20. The Root of All Evil
20. The Root of All Evil
In any age, salt has always been a commodity of immense value.
It invites comparison to gold and jewels, yet it's an absolute necessity for survival — which only makes it more pernicious. Even more so in this world, where salt cannot be harvested from the sea.
The oceans are a cradle of monsters. With countless creatures lurking beneath the waves that can't be hunted down, the coastlines are the continent's most dangerous regions. A few safe zones exist, but there's no way the salt produced in those limited areas could satisfy the entire continent's demand.
So, naturally, the demand for salt was met by rock salt. When the Holy Kingdom crumbled under the weight of the Mountain King, it was no surprise that the Empire — having devoured the northern territories dense with rock salt mines — rose to become the dominant power.
And what, exactly, is my point?
That wave of salt crystals Rus and I are currently fleeing from with everything we have.
"Viva!"
"Uh, I mean, Finance Director?!"
"Do you have any idea how much that's worth?!"
It's quite literally a mountain of gold!
Ridiculous as it might look — a grown faculty member half-draped over a female student while shouting like that — anyone who could keep their cool at the sight of that spectacle would be the real oddity.
Whether it meant mortal danger or a once-in-a-lifetime fortune.
Besides, the flailing of a measly 1st Rank had no bearing on Rus's actions anyway. The scenery blurred past at speeds that defied reality, which actually gave me a pretty good look at the salt crystals.
"Student Rus! Was that salt created by magic or an artifact?!"
"Why are you asking that all of a sudden?!"
"It's extremely important! Quickly!"
"No, it isn't! I can sense mana, but it's definitely real!"
Good. That was the last confirmation I needed.
If salt is so scarce, why not just make it with magic? The answer is that it's possible — but then you'd be producing gold and jewels with magic too.
Salt created by magic can replicate its characteristics, but it's still mana and dissipates in short order. And it's catastrophically inefficient on top of that.
But all that salt, according to a 6th Rank's word, was the genuine article.
It was, in the truest sense, a scream of joy.
"Finance Director! You're not suggesting we try to take some of that salt with us, are you?! I know you love money, but surely not more than your life—"
"What are you talking about? Of course we run like hell!"
"Then why did you...?"
"Because now we at least know this mine is an absolute jackpot!"
I have no idea what principle is behind it, but if salt can be harvested from this rock salt mine in that manner, then investment is mandatory — even if I have to drag souls out of the afterlife to fund it.
Rock salt mining isn't simply a matter of extraction. Since rock salt is essentially a giant salt boulder, it has to be transported and crushed, washed if necessary, and if the impurities are too severe, dissolved entirely in water and then dried again for refinement.
But that wave of salt surging toward us now — for reasons unknown — was composed of individually perfect salt grains.
To put it bluntly, this isn't a mine. It's a vault. Just scooping and selling it outright would do more than recover the investment — it would be a straight shot at becoming the richest person on the continent.
It stings like hell that all of that belongs to someone else, but...
'Still, I might be able to wring something out of them under the guise of compensation.'
The situation is this: the Finance Director of Grandis Academy and a student have fallen into a rock salt mine. And the clear cause is Count Beryl's negligent management.
What's that about tremors? An unnatural suction force? What are those? In any case, it's the Count's fault. That's how it works.
They were literally one step from death, and had that happened, a walking nuclear warhead would have descended — so Count Anton is probably sweating buckets right now. Settling that with compensation counts as gentle in this era.
'Let's take the initial investment terms of tenfold return, bump it to thirtyfold, and halve the payment period.'
I'm being generous because I'm such a nice person. The mine's reconstruction has effectively succeeded anyway, so it's a win-win, isn't it?
As I kept running the numbers without pause, Rus's urgent voice reached me.
"Finance Director! I need your help!"
"Pardon? But what could I possibly..."
What could I actually do? Is there anything a lowly 1st Rank is capable of?
I figured the right move was to trust that Rus would save us and, as I'd been doing, think about what comes next.
"A fork is coming up! Pick whichever side looks safer!"
"But I haven't memorized the mine's layout!"
"It's fine! I said it's fine!"
Well, if she says it's fine, then it's fine. Coming from a 6th Rank who's outrunning a salt wave at insane speeds on foot alone, I'll just have to trust her.
A fork, she said.
"...Left."
"Got it!"
Why left? I just had a vague sense that left was safer. Usually, by cliché logic, the opposite path is the truly safe one.
Rus veered left without a flicker of hesitation. The salt was giving off a faint glow for some reason, so I could at least see that much.
...What is this?
"Next one, right. After that, the hole above us. Then straight ahead!"
"Got it!"
