Chapter 85
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 85
“What in the world—!”
Startled, the retainers drew their swords all at once.
However, the beams of light merely flickered, causing no harm. After a moment, once the intensity faded and their eyes adjusted, Lucian and his party were able to discern the source of the light.
“My lord, there are lines of light drawn on the floor!”
“I see them too. But...”
Lucian scanned the patterns of the puzzle on the illuminated floor. Ridiculously, the light was drawn haphazardly, having nothing to do with the puzzle itself. It looked as if someone had scribbled over a painting.
“...There wasn't a damn secret in the puzzle. It was a decoy.”
“It’s a method often used in the old days. They would create a fake keyhole on a door that didn't require a key, while hiding the actual locking mechanism elsewhere,” Hugo remarked.
“I suppose people’s ways of thinking are the same now as they were then.”
“Well, it is effective. For some reason, we managed to avoid the trap, but it seems the fools who were here before were completely fooled.”
Lucian gave a bitter smile and nodded at Hugo’s words. They had likely painted it with plausible colors, but no matter how much one solved the puzzle, the picture would never have been completed. It was nothing more than a cover designed to deceive intruders without any real meaning. Even if someone had miraculously solved it, they would have ended up with nothing more than a pretty picture.
“My lord, look over there.”
Raymond pointed toward the opposite wall. In the far end of the wide cavern, which had been too dark to see before, lay a pile of chisels, gouges, and hammers. They were clearly intended not for sculpting, but for destruction.
“It seems they intended to destroy the floorboards of this cavern if necessary.”
“Do you think those men were stalling for time earlier just to break in here?”
“Perhaps.”
At first, Lucian thought they were trying to take a seal or some mark of legitimacy. The people managing the mansion didn't yet know that Lucian had obtained Asagrim. It wouldn't have been strange for them to try and tarnish Lucian’s legitimacy for the sake of their master. But thinking about it now, it seemed more likely they were buying time to enter the basement and destroy these floorboards.
“It’s ridiculous, really. Especially since these floorboards are just for show.”
“Come to think of it, why did the real lock suddenly release? We didn't do anything.”
“I don't know either. All I did was stroke the floorboard once; surely that action couldn't have been the real key.”
Click.
As they spoke, the sound of a mechanical device echoed from the side. When Lucian’s group turned their heads, they saw a section of the wall sliding open. Again, it was in a corner beneath the basement stairs, completely unrelated to the puzzle. Lucian marveled at the meticulousness of the cavern’s architect.
With the entrance located there, they wouldn't have dared to try breaking it. The stairs would have collapsed if they did. I don't know why, but they were determined to keep this hidden.
“My lord, what shall we do?”
Lucian answered Felicia’s question immediately.
“We go in.”
“We don't know what might be inside. Will you be alright?”
“If they intended to trap us, they would have done something by now. More importantly, this place remained intact even while the House of Calix was running rampant.”
They had forcibly removed the lighting fixtures, moved the puzzle pieces haphazardly, and even prepared to destroy the place if necessary. Given that there wasn't so much as a single old bloodstain despite all that activity, it was safe to assume there were no traps.
“It’s one thing to hide the entrance so it can't be found, but it would be strange to set traps only inside the entrance. Let’s get in and out quickly before Sir Glen finds us.”
“That is true. Moreover, seeing how they hid the entrance so thoroughly while leaving everything else exposed... Hmm.”
Hugo swallowed his words and looked away as if it were nothing. Though he glossed over it, Lucian had a rough idea of what Hugo was going to say.
This place feels strangely unfinished.
Despite its vast size, the interior contained nothing but a giant puzzle to distract intruders and a hidden door. There wasn't a single proper decoration to catch the eye, let alone a trap. A space that was large on the inside but lacked substance was usually a characteristic of a building left unfinished due to a lack of funds.
In a way, this space itself might symbolize the fall of Grimaldi.
Lucian gave a bitter smile and headed toward the open door beneath the stairs. The answer to why this space was built might lie within.
Lucian and his party were left speechless as they stepped through the hidden door. Beyond it lay a fairly spacious room, but the items inside were pitifully meager.
A bookshelf, a few coverless books, ink, some sheets of paper, and a single key?
The bookshelf was just a piece of old, unremarkable furniture, and the books looked as if they had been crudely bound with paper and string. The ink and paper were also cheap supplies easily found in any market. The only thing worth noting was the key kept in a decorative display case, though its purpose remained unknown.
“My lord, let me check... Gah!?”
Zap!
Raymond reached toward the display case, only to recoil as a spark of lightning jumped out. Though he dodged quickly, the discharge was powerful enough to have fried his palm.
“Magic?! This is a magical artifact!”
“Good grief. They didn't even have proper furniture, yet the security is ironclad.”
Lucian clicked his tongue and picked up one of the books from the shelf. Since only the display case was a magical artifact, there was no problem reading the book.
—Rejected again. Like his predecessor, the current Emperor also refuses to return Asagrim... How much longer must we wait? Past glory... already collapsed. How much longer... I am growing weary.
