Chapter 43
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Forgotten Sanctuary (2)
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The spiral passage leading underground stretched into an abyss untouched by light.
The walls, thick with moss, were heavy with damp moisture, and faint reliefs worn away by the ages appeared here and there.
They depicted countless ratkin lined up, offering grain to a massive hamster wheel.
"Ugh, this is the worst."
Hilde, who was leading the way while shining spirit light ahead, pinched her nose and furrowed her brow.
"The smell is musty, the floor is all slimy. And this is Adlerheim artisans' top-grade uniform, you know. If it picks up any mold here, I'm billing you for the cleaning!"
"Quiet down a bit. It's a cave—your voice echoes."
I tried to calm Hilde while sniffing the air myself.
Honestly, I had no idea what sacred fragrance Rodentia kept raving about. It was just the smell of old mold to me.
That's right! A holy, musky aroma like perfectly aged cheese!
The phantom of Rodentia, hovering above my shoulder in midair, was sniffing away enthusiastically.
This smell... I remember it. It's the smell of my home! A little damp and off now, but I can sense that nostalgic aroma of abundance!
Hilde recoiled in disgust, pulling her collar up over her nose, but Rodentia was filled with joy, as if she'd returned to her homeland.
I swung the lantern light around to examine the walls.
People really believed in it back then.
The murals bore witness to the golden age when the Hamster Wheel cult had flourished.
Mountains of piled grain, ratkin smiling happily as they turned the hamster wheels.
The Lord was a big deal once upon a time.
She was a forgotten minor deity now, but this ruin at least remembered the glory of the Hamster Wheel.
At the end of the passage, the darkness lifted to reveal a vast cavern.
"Hold."
Sena raised her shield and came to a stop. A sharp tension filled the air.
In the corner of the cavern, a massive shape that had been left abandoned like a pile of crumbled stone let out a grotesque noise.
Kikigik!
The rock pile shrieked as it hauled itself upright.
Dusting off the debris, what rose before us was...
"An ancient golem!"
Mani muttered as she fiddled with her bowgun.
A golem was an outdated guardian powered by magic and mana stones.
Its entire body was rusted and covered in moss, but it was two or three times our size.
More importantly, its arms ended in massive fists like siege weapons.
Ziiing—
A sinister red glow flickered from the gap in the golem's helmet.
Intruders... eliminate...
An inhuman voice echoed off the cavern walls.
"It's coming! Hearth Goddess!"
Sena cried out like a scream. Right then, the golem's massive steel fist came crashing down over our heads.
Boom!
The solid floor cracked like a spiderweb, sending stone dust billowing like mist.
Sena hurled herself aside in the nick of time, just before the fist slammed home.
"Hmph, a mere lump of rock! Just target the vitals and it's done!"
Hilde sneered, straightening her sleek gun barrel.
Pshut!
A sharp bursting sound as compressed air shot through the narrow tube.
The bullet struck the golem's head dead-on, sparking harmlessly before ricocheting away.
"What? It's got magic resistance coating? On that hunk of junk!"
Hilde's eyes trembled with panic. The surface might have been weathered by time, but it was tough.
That's when Mani pointed frantically and shouted.
"Reti! Check its hips and leg joints! The armor's corroded—mana's leaking out!"
I glanced where Mani was pointing. Every time the golem twisted its bulky body, an unstable bluish mana glow flickered at the knee and hip joints.
The armor plates hadn't withstood the long years and had fallen away, exposing the innards.
"Okay. Let's cut its power source."
I turned to Hilde without hesitation.
"Hilde! Can you freeze that knee joint solid?"
"Don't order me around!"
Hilde snapped irritably, but her hands didn't hesitate for a second.
"But... I'll show you out of the kindness of my heart. The noble spirit arts of a high elf! Come forth, Frost!"
A spirit in the form of a white butterfly fluttered around the muzzle before seeping into the silver barrel.
Pshung!
A bullet laced with blue frost shot out in a straight line from the muzzle.
Crack!
With a sound like shattering glass, the bullet embedded perfectly in the golem's exposed knee joint.
