Chapter 156
Chapter 156
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 156
Chapter Title: Ansgar's Dream (2)
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As the last fragment of Barbason—the rat—died, a thick, acrid black smoke billowed out. I instinctively covered my nose and scanned the surroundings.
"Ahaha!"
"Kyahaha!"
"Haynes, watch out over there!"
"Yes, Mother!"
Through the dark smoke, I heard something scampering about excitedly, accompanied by joyful laughter.
'No way...'
I pushed through the smoke toward the source of the noise. There, I saw a beautiful woman with golden hair and blue eyes, and a young child who looked just like her. The woman was gently stroking the child's shining hair while holding her close.
'...This is Haynes's memory.'
"Haynes."
"Yes, Mother."
"Diheed is a fine place, but your true homeland is Ansgar."
"Yes, Mother."
"Always remember that."
"Yes, Mother."
That woman must be Haynes's mother—the one who instilled in him the dream of restoring Ansgar's glory before leaving the world behind....
With a voice like a dream, the woman whispered to the child.
"We will reclaim Ansgar."
"Yes, Mother."
"'They' will help us."
"Yes, Mother."
I'd been holding my breath, silently listening to the mother and daughter, when the word "they" made me flinch. The woman looked my way. No, it had to be an illusion. This was just Haynes's "memory," after all.
"They"?
The remnants of fallen Ansgar had migrated south to the continent and founded the new Barak Empire. As a newly established nation, the Barak Empire had plenty of upstart nobles, but there were also many who carried Ansgar's bloodline directly. Haynes, the lord of Diheed, was surely one of them.
'Were there people unsatisfied with the Barak Empire, scheming to restore Ansgar?'
And a faction aiding such people?
Before I could organize my thoughts, another voice came from the opposite side. A deep, charismatic timbre. It was Barbason.
"I am Barbason."
"Bar...bason."
"Your mother's old friend."
"Mother's..."
"We will be the protagonists of a new Ansgar."
"A new Ansgar...!"
The rat pups that had been playing on Barbason's body leaped onto Haynes. The gruesome scene unfolded with the sound of skin tearing and flesh being devoured. I gasped in shock, and Barbason turned toward me. His expression said it was impossible as he slowly approached. Without thinking, I stepped back..., and something bumped my foot. A rat corpse. I looked up again, and Barbason was gone. Instead....
"We can't hand this over to 'them.'"
"This is Mother's treasure."
"On the day we reclaim Ansgar...."
In a small room lit by a single candle, Haynes muttered to himself alone. He placed a small box—adorned with gold and jewels at every corner, intricately carved—into a worn bundle and tied it securely. Then he removed a brick from the wall, hid the bundle inside, and replaced the brick.
'...What the hell is he hiding?'
Seventh from the left, fifth from the bottom. The moment I memorized the brick's position.
"Who's there!!!"
Haynes shouted in fury. Damn it, this was clearly an illusion—why...!
"Kieeeek!!!"
Before I could question it, Haynes flung open his cloak, and the horde of red-eyed rats lurking within charged at me viciously. No time for defense or anything. Was I done for? Just then.
"Roooaaarrrrrr!!!!!!!!"
An immense blast of black flame engulfed not only the charging rats but Haynes behind them as well. Pitch-black like something risen from hell, the fire incinerated the rats, Haynes, and even the surrounding black smoke.
"Huh, haaah...."
*Chomp.*
Legion, who had stayed quietly on my shoulder until now, kept breathing fire until everything in front of us burned away, then closed its mouth with a small popping sound and licked my cheek.
"...I told you to stay put, Legion."
「Theo. Me. Praise.」
"If anyone finds out what you are.... Fine, I get it. Good job. Praise.」
Legion wagged its jelly-like pink tongue against my cheek, begging for more. I roughly scratched its head and caught my breath.
"Master?!"
"...Theodor."
"Druid?"
The voices crashing in snapped me back to reality. I finally looked around. El with a panicked face, Lloyd frowning, and the townsfolk who looked shocked surrounded me, watching.
