of light.
Kingdom of Goldias.
When I was kidnapped along with Kalm in a plot by the Nuit Church, I remember leaning against the wall to rest for a while looking for Kalm, who sacrificed himself(?) On my behalf, and then my body fell backwards. And what was waiting for me when I fell behind were crazy angled stairs.
“Fuck.”
Sure enough.
What was waiting for me after I turned over was a hell of stairs with no end in sight.
**
It’s an unfamiliar ceiling.
“Is it just this much?”
Even though I am only half-hearted, I am now in a state where I have stepped into the position of a half-god. Am I falling down the stairs like that? It sounds like a no-brainer.
Before my body completely flipped over, I soaked my entire body in oil and glided down very smoothly.
It was possible to use the bullwhip to secure myself, but I chose to just slide down.
“Tskcha.”
After scratching his head once, he stood up, burning the oil that had soaked not only his body but also his clothes.
At least, I liked the fact that there was a soft light flowing from the ceiling, so there was no need to turn on a separate light.
“So where are we again?”
The marble that made up the floor and ceiling had a very recognizable pattern, but if my memory is correct, this was the first place I visited today.
Because the space itself was so narrow, I was able to understand my surroundings by simply turning my waist left and right once.
‘Okay, okay. Of course not.’
Even if you open your eyes and look for the door, you can’t see it. However, as I was already used to these situations, I did not panic and showed my courage for the first time in a long time.
Like the lab I was investigating a while ago, the structure may require some kind of gimmick to be activated for the entrance to appear, but it wasn’t that difficult to use the gimmick, so I focused first and looked at the space and beyond.
“… ?”
I lied down on my back and used the centrifugal force to roll backwards and raise myself up. It was because there was an open space beyond the dead end wall.
‘Is this it?’
When Ardel was captured, Nuit’s mirror was clearly hidden in this way.
I traced that memory and gently stretched out my hand towards the dead wall.
“Oh.”
There was clearly a wall, but my hand stretched out passed through the wall and disappeared beyond it as if it were a lie.
-Are you okay!!
Just as I was about to climb over the wall, Ingrim’s voice echoed from the stairs I slipped down.
“It’s okay, come down slowly!!”
-I understand.
The volume was the same, but unlike before, when Ingrim’s voice was full of urgency, Ingrim’s voice was very calm.
Ingrim would have found the entrance on his own, so I walked into the imaginary wall without further explanation.
And then a long corridor appeared.
What was unusual was that there was a book on each side of the hallway on a luxurious red cushion.
As if I was drawn to something, I picked up the book closest to me and opened the first page.
A name engraved in elegant handwriting filled my eyes.
[Tullius II.
It was a diary left by previous emperors.