It was a deeply strange sensation.
In the near-total darkness where I could barely see a thing — couldn't even tell if a fork existed — directions flowed from my lips as naturally as breathing.
And I wasn't just saying things at random. I had a vague, maddeningly ambiguous certainty. An intuition that fleeing that way would get us out.
'Rus deflected when I asked earlier.'
I really do have memories of this mine. Without that, I couldn't explain finding that stone earlier, or what's happening right now.
But I've never been to this rock salt mine — nor even to Count Beryl's territory — before.
There's something fundamental that I don't know. And as for what that is.
'The protagonist of <Dark Kingdom>.'
Rus Spero knows.
Is it simply because she's the protagonist of <Dark Kingdom>? Or is there another reason?
It's ironic to be suspicious of Rus even as she saves my life, but didn't the rock salt mine tremor every time she approached in the first place?
It might be a wild leap, but could there be some connection between Rus and the mine?
The suspicion didn't last long, though.
Because the present moment was what mattered most.
"We're almost at that hole above! Once we're there...!"
"Hold on tight!"
"Hold on tight or not, Student Rus, your grip strength hurts—"
Tap!
Rus, airily ignoring my little reply, leaped.
The shaft was well over ten meters high, but with a 6th Rank's physical ability she reached the ceiling in an instant.
And slipped precisely into the hole I'd mentioned — a hole I hadn't even known was there — which was spacious enough to fit two people comfortably.
Right after that.
FWOOSH!
The fearsome salt wave swept through the passage below.
The wave barreled through with enough force to widen the shaft, surging up until it stopped just short of the hole. Had we been a little slower or mistimed it by a hair, we would've been swallowed by that mountain of gold.
I do love money, but I have no desire to die buried in it.
I couldn't stop the cold sweat from running down my back.
"Huff... huff... thank you, Finance Director."
"You did all the work, Student Rus. More to the point, the salt is gradually receding."
It was probably draining into the opening to Shaft 3 up ahead. The salt wouldn't surge infinitely, so now we just had to wait for it to subside.
...Come to think of it, how did I know there was an opening to Shaft 3 ahead?
Even in this very moment, I felt a nagging sense of wrongness. If possible, I might have pressed Rus — breathing hard right next to me — for answers.
'But not right now.'
Without Rus, I'd be dead. To interrogate the person who saved my life — too ungrateful even to be called human.
That conversation could come later. Now wasn't the time. I bowed my head toward Rus with genuine respect.
"I truly mean it, Student Rus. I owe you my life. I will repay this debt, one way or another."
"...You don't need to worry about it. I've already been repaid more than enough."
"I've done very little for you, Student Rus."
If anything, hadn't I been the one receiving help — the monthly rent, breakfast, the financial audit?
Our first meeting at the entrance ceremony had started off badly, but now I regarded Rus with tremendous goodwill. Enough to think that a protagonist truly lived up to the title.
"Those eyes."
"Pardon?"
"Those eyes... I missed them."
"Student Rus? What do you—"
Just as I was about to press her on a remark I couldn't simply let slide, Rus's expression, which had been relaxing in relief at our survival, hardened.
Still gripping that worn sword, she glared down through the hole at the salt wave, which had begun to slow but was still rushing by.
"No way."
"Student Rus?"
"...Stay here. Do not move, no matter what!"
With that, she leaped straight down through the hole. Not having slung me over her shoulder this time, she landed on the fast-flowing salt wave with no apparent difficulty and stood firm.
Hmm. So, in other words...
'Asking her to grab some salt while she's down there would be a bit much, wouldn't it?'
But that's so much money.
Should I just close my eyes and ask anyway?
*
Something was coming.
Rus, who'd barely survived thanks to Adam's help, sharpened her senses once more and drew a small cut on her fingertip.
A few salt grains struck the wound, sending jolts of pain through her, but she readied herself to anoint the Dark Sword with blood and awaken it at any moment.
'Adam will be fine.'
This rock salt mine had originally been one of the safehouses used by the previous Adam.
After Count Anton's mine reconstruction had failed and the mine was effectively abandoned, it became a suitable place for Adam and Chloe — fugitives on the run — to stay.
Asking Adam for directions had been part of that. For reasons she didn't understand, Adam was still faintly recovering memories of his past.
Nothing had been amiss from the entrance ceremony until now. So why had he suddenly started remembering?
With no time to guess at the reason, Rus drew her worn sword and split the salt wave before her.
CRACK!
She hadn't awakened it into the Dark Sword with blood. Unleashing the Dark Sword in front of Adam was dangerous, and more importantly, Kassandra's words weighed on her.
'She said that if I unleash the Dark Sword, whatever's underground will react.'