The joint instantly froze over white, sharp ice crystals blooming fiercely.
Kikigik!
Keyik!
Ice crystals jammed into the gaps, and the golem's movements visibly slowed.
"Now!"
Mani, Sena, and I pulled back the loading levers on our bowguns in perfect unison, as if on cue.
"Fire!"
Clank, thong!
Clank, thong!
All three bowguns spat bolts at once.
The volley of arrows wedged like spikes into the gaps of the frozen joints.
Crack!
Metal and stone screamed. Having completely lost support in one leg, the golem lost its balance and lurched grotesquely.
"It's falling!"
Boom!
Its enormous bulk crashed to the floor, kicking up a cloud of dirt. We didn't miss the chance and rushed in together.
"Arms! Hit the arms first!"
We surrounded the fallen golem and showered its limb joints with arrows. With its limbs neutralized, the golem flailed helplessly.
"I'll finish it! Hearth Goddess! Grant me strength!"
Sena charged in, wrapping her shortsword in fierce flames. Her target was the slit in the golem's helmet, where the power core glowed!
"Hya!"
Crackle!
The flames burned through the internal circuits, and the red light in the golem's eyes went out.
A perfect dismantling.
"We did it!"
"Woo-hoo!"
We raised our hands and high-fived each other with a smack.
As I turned around, I saw Hilde standing there awkwardly with both hands half-raised.
"What're you doing?"
"Ah... um, nothing!"
Hilde looked away with a sullen expression.
We clambered over the golem's wreckage and stepped into the hidden space beyond.
It wasn't a grand temple.
It was a cozy, snug little room, perfectly sized like an attic for smallfolk. The dampness from before was gone—who knew where it had vanished to—and the air all around felt warm and comforting.
In the center of the room sat a small altar, covered in the dust of ages.
A weathered bronze box rested atop the altar.
A strange object hovered in the air above it, radiating intense mana.
It looked like nothing more than a fist-sized, rock-hard lump.
That thing! I was wondering... Hm! Not cheese!
"Not cheese? Then what is it?"
It's a peanut! A fossilized fragment holding part of my power!
"A peanut fossil? That big?"
Aaah... It absorbed a shard of my power and turned into that!
Rodentia couldn't hold back any longer and darted forward to hug the sunflower seed tightly.
Finally found it! A piece of my power! It's only a little, but it feels like compensation for all those sad times! Chwip!
As Rodentia rubbed her soft cheek against the sacred relic, the massive peanut began to glow golden and was slowly drawn inside.
Her hazy form sharpened momentarily, becoming almost tangible.
A brilliant golden aura burst forth from her translucent body like an explosion.
"Eek?!"
Hilde, standing beside me, freaked out and leveled her air rifle.
"World Tree have mercy! What's that golden ratkin? A ghost? Evil spirit?!"
"Ah, let me introduce you. She's the goddess I serve."
I calmly pressed Hilde's barrel downward.
"The Lord of the Hamster Wheel, Rodentia. Goddess of the ratkin."
"...What? That ratkin goddess? A rat god?"
Hilde's jaw dropped as if her brain had frozen.
How rude! I am the mother of great rodents, the eternal guide of all who gnaw!
Rodentia declared with as much dignity as she could muster, but with her cheeks puffed out from hugging the peanut, she didn't look very intimidating.
"Don't talk like that. She's greater than she looks. She does demand offerings, though."
I shrugged lightly.
The power contained in the peanut was absorbed into Rodentia. Suddenly, a strange ripple swept through the entire ruin.
"Ah! The mana flow..."
Hilde cried out, sensing something.
The ripple faded away like an ebbing tide.
"Hmm..."
Hilde closed her eyes, feeling out the surrounding mana, then nodded.
"It's changed."
"What has?"
"The local mana density. I couldn't sense it from above, but now that thing's gone, the difference is clear! That must've been why monsters were swarming like crazy."
"That was the cause?"
"Probably...? I'll have to fudge the report a bit, but calling it 'mana influence from an underground ruin' perfectly fulfills the quest conditions."
