Chapter 70
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 070
Chapter Title: Twilight Bone Palace #1
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070 – Twilight Bone Palace #1
070 – Twilight Bone Palace #1
"Is this the passage leading to the Goblin Kingdom?"
Hammer stared in admiration at the dimensional gate that had appeared in the library.
Felix, however, showed a hint of skepticism.
"Hermit, you did something weird on your own again."
"What did I do!"
Pzzzzzt-.
Sparks seemed to fly between Hermit and Felix's glares.
Those two always fought like that.
"Now, now, cut it out."
Hammer stepped in to stop Hermit and Felix's bickering.
I stuck right to his side and spoke up.
"Hammer, they say the Goblin Kingdom might be piled high with treasures!"
"Goblins!"
Nimble wagged his tail side to side, full of fighting spirit.
"Killing monsters will give us tons of Ether too!"
The decision rested with Hammer, our party leader.
He crossed his arms and pondered for a long while before nodding.
"Alright. But we're five people, so one has to stay behind."
It had finally come.
I tensed up.
What if they told me to sit this one out?
Hammer spoke.
"There might be traps, or treasure chests, so Yor should come along."
Oh-!
I clenched my fist tight.
In our party, my role was irreplaceable!
That was why everyone hated thieves but still had to cater to them.
"Goblins live in hordes, so there are tons of them! We'll need my AoE magic!"
Hermit chimed in, touting her strengths.
Hammer nodded in agreement.
"AoE magic is important. But Nimble can handle AoE magic too."
"...Wh-what!?"
Only then did Hermit eye Nimble with suspicion.
"But he just joined the party! Who knows when he'll turn on us from behind!"
"You're one to talk, always causing accidents."
"Then you sit it out, Felix! We don't need you just for killing goblins!"
"Me? What if there are strong ones like Hob Goblins?"
Shing-.
Felix drew his sword to check its condition.
That's when I tapped Hammer's side.
"Hammer, what's a 'Hob Goblin'?"
"They're like goblin variants. Bigger builds usually, armed with powerful blessings."
Insanely dangerous goblins?
Felix was perfect for killing those kinds.
Felix was a killing machine.
He swung his sword without the slightest hesitation.
Having him around was reassuring.
"Ughhh..."
Hermit made a sulky face.
"I opened the dimensional gate..."
She'd brought the job herself but couldn't join in.
Was there anything more frustrating?
That's when Hammer raised his hand.
"No need to be that sad. I'll sit this one out."
Hammer?
Everyone was shocked.
"Hammer, you're serious?"
"It's about time for my 'armor maintenance' anyway."
"Ah, it's that time already? Guess there's no helping it."
Felix nodded.
Hermit's anxious face instantly brightened.
"Armor maintenance! Then no choice!"
I didn't know the details, but I had some street smarts.
Hammer had to maintain that armor periodically, so he sometimes couldn't join raids.
Makes sense—he even slept in it.
With all the grime, blood, and filth caked on, it needed a full day of cleaning now and then.
Still, I felt uneasy.
Hammer was our reliable leader, right?
Just follow his lead, and there were no dangers.
I could leave my brain at home.
Without Hammer?
Was it okay without the leader?
"Felix, you're in command."
Felix as leader, no less.
Hermit clicked her tongue.
"Ugh, we're doomed! Totally doomed!"
"Then sit it out."
Uwoong-.
Crossing the dimensional gate, we saw walls built from heaps of bones.
It was twilight, neither night nor day.
Since 'night' hadn't fully fallen, breathing was no issue.
"What kind of skulls are there so many of?"
As I thought the atmosphere felt eerie like a mausoleum, Hermit acted like she knew.
"Goblins mostly serve the Bone Lord Galak! That's why they're skilled in bone crafts and architecture like this."
"Check your gear instead of chatting."
Felix inspected his scabbard and equipment.
Hermit pouted.
"It's not chatting? Knowing about their idols is important. Galak's an ancient idol connected even to Sabrannik!"
A god connected to Sabrannik?
Come to think of it, Sabrannik was the 'Bone Serpent' too.
Bone Lord Galak.
Bone Serpent Sabrannik.
There must be some link between them.
Suddenly, I got interested too.
"Galak's an incredibly ancient idol from antiquity, and there aren't many records left. We might learn all sorts of things here!"
Hermit trembled with excitement and anticipation as Nimble perked up his ears.
"But there's no sound at all. The place itself feels dead."
The place is dead?
Nimble, being feral, expressed it raw like that.
But like Nimble said, there wasn't a single presence around.
The creepy bones.
The unusually quiet space.
It felt like we were the only ones in this massive bone palace.
"Then let's move."
Sshhk-sshhk-sshhk-.
Felix gave hand signals.
"I'll take point. Hermit and Nimble on the flanks, Yor at the rear."
Shh-shh-shhk-.
We swiftly traversed the bone palace.