She had a rough guess as to what that underground something was. Still, she prepared herself to use the Dark Sword if it came to that.
Because whatever was approaching felt dangerous enough to warrant it.
Thump.
A heartbeat sounded. At first, she thought it was her own racing heart, tense as she was.
But the heartbeat was clearly coming from outside.
From within that salt wave.
'I'm sure of it.'
The entity that had responded to Rus's Dark Sword and sent tremors through the entire rock salt mine.
The entity that had dragged Rus and Adam into this mine.
The entity that had stirred up the salt wave to bury them.
The "unpleasant thing" Kassandra had mentioned.
"A Sacred Relic..."
Thump! Thump!
From within the now-halted salt wave, something resembling a heart slowly rose into the air.
Annoyingly, Kassandra had been right. It pulsed like a living heart, but that artifact was not truly alive.
There were never many things in this world capable of reacting to the Dark Sword.
And as far as Rus knew, a Sacred Relic was more than enough to provoke a reaction from the Dark Sword — and then some.
'Why is a Sacred Relic here?'
That was the problem. The Sacred Relic was an artifact kept by the Holy Kingdom, fallen though it might be. An object said to have been crafted by the god who created this world, using his own heart.
Its power rivaled that of the Dark Sword, which granted wishes, and it existed on a conceptual dimension — meaning it was impossible to destroy.
Yet this Sacred Relic was not in its complete form. It was roughly one-third of its full size, as if it had been shattered into three fragments.
'In the previous cycle, we didn't go to the Holy Kingdom until after Kirke had already stirred up trouble. Does that mean this fragment of the Sacred Relic was sleeping in this mine even back then?'
But the previous Adam had definitely used this place as a safehouse. If the fragment had been quietly dormant then, why was it reacting to the current Adam now?
And what, in the first place, could possibly have shattered a Sacred Relic — a conceptual-dimension artifact — into pieces?
'...Kassandra.'
The list of questions for that damn self-proclaimed prophet had grown long indeed.
The fragment — still unmistakably a Sacred Relic despite being broken — rose into the air, emitting a faint divine power along with its light.
The vast bed of salt beneath Rus's feet began to tremble.
'Don't tell me the first tremor was caused this way too?'
Had the artifact extracted pure salt from the rock salt mine and manipulated it to forcibly generate an earthquake across the surrounding area?
Had an artifact with no will of its own committed such an act on its own?
As the questions multiplied, Rus unhesitatingly smeared blood onto her worn blade.
The Sacred Relic's fragment had awakened on its own simply from sensing the Dark Sword. There was no reason to hesitate now.
'If it's the Dark Sword, I should be able to cut that fragment down.'
Both were relics of the same conceptual dimension, so interference should be possible.
She'd never seen the Sacred Relic before, including in the previous cycle. But it was attacking her and Adam — she had to give it everything—
WHOOOOM!!!
"...?"
But the reaction between the Dark Sword and the Sacred Relic far exceeded Rus's expectations.
The Dark Sword, awakened by her blood, began to emit its characteristic ominous aura — and then, suddenly slipping free of Rus's control, it shuddered violently.
The Sacred Relic's fragment, upon seeing the awakened Dark Sword, spun furiously and set the salt wave in motion once more.
Rus moved instantly to swing the Dark Sword as she always did.
"Ngh?!"
WHOOOM!
The Dark Sword thrummed without pause and refused to obey her hand. Instead, as if demanding more blood, it moved of its own accord, slicing into Rus's arm and drinking deep.
The sudden agony, and the weapon momentarily lost from her grip — that was time enough for the Sacred Relic's fragment to flare with light and command the salt.
'This is—!!'
Thunk!
Her sole weapon, the Dark Sword, was savaging her, and the Sacred Relic's fragment shaped a spear of salt and launched it at her.
Salt, hardened solid by divine power, became a razor-sharp spearhead and pierced Rus's abdomen.
Even that — only because the reflexes born of countless battles had thrown her body aside at the last instant — had spared her a direct strike to the heart.
"Kuh-huk!!"
Blood surged up her throat. Agony ripped through her. Salt scattered from the spearhead and clung to the wound.
Literally everything around her had turned against her.
The Sacred Relic's fragment, still rampaging, formed another spear of salt. The Dark Sword, still thirsting for blood, shredded Rus's arm to ribbons.
And then, at the moment the salt spear finally aimed true for Rus's heart—
"Student Rus!!!"
Someone threw themselves desperately from the hole above.
Along with a wet, piercing sound.
"Huh...?"
Patter.
Adam's hot blood, his heart pierced in her stead, splattered across Rus.