089 – I've Got a New Family! # 5
"Everyone, come look at this right now, that's what this is…!"
Illinoi was raising a fuss about something. Wondering what on earth could be the matter, I wandered over, and Illinoi pointed a finger at a patch of flowers.
"White flowers are blooming here and here only, that's what this is…! This is a message of some kind, I can tell you that much, that's what it is…!"
"Now that you mention it? There really are only white flowers here."
The "Truth Flower" Lee Jina had told us about was a bloom with five red petals. But scattered across the spot Illinoi was pointing at were white flowers, growing in loose clumps.
How strange—.
That was what I thought, at least, until Lee Jina snapped off a few of the blooms and tucked them into her bag with a dismissive shrug.
"I looked them over plenty earlier. Doesn't seem like they mean anything. They're just white flowers, that's all."
Was she telling us it wasn't a clue, then?
Illinoi, however, clicked her tongue—tsk tsk.
"That is how it appears to ordinary people, but to us nymphs it appears quite differently, that's what it is…! This is without a doubt the language of the fairies, that's what it is…!"
The language of fairies?
Now that was a topic that piqued my interest.
Swish.
Illinoi slid a smartphone out of her bag and held it up high.
"Mwehehe, I happen to possess this smartphone, a truly splendid tool of communication, that's what it is…! But most nymphs never had such a thing, that's what it is…!"
Chattering away, she explained to us how fairies without phones went about communicating with one another.
"Since ancient times, nymphs have left messages by plucking petals or snapping twigs and leaving them behind, that's what it is…! To put it in modern terms, this is the fairies' Morse code, that's what it is…!"
Morse code!
With Illinoi's explanation, the white flowers around us began to look different to my eyes.
So what exactly were these white flowers trying to say?
"If one were to view this entire garden from very high above, I believe the answer would reveal itself, that's what it is…! If I, Illinoi, could get one sweeping look at where the white flowers are planted from a great height, I would gladly interpret it for you all, that's what it is…!"
The underground garden was enormous, and its ceiling soared to a tremendous height.
In other words, to take it all in at a glance we'd need to climb to a seriously high altitude.
"Heh heh heh. Good thing I came prepared."
I was an awakener who was ready for anything, anywhere, anytime.
Carrying a full set of equipment into rifts was basic among basics. All that suffering, hauling a heavy pack up mountainsides, had been for this very moment.
Clunk. Rattle, rattle.
I unzipped my bag, pulled out the drone, and sent it up with the controller.
Buuuuung.
The drone rose into the air.
Then something went wrong.
Something shot out with a sharp pop—and blasted the drone clean out of the sky!
It was a beam fired from one of the glowing stones set into the ceiling.
So this flower garden had its traps too!
"You've got to be kidding me! My drone! I paid over five million won for that thing!"
I was furious. And right beside me, Ari promptly raged on my behalf.
"How dare it shoot down Senior's drone! Unforgivable! It looks like a trap that destroys anything crossing a certain altitude!"
Ari was in a state of extreme honesty under the influence of the Truth Flower.
Seeing her so genuinely, so very sincerely share my outrage over the drone's destruction actually took the edge off my anger a little.
"What now, though? That was our only drone."
Swish.
As I said this with a wistful sigh, my eyes were already fixed on Kalinoi, the tiger owl.
If I rode on her back and looked down over the garden while snapping photos, that would do the trick.
Whoosh!
But Kalinoi turned her head away, as if deliberately avoiding my gaze.
A real sly one, that bird.
"Well, I mean, it's not like Kalinoi could do it. Her wings are injured, and with traps set up everywhere she might get seriously hurt again. It can't be helped."
Kalinoi couldn't stay airborne for more than ten seconds.
Her wings were still recovering. Having to dodge laser traps on top of that was probably out of the question from the start.
Pop.
That was when it happened.
Kalinoi spread her wings, sprang up into the air, and clamped her powerful legs around my shoulder in one firm grip.
"Wha—!"
I was abruptly made to feel like a squirrel being snatched up by an owl.
The tiger owl Kalinoi rose rapidly through the air.