"What the...?"
"He killed the lord and just froze up."
"Me? No, then the black smoke...?"
"There was no black smoke."
So it was a vision only I could see. I stared at Lloyd in bewilderment, and he prodded the thing that had been Haynes with the tip of his scabbard. It crumbled to dust and scattered.
'...What an anticlimactic end.'
If he hadn't obsessed over Ansgar, if he hadn't allied with the demon, he could have been a decent lord ruling Diheed. That's what I knew. But...
The "they" from Haynes's mother's words were probably the Crows. They must have been the ones who connected Haynes and Barbason too.
'Just to shake up Diheed? Or really to restore Ansgar?'
Ansgar, now fallen, had been a great kingdom passed down from ancient times for ages. It wasn't an exaggeration to say the entire continent had been theirs. Of course, that was ancient glory now.
There had been those who coveted that past splendor. The Barak Empire itself sponsored temples to purify the cursed lands and reclaim Ansgar's legacy. Plenty wandered, lured by myths and legends seeking Ansgar's gold. But most either never reached the cursed lands or died there—one or the other.
'In the game, only a tiny part of the cursed lands was revealed. A power-leveling zone, at best? They probably held back the real core for endgame content....'
So I didn't have the full scoop either. Just piecing together the scraps that were public.
I had no idea what the Crows truly wanted.
'...Doesn't mean I can sit on my hands.'
I'd gotten a crucial hint from Haynes's memory. He'd hidden something in a secret spot at the castle's peak. The Crows probably didn't know about it.
If I got it first, it'd surely help down the line.
"Lloyd, clean up around here and spread word of the lord's death. I have business to attend to and need to step away briefly."
"Will do."
"El, you're with me."
"Yes, Master!"
El and I climbed to the castle's summit. The narrow, steep stairs, untouched for ages and choked with dust and cobwebs, seemed endless, like they led to heaven itself.
"...Master, what the heck happened back there?"
Just as I was wondering when these damn stairs would end, El asked.
"You just stood there stock-still, so I thought something terrible...."
"I saw a vision. Probably Haynes's memory."
"M-Memory?"
"Yeah. Looks like I glimpsed the last fragment of his soul."
"Then you saw who was behind it all...!"
"Not quite, but I got a solid clue."
The stairs finally ended. At the top of the spiraling ascent was a weathered red wooden door. It looked old, but the lock was sturdy and new—odd.
"Needs a key...."
"Leave this to me."
"Hm?"
Before I could finish, El shoved past me, took a deep breath, and kicked the door with all her might. The old wood shattered. Pity about that intact lock.
"...Excuse me."
I stepped through the broken door. Unlike the grim stairs, the attic at the castle's peak was surprisingly tidy. A small desk and chair, papers and a quill, ink on the desk, and a single picture frame. The frame held a delicately painted portrait of a woman....
'Haynes's mother.'
In the painting, she wore a hat adorned with crow feathers and a black dress, pointing at something.
'Pointing at the wall.'
I looked at the wall she indicated in the painting.
'Seventh from the left, fifth from the bottom.'
I slowly felt along the wall and found the brick worn smooth from handling. It was lodged tight, but when I yanked it, it came free. Reaching into the gap, I grabbed the worn bundle just as in the memory.
'This is it.'
I carefully pulled it out. Heavier than expected. Unwrapping it revealed the "box" from the memory.
A red box, edges studded with gold and jewels, each of its six faces engraved with beautiful, intricate carvings. Thanks to my Interpreter trait, I recognized them as ancient Ansgar script.
*Clunk.*
No keyhole. And it didn't open easily. Not with brute force or mana infusion. Probably needed a special method. Figuring that out was key....
*Flap flap!*
"......!"
A sudden wingbeat jolted me upright. Through the small window by the desk, I saw a crow flying off. I hurriedly drew my bow and loosed an arrow, but it was gone—like it had teleported midway.
"Damn...."
No helping it. I grabbed the box and hurried down the stairs with El. In the distance, I heard crow caws. Instinct told me.
'They want this too.'