Royal Warehouse (2)
Royal Warehouse (2)
When I said I would escort her instead, the Prince glared at me once more.
Even so, the Prince didn't seem to realize that I was Princess Aisha's escort.
Instead, he kept pressing the Grand Archduchess to meet with him.
"Then, I shall see you at the next royal ball. It keeps being delayed because Father is ill, but we must hold it eventually. Or, if you wish to see me, you may visit at any time."
"Thank you for the invitation."
The Grand Archduchess politely declined, and the Prince, unable to let go of his lingering attachment until the very end, returned to the Prince's Palace with the other nobles.
Once the commotion had died down, the Grand Archduchess went to meet the King of this country.
The Royal Palace Chief Steward guided the Grand Archduchess, while the royal palace knights escorted her.
The Duchy Knights couldn't enter the royal palace because of that custom.
It was a dead custom, resurrected for some bizarre reason, but now that it had been brought back, they had no choice but to comply.
The Duchy Knights waited outside the palace for the Grand Archduchess to return, and I was the only one of her followers who had come with her and stayed by her side.
I walked down the palace corridor, escorting the Grand Archduchess from a step behind.
Although I'd been inside the royal palace before, I'd never ventured this deep into the main palace.
As we passed the audience chamber with its ornate doors and the King's office, which seemed steeped in history, I noticed a door guarded by knights at the side of the corridor.
It was clearly the door to the drawing room attached to the bedchamber. However, it was far too massive to be called a mere drawing room door.
It was the largest drawing room door I'd ever seen in my life.
And for good reason: behind it lay the bedchamber and drawing room of this kingdom's ruler.
I couldn't enter.
The Grand Archduchess went inside, while I stood at a distance, staring blankly at the wall.
And yet, before I could even blink a few times as I stared at the wall, the Grand Archduchess emerged again.
She came out so quickly that it seemed she'd done nothing more than exchange greetings.
"I only offered my greetings."
From what the Grand Archduchess told me later, it seemed she'd really received only a brief greeting.
"I know this well from my own experience of being ill for a long time... Though he maintained a neat appearance, his health seemed to be in a very poor state."
It seemed the King had intended to project an image of good health to the Grand Archduchess, signaling his vigor to the Grand Prince.
Unfortunately, the Grand Archduchess saw through his plan immediately.
Whether it was because of the Grand Archduchess's own long history of illness or because the King was too sick to hide it, his condition was worsening by the day.
After meeting the King, we headed back down into the palace basement.
We were there to fulfill the purpose of our visit to the royal palace.
The Royal Warehouse had been established deep underground, right when the foundations of the palace were being laid.
The founding king, Knight Carlos, had been the first to place the various treasures he obtained during the Great War in the warehouse, and the kings who succeeded him stored even more treasures and artifacts there.
Having endured for hundreds of years, the Royal Warehouse had become the epicenter of all sorts of rumors. It was now the dream utopia of every young boy in the Kingdom.
'Since I am one of those boys as well.'
It was no wonder my heart went thump-thump as we descended into the depths.
We descended for a long time.
It felt as though we'd passed the depth of a parking garage from my past life, going even deeper than a subway platform.
Fortunately, the Grand Archduchess didn't seem to