Pshoong.
A laser lanced toward her, but it didn't seem able to leave so much as a scratch on her sturdy feathers.
"Now!"
I yanked out my phone and photographed the flower garden, capturing the whole pattern in a single frame.
At the same moment, Kalinoi fluttered down uneasily and touched down on the ground.
━….
After setting me down, she spread her wings wide to either side—fwap.
It looked for all the world like she was puffing herself up, saying, "And you said I couldn't do it?"
Apparently my earlier declaration that flying was impossible had wounded her pride considerably.
Figures.
Anyway!
I held up the photo for Illinoi to see. She peered intently at my phone screen, then spoke.
"I see it now. This flower garden is a grave, that's what it is…! What these white flowers are conveying is love, reverence, and longing, that's what it is…! Such feelings as those, that's what it is…!"
I'd sensed it since my days with Oinoi, but nymphs really were remarkable.
Breaking curses, decoding hidden messages like this one—they handled it all without breaking a sweat.
"Impressive, Illinoi."
"Mwehehe, you may praise me even more vigorously, that's what it is…!"
"Impressive!"
Pat pat.
I gave her head a vigorous rub, which is an activity nymphs absolutely love.
Pat pat, patpatpat.
She seemed in excellent spirits now, shoulders squared with pride.
Just then Kalinoi gave me a light tap with her wing.
"Oh, you want praise too? Good work. Thanks to you we got the photo."
Pat pat.
I rubbed her head, her chin, and her wings with equal enthusiasm.
Naturally, after about five seconds she whooshed right out of my reach.
What a sly creature.
Anyway.
Illinoi set about interpreting the pattern formed by the flowers in the photo.
"I, Illinoi, can also tell that this place is the tomb of a god by the name of Baldr, that's what it is…! These flowers are blooms of mourning, planted by Nepr's daughter in memory of Baldr of the Light, that's what it is…!"
Baldr was a name familiar to me as well.
The Sejong City Fixed Rift that Lee Jina and Yu Ari had once explored together had been a temple of Baldr, after all.
He was the god of the elves, I'd heard—the deity who symbolized "light."
And when this god Baldr died, I was told, winter came to the elven homeland.
"━──."
Illinoi chanted some strange incantation.
It seemed to be in the fairies' language, beyond my understanding.
Then the ground began to rumble—rrrumble—and a staircase leading underground emerged at the very center of the flower field.
When you hear "underground staircase," you naturally picture something dark and dreary.
But the stairway beneath this flower field was planted with gorgeous blooms at every step, glowing as bright as the Garden of Eden itself.
A sweet fragrance drifted through the air, and soft grass carpeted the ground, making every step wonderfully springy.
After walking for a good while, we came upon a door.
It was decorated with flowers, and just as I was thinking its pattern looked unusual, Illinoi spoke up.
"This appears to be a Door of Truth, that's what it is…! A door the impure may not pass…! No liar may enter, that's what it is…!"
A door that liars couldn't pass through?
Fascinating.
I stepped toward it—and the flowers surged up in rapid growth, twining around my legs and binding them until I couldn't move. When I stepped back, they slid away and released me just as smoothly.
Utterly remarkable.
"Amazing."
Lee Jina and Illinoi got the same treatment.
The only one of us who could actually approach the door was Yu Ari. How strange.
Ari said:
"Why can only I enter? It must be because I am the purest of us all! Because I am the most truthful of us all! Right now, I am honesty itself!"
It was fun watching her carry on so uncharacteristically.
Must be the effect of the Truth Flower.
"Hold on."
Something clicked in my head.
I pulled the Truth Flower out of Lee Jina's bag.
"What are you doing?"
Lee Jina frowned at me.
I brought the flower to my nose and inhaled.
The scent was more refreshing than I'd expected, and just as my head started to swim, I stepped toward the door again.
"Look. It's not wrapping around my legs. If only the truthful can pass this door, that means only the people who've smelled this flower can cross it."
It was like solving a puzzle—genuinely fun.
Ari, however, wilted on the spot.
"Th-that can't be…! And here I thought I was the most honest and truthful person among us, and it was all just the flower…! I'm so disappointed…!"
"So I see."
"Anyway, Senior—how does it feel? You're now incapable of telling a lie! That means you have no choice but to speak nothing but the truth from now on!"
How did it feel?
Couldn't say I noticed much difference, honestly.
"Let's go through the door. Something incredible should be waiting on the other side."
Swish.
I crossed the flower-covered threshold.
Inside, I could make out something like a statue standing at the center of the chamber.
It depicted a woman and a man holding hands, ringed by beautifully arranged flowers—a magnificent sight.
"It's beautiful," Ari said.
And indeed, just as she said, the woman's statue was stunningly lovely.
Then Illinoi gave her mwehehe chuckle.
"Nanna, daughter of Nepr, is said to be the goddess of flowers in this foreign land, that's what it is…! A goddess of flowers is a woman who fulfills every condition of a Kore, that's what it is…! Of course she would be beautiful, that's what it is…!"
Figures.
Frankly, I couldn't follow half of what she meant, but one thing was clear: this was the statue of Nanna, the flower goddess. Which meant the man standing beside her had to be Baldr, god of light.
"Can't make out his face, though."
The male statue's face was so worn down that "eroded" would be putting it mildly.
His eyes, his nose, his mouth—all of it had been worn smooth away.
Swish.
Lee Jina had drifted over to my side at some point.
She pressed her palm against the statue's face.
"People touched his face so much they wore it away. There's so much longing and grief in this place. I can feel it."
"Look over here!"
Ari called out. I turned my head and saw what looked like an altar in front of the statues, with something resting on top of it.
"It's a ring! It's shimmering gold!"
Just as Ari said, a ring sat on the altar.
A golden band embossed with a flower design—exquisitely beautiful.
A ring left in a place like this was hardly going to be some ordinary trinket.
Swish.
The instant I reached out for the ring, every flower blooming around us withered in an instant, crumbling into powder and swirling away on the air. Watching this unfold, Illinoi said:
"A ring that can make flowers bloom, that's what it is…! It seems to be an artifact infused with the power of Nanna, the flower goddess…! A tremendously splendid ring, that's what it is…!"
It was plainly something extraordinary.
Ari let out a gasp of admiration as well.
"An artifact means treasures with tremendous power inside them, like Gungnir. Even I can tell this ring is packed with incredible power! Taking it out of here would be amazing!"
An artifact.
Legendary treasures said to be usable only by S-rank awakeners.
Discovering one put me in high spirits—but that joy didn't last long. It turned swiftly to alarm.
Hisssss.
Where the flowers had withered and scattered, something enormous lay coiled in the earth.
It had a long, broad body studded with countless legs.
Skitter-skitter-skitter.
A gigantic centipede—that was what it was—emerging from among the dead flowers and roots. Its body was so long that at first glance it looked like some enormous serpent or dragon.
Was this the guardian of the flower garden!?
━KAAAARRGH—!
The thing's target was the biggest of our group—Kalinoi the owl.
She beat her wings furiously, but with her injury she couldn't lift off in time.
━Hoo, hoo…!
"Look out!"
On pure reflex, I threw myself into the space between Kalinoi and the giant centipede.
Crack!
A massive jolt ripped through my body, like being sideswiped by a speeding train.
But it was bearable.
"Kgh… Damn, that hurts. Hell. Who just pops out of nowhere like that? Was it sealed away in the roots, and breaking them set it free…!?"
My suit was torn around my thigh—whatever this thing was, it had to be at least an A-rank monster.
Ari was an ex-B-rank.
Lee Jina was a solid C-rank.
Illinoi was just… Illinoi.
Could this lineup really take down that giant centipede?
No. We had no choice but to.
"Bring it on, then. Let's give it a shot!"
Throb, throb.
Then a burning agony flared through my thigh.
I quickly realized what it meant—I'd been hit by the centipede's venom.
"Oh no!"
"Senior, I think you've been poisoned! Let me treat it! I'm a doctor, after all! Please, please let me treat you…! We have to suck the venom out with my mouth right away…!"