Chapter 161
Chapter 161
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 161
Chapter Title: The Nest of Eggs
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The amount of food was so massive that even if it were consumed only within the Valderian territory, it would last a full year. Just taking it out of the warehouses, organizing the transport convoy, and preparing the carts took over a week.
And to uphold the dignity and reputation of the religious order, the convoy's escort was, as planned, to be handled by the order. Naturally, to guard such a huge quantity, even the paladins guarding the 'Forbidden Zone' had to be mobilized in full.
"Your Eminence, even so, making the 'Forbidden Zone' a bargaining chip seems like something that could lead to disaster... At the very least, we should consult the Holy Kingdom first..."
"Have you imagined how many people will die in the meantime? There's a saying: act first, report later. In fact, it's already too late now. Have you imagined how long it will take to transport this much food to the capital and the major territories? And it's still somewhat manageable now. If we try to transport it when people have already started starving and are rioting, think of how many would attack to seize it... Could you endure that and still succeed?"
"I... I'm sorry."
When the realistic problem was mentioned, the captain leading the paladins quickly yielded to Archbishop Harun's words and proceeded with the task.
Since disasters are most effectively contained when measures are taken during the golden hour, the paladins, holding their concerns in their hearts, had no choice but to follow the Archbishop's orders. All but the minimum necessary temple guards were deployed to the transport mission, and now, no one was stationed at the 'Forbidden Zone'.
"Phew~ Finally..."
Watching the procession carrying food and the temple knights bustling about, Beonald sighed in relief that his plan was proceeding perfectly. He then headed toward the ruins with his close aides, including Sein, and Kedron, the heir to the Valderian territory.
'...Now I'm inextricably tied to the Valderian family, and it's time to show them that my value exceeds their imagination...'
"Hmm, I was born and raised in this Valderian territory too, but this is my first time coming here. You really experience all sorts of things in life. Anyway, is this... the ruin? It just looks like an ordinary ruin from the outside."
"Is this place really worth giving up so much food for...?"
"Ahem! Lady Selina, since Lord Beonald is doing this... there must be something to it."
"Wow! This is an architectural style I've never seen before!"
Upon arrival, Beonald's party each gazed at the 'Forbidden Zone', now just a foundation, and voiced their impressions.
The paladins guarding the 'Forbidden Zone' only blocked people's passage; they never dared to even think about managing the things within this forbidden land.
If it weren't for the signboard labeling it a forbidden area, it would just be a common ruin. Only grass and time-worn stone pavements remained, looking desolate.
"Still, it's fortunate the entrance to the underground is guarded the same way."
"Well, to stop someone from entering, you have to guard the entrance, of course. Now, let's light the torches and go in."
"No, wait... It's clearly a 'Forbidden Zone'. Is it really okay to just go in like this?"
"If it weren't okay, would I be doing this? I'll lead the way."
Beonald then moved first toward the dark entrance leading underground.
It was clearly a forbidden area, and entering the dark underground felt like heading into a 'dungeon', so everyone was afraid. But knowing Beonald's tendencies—that he wouldn't go somewhere uncertain—they all trusted him and followed.
The interior, like the Tomb of Molting Beonald had visited before, was a sturdy, massive underground passageway with a good blend of stone and metal. With no lighting, it was pitch black, impossible to see anything.
"Alright, everyone stop for a moment... Please wait a bit."
"What... are you going to do?"
"Hmm~ Where should I start explaining? To put it in the most essential terms, this ruin is a sibling site to the one in Haldeon. That is, it has a similar structure, and its internal security is the same."
*Tap... Tap-tap-tap! Tap!*
As he said this, Beonald manipulated a panel on the wall near the entrance, immediately inputting the password to disable the security and traps and turn on the lights.
Then, a bright light came on, and a message welcoming Beonald appeared on the panel.
"Whoaaaa? W-what is this?"
"It's bright now?"
"My goodness... what is this?"
"That thing emitting light, what is it? A magic stone?"
Naturally, the party following Beonald was startled by the sudden bright light and the now-visible interior, each voicing different impressions.
And as they stared blankly, souls seemingly lost, at the appearance of this facility that went beyond simply being an old ruin, the first to regain her senses was the mage, Selina.
"H-hey! Lord Beonald! What is this? What on earth is this place? Please explain! What exactly did you do at the Haldeon ruin?"
"You're jumping the gun. As I said, this place is the same as the Haldeon ruin. It was built during the Unified Empire period about 500 years ago, and its purpose is... Here, come and see this for yourself."
"This is......"
She went to confront Beonald but looked where he pointed.
Inside was an enormous library, with books neatly organized, easily numbering in the thousands or tens of thousands. Selina muttered in astonishment.
"All books?"
"Yes, this is the 'Nest of Eggs'. 500 years ago, a noble who held sway over the Unified Empire's state affairs gathered and stored all the books that existed on the continent at that time."
"A-all the books?"
"Yes, all of them."
Having risen to the position of Grand Alchemist in the Magic Tower, Beonald knew better than anyone the importance of 'preserving knowledge'.
And knowing that humans are more foolish and prone to rampage than one might think, he felt the need to create an ark to safely store the 'knowledge' diligently researched and cultivated, no matter what happened to the world. And so, this 'Nest of Eggs' was created.