Asagrim?
Most of the letters on the faded paper were erased and illegible. It wasn't intentional; it was simply due to poor preservation. Lucian carefully turned the pages, which were so brittle they felt as if they might crumble at any moment.
The old books are nearly impossible to read, but the ones written relatively recently are still intact.
Upon checking the contents, Lucian quickly realized what these books were. They were the journals left by successive heads of the House of Grimaldi. However, since writing them wasn't mandatory, there were gaps of a hundred to two hundred years between entries depending on the family head.
Tired of deciphering the ancient texts, Lucian opened the most recently written journal.
This is the most recent one, so it should be easy to read... What? It’s all blacked out?
Lucian was taken aback to see pages stained black as if ink had been intentionally splattered over them. The writing was blurred in every direction, making it impossible to read anything. Fortunately, the very last page seemed to have been inserted after the journal was ruined, and the writing on it was clear.
—Grimaldi is finished. Now that my daughter has left the family, there is no kin left to inherit my legacy. The Empire has finally survived for a thousand years and defeated Grimaldi. The dream of our ancestors will vanish along with the destruction of our house. It is bitter, but in a way, it is also a relief.
Lucian flinched at the word "destruction." According to his research, the House of Grimaldi had been inherited by direct descendants for generations without adoption. The only instance where the line was broken was during the time of Lucian’s maternal grandfather, who was left with only a daughter. If it mentioned having no kin to inherit the legacy, then this text must have been written by his grandfather.
—The ancestors' legacy now remains only in writing, and even the descriptions are almost entirely erased. The motivation to cling to the ancient legacy vanished long ago. I am tired of carrying the burden of my predecessors without any hope or reward. How can the fallen Grimaldi possibly reclaim Asagrim? Even if the Empire were to fall, another powerful force would surely seize it and drive us out.
That was true. As the former capital of a kingdom, Asagrim’s location was nothing short of perfect. Unless it was a saint from legend, there was no way anyone would return such a strategic point to its former owners without compensation.
—I have never seen Asagrim in my life. I cannot think of my ancestors' homeland as my own now. My home is here. I shall live here and be buried here. I have no regrets about that fact and even feel a sense of liberation, but it is a pity that the royal legacy will be buried forever beneath the throne. A tool only has meaning when it is used by people, even if it is not by me.
“...!”
What did this mean? The legacy of the Northern Royal Family was beneath the throne? Lucian calmed his racing heart and read the next sentence.
—I have decided to leave the key. It would be ridiculous to reveal my own narrow-mindedness by destroying it. But at the same time, I wonder what the point is. I am the last of the direct line, and even the eligible branch members will end with my grandson. If one has the key but lacks the qualification to use it, it is useless; perhaps the future generations will only resent me.
“...Qualification?”
—Just in case, I have erased the follies of my youth but left this final page. If there is someone in the future who discovers this space and can retrieve the key, take it and insert it beneath the throne of the White Palace in Asagrim. The legacy of the ancient royal family lies dormant beneath it. If it has all rotted away after so much time, then so be it.
The final page of the journal ended there. Lucian quietly closed the book and stood up.
The key and qualification, and the direct and branch lines. Suddenly, a sentence he had seen recently came to mind.
—The second son cannot use magical artifacts that are only usable by the legitimate bloodline of the Imperial Family.
The Emperor had certainly written that in his letter. Magical artifacts usable only by the legitimate Imperial bloodline. When he first saw that sentence, he thought it was an ancient technology possessed only by the Imperial Family. But reading his grandfather’s journal now, another possibility occurred to him.
If magical measures that react only to a specific bloodline were common a thousand years ago... and if other royal families besides the Imperial Family could use similar technology...
Having finished his thought, Lucian headed toward the key. His bold steps startled the retainers, who had been standing a step back.
“My lord, it’s danger—!?”
Before the retainers could intervene, Lucian placed his hand directly onto the display case containing the key. As if the lightning from before had never existed, the case accepted Lucian’s touch without any reaction. A few seconds later, with a small light, the mechanism in the center of the case clicked open.
Click.
“...!?”
“Just as I thought.”
While everyone stood dazed by the unexpected sight, Lucian smiled and grasped the key. He didn't know what material it was made of, but seeing how it hadn't gathered a speck of rust over the long years, it was clearly no ordinary key.
“W-what happened?”
“Read it for yourselves.”
Lucian handed his grandfather’s journal to the bewildered Raymond and the other retainers. After reading through the journal, the retainers all looked at Lucian with stiff expressions.
“My lord.”
“You don't have to say it. I have a rough idea of what’s going on. It likely has to do with my bloodline.”
At the same time, he felt he understood why the Emperor had held onto Asagrim and refused to give it up until now. Until now, he thought it was simply to prevent the independence of the North, which was already distant. Since the Grimaldi bloodline remained intact, its symbolism was immense.
But it seems that wasn't the only reason.
The Imperial Family had been wary. They feared the possibility that other royal families might possess hidden powers just like they did.