We'd removed the cause, so the commission was a success.
Now it was time to savor the rewards.
The final, most important step for us.
"Alright, let's take a look."
I swallowed hard and opened the bronze box on the altar, praying it was stuffed with the ancient cult's secret funds.
Creak.
Contrary to my hopes, the box's contents were pathetic.
Just a bunch of rusted coins at the bottom.
A few ancient gold coins that seemed somewhat intact were rolling around, and that was it.
"Huh? That's all?"
Mani asked in a deflated voice.
Hilde picked up one of the gold coins and examined it from every angle.
"This... it's gold from the Denarius Empire, which fell a thousand years ago. High purity, but terrible condition."
Mani asked.
"Valuable?"
"No, even if you melt it down for the gold value... all together, maybe 3 or 4 gold coins?"
"Ehh? Just that?"
"Three gold coins..."
I clutched my head.
Three gold coins wasn't chump change. But for rewards from an ancient ruin where we'd fought a house-sized underground golem, it felt way too meager.
Split four ways, that's about 50 silver per person.
No, get a grip. It was a fortune for any normal adventurer. My standards had just gotten too high.
On the way out of the ruin, Rodentia kept looking back wistfully, as if reluctant to leave.
Finally found one of my little sanctuaries... It used to be a home full of rat laughter... Chwip.
It was just rubble and weeds now, a ruin, but once rats had come and gone here, holding worship and offering tributes.
As we emerged outside, sunlight poured down so brightly it stung the eyes. I let out a sigh and quietly addressed Rodentia.
"Lord, what are your plans from here on?"
The reason I prioritized silver-rank promotion was simple.
Rodentia's divinity, power, and totems were likely slumbering in massive dungeons or ancient ruins.
But most nations only allowed bronze-rank adventurers or higher into dungeons, probably to profit off entry fees.
And adventurer registrations were country-specific. Going bronze in one meant starting over at iron in another.
Silver rank was the exception. It was like a national ID guarantee.
An international license valid in neighboring countries.
It even served as a rank insignia that got you near-free passes at borders and city checkpoints.
"Truth is, even at silver rank, we'll need way more funds than we have now to reach the holy city."
...Yeah, I know. But thinking about it, I couldn't go right now anyway.
"Why not?"
At my question, Rodentia's ears drooped limply.
Think about it. I'm a vagabond minor god with no followers to speak of and not even a proper temple. Those pompous main gods at the Pantheon Temple won't even recognize me—they'll just kick me to the curb!
The holy city of Hieros, called the gods' salon and political arena. Rodentia seemed afraid of being treated like a penniless minor deity and having her pride crushed there.
"Then we build a base first, before heading to the holy city?"
I clenched my fist.
"Perfect! We'll gather followers, make money, build some real power, then march in proudly. That way, we can serve your divinity with the respect it deserves."
Wise indeed! But... just how do we build a base?
"Uh... good question."
I'd shouted confidently, but I was stumped on the specifics.
That's when it hit me. My gaze lingered on the ruins around the site—the abandoned village grounds.
A place overgrown with weeds, dotted with houses whose roofs had caved in and been left to rot.
An abandoned land where human feet no longer tread because of the monster outbreaks.
Suddenly, a real estate agent's voice echoed in my mind.
'The northern outskirts are cheap. Dirt cheap because of the nearby dungeon and monster dens.'
A lightbulb went off in my head.
Hold on. The monster swarms were caused by the sacred relic. And we recovered it, so at least this village is no longer a monster den.
In other words, the danger factor here had dropped dramatically, at least locally.
Moreover, though they were on the verge of collapse, the buildings' deeds and structures were probably still intact.
One of the silver-rank promotion requirements checks for a residential address—whether you own land.
Land alone should suffice, right? There were houses here, shabby as they were.
And most importantly, though ruined, this place had Rodentia's sanctuary.
A great idea struck me.
I grinned at the ruins.
"Mani, Sena! Let's head to the real estate office right now."
"Real estate? Why there all of a sudden?"
I declared boldly.
"Yep. We're buying this land!"