Unlike what Hermit had said about it being the goblins' kingdom, not a single goblin or even a rat was in sight.
What the hell was going on—.
"Crates!"
That's when I spotted a warehouse stacked with heavy chests.
The uneasy feeling from moments ago vanished in an instant.
"Everyone stand back. Looks like traps."
With my sharpened eyes, I first checked the warehouse room for traps.
They seemed like the type triggered by cutting floor strings.
Click-.
I drew my dagger and carefully severed the strings.
Shhhh-shhhh-.
Bone arrows poured from the ceiling toward the floor.
"Would've turned us into porcupines if we'd gone straight in."
Heh heh heh-.
As I laughed, Nimble wagged his tail vigorously and chimed in.
"Porcupine tastes good, though."
Ding-.
That was a totally unexpected angle.
Hermit sidled up to me and whispered.
"You should be careful around that Nimble guy."
"Careful?"
"He eats cute porcupines. If he gets hungry, he might try eating us too."
Is that so?
Nimble could transform into a ferocious wolf.
'If he gets hungry, he really might try to eat us.'
I glanced at Nimble warily.
Just in case he got hungry.
Nimble crouched between the crates.
"This is boneflower? It only blooms amid bone piles."
Nimble was good at gathering plants even in this kingdom.
Felix asked him.
"Helpful flower?"
"You can tell from the name, right? Boneflower works great if you boil and eat it when bones are broken."
"Flower good for fractures? Nice."
Felix was impressed by Nimble's boneflower harvest.
Hermit grimaced, of course.
"...So what if he knows how to pick flowers!"
Hermit seemed to dislike Nimble.
At this point, I got curious.
"Hermit, didn't you and Nimble tour the village and gather herbs together?"
That weekend I was locked in prison.
I'd thought Nimble and Hermit had bonded.
Hermit hissed at me quietly.
"I didn't know he was gunning for my spot back then!"
Hermit and Nimble were both AoE mages.
Sure, Hermit's firepower was stronger—.
But Nimble was better at side gigs like gathering materials for cash.
So Hermit must have felt threatened in her position.
Creak-squeak-.
I opened the bone crates.
Inside, I scored Ether clumps, gold and silver necklaces and rings.
"Heh heh heh, about 1 million Ether here!"
1 million Ether from looting crates without a fight.
What a honey farming spot!
Our party delved deeper into the bone palace.
We'd looted more stacked crates, netting about 4 million Ether total.
"This much means we've basically hit today's quota."
Keh heh heh heh-.
My pockets felt heavy and fat, making my shoulders shake.
But somehow, an ominous premonition crept in too.
"Where did all the goblins in this place go?"
These bone kingdom goblins had amassed such wealth.
Yet they'd abandoned it all and vanished somewhere.
"No one's here, so isn't that good?"
Nimble wagged his tail busily while counting Ether.
Felix relaxed his tense shoulders.
"No fights, so it's boring."
No fights were good.
Really boring, even.
But things were starting to feel off.
Everything was going too smoothly.
'My life never rolls that sweetly.'
Hermit agreed with me.
"I've felt it for a while, but time isn't passing here."
Only then did I notice.
The bone palace's twilight sun never set.
"I've never heard of a phenomenon like this. There must be some massive magic or profound mystery dormant here."
Hermit clenched her fist.
Felix, however, didn't like her curiosity.
"Hey, don't stir up trouble."
"Trouble? This is our chance to score big!"
"Let's go a bit deeper."
I sided with Hermit too.
Make money while you can.
That's when, delving even deeper into the bone palace, we reached a plaza-like area with a blackened, solidified magic circle and a chest inside it.
"Treasure chest!"
It looked amazing at a glance.
A golden bone chest, no less.
I had a hunch something incredible was inside.
But Hermit blocked my shoulder as I tried to rush it.
"Hold up!"
"Why?"
"This magic circle looks super suspicious no matter how I look at it."
Hermit picked up a long bone nearby.
She flung it into the circle.
As I watched expectantly—what's she doing?—.
Shhh-shhk-.
The bone vanished.
It touched an invisible wall and erased like ink wiped away.
"Shit!"
I gasped raggedly.
What if I'd rushed that treasure chest?
I might've vanished too.
"Now I get where all the bone kingdom's goblins went."
Hermit wiped sweat from her brow, doffing her pointed hat.
I imagined goblins leaping into the circle and disappearing.
A surge of injustice welled up from deep in my gut.
"Treasure right in front of us, and we can't take it!"
"Rookie, we just dispel this crappy circle!"
Hermit shouted confidently, raising her staff.
"I can do it! With my current skills—!"
—Magic Dispel!
Crack-.
She slammed her raised staff down.
In that instant, pzzzzzt-.
Space shattered like transparent glass, and the floor's magic circle vanished with it.
Woooong-.
All that remained was the golden bone chest.
"I'll open it!"
I dashed toward the chest.
That's when Nimble's fur bristled.
"Something's coming!"