'It wasn't for nothing that I built it in the Valderian territory.'
If the 'Tomb of Molting' was like a warehouse for collecting discarded items, built casually in a remote corner of the continent, then conversely, this 'Nest of Eggs', being the most important place, was built in the territory of the Valderian family, his closest allies.
Its importance was such that Beonald had earnestly pleaded with Alterio, the heir he didn't get along with, saying, 'I know you hate me, but this place stores humanity's knowledge and is incredibly important, so please manage it.'
'...But in the end, he shut this place down too and left. Sigh~ Does our family have some genetic trait for poor parent-child relationships? No, thinking of Lara, that doesn't seem to be the case... Haah~'
Anyway, Beonald had reclaimed one of the most important legacies.
He would have to find other places in the future, but for now, the immediate task was to find and retrieve usable knowledge from the Nest of Eggs.
'Finding the necessary books will be a task in itself. There must be many history books and ancient texts... When will I ever look through them all? Sigh~'
"...My goodness, these aren't just from 500 years ago, but also tons of ancient texts from before that!"
"There are probably lost magic books and old research materials from the ancient Magic Tower too."
"What did you say? No, what on earth is this place? How did you gather all this?"
'How? I bought them, of course. Mages... are seriously lacking in economic sense.'
Too many mages, obsessed with whatever 'truth' they sought, would cause trouble while claiming the funds donated to the Magic Tower were insufficient for their research. Beonald would get them into debt, then seize their magic books or research materials, or buy them from those struggling with livelihood issues.
'Or subduing those trying to cause accidents with crazy research and confiscating their stuff... There were just too many psychos.'
Whether it was the mages' thirst for knowledge or not, there were too many doing insane research, giving Beonald headaches.
Dark magic, necromancy, demonology... Research in such forbidden fields was basic; those researching spells that could shake the world's order or laws were everywhere.
Of course, Beonald, who funded the budgets, confiscated all research materials he caught, pretending to dispose of them, but stored them here in the Nest of Eggs in case they might be useful someday.
"Anyway, this 'Nest of Eggs' must absolutely remain a secret. I trust the Young Master will naturally keep it... The rest of you understand too?"
"Yes!"
"Understood!"
"Um... can I borrow a magic book?"
"Are there any architecture books?"
"Of course. However, they're written in the 500-year-old language, so they need to be translated... Actually, I can just teach you the 500-year-old language. First, let's go to the control room. We need to go there to check the proper catalog or book list."
Beonald led the party to the central control room.
After walking a long way down a massive corridor, they arrived at a control room similar to the one in the Haldeon ruin.
Ultimately, since the purpose of both the Tomb of Molting and this Nest of Eggs was storage, there wasn't much difference.
The only differences were the magical tools placed in the control room and the various other tools.
"Wow... This is amazing too."
"Ah, this is the internal mapping tool."
"Come to think of it, how do this dungeon's facilities operate?"
"They operate by drawing power from the ley lines. If the places we've seen in mountains and fields are like streams, then this place is like a river or a large lake. First, let's see... Architecture books, building blueprints from that era, agricultural texts... Selina, which field of magic books do you want?"
The advantage over the Tomb of Molting, which had only a storage function, was precisely this magical tool—an apparatus that indicated where which books were located.
Beonald had simplified the spellwork, dividing fields into tags and making a list appear, then showing the library location. It was a system he created himself for convenience, so he could use it easily even if he came down alone in a hurry later.
'Back then, everyone made a fuss, asking why I was making it when we had manpower... But now, having made it, it's incredibly convenient. Phew~ Thanks to that, I was also able to write papers on multi-spell deployment and stabilization in magical tools... Anyway, I'm very glad I made it.'
"Magic books... There are many fields I want, but, um... do you really have them all?"
"I should have most of them. So speak freely. Young Masters Heidi and Kedron, if you need anything, please say so."
While first finding the locations of the books he needed, Beonald also found what the others needed to find. He then went straight to the library to fetch the books himself.
Even with a map, only Beonald could perfectly read the 500-year-old script, so he had to move personally. While at it, he went to the transmission room below and even activated the connection with the Tomb of Molting.
'Good, the situation there is fine. Anyway, today, after setting these books for loan... that's it. As soon as we leave, I'll tell Vessia to build a mansion over this entrance and design it together. Hmm, should I restore it exactly as it was 500 years ago?'
Beonald, happily imagining, applied preservation spells to the tags on the retrieved books and set the loan status in the access records.
Since all the books here were precious, it was natural to keep records of who borrowed what and when. Beonald opened the access records to log them and saw notes left by those who had borrowed them in the past.
'Hmm? This date... is after my death. Who borrowed it?'
"This is...? No, Alterio... this bastard?"
Seeing the record, Beonald forgot about the book he was about to borrow and flared up.
This book, Implementation and Methodology of New Magic, was a forbidden text. It was the dangerous research by Dalken Dyna, a Grand Mage of the Magic Tower, that caused a major accident during his studies.
While accidents during research were frequent, this particular research resulted in over a hundred casualties and significant damage, with no compensation paid. Beonald couldn't stand it and, along with other Magic Tower executives, seized the research materials. Discovering a record of it being retrieved made his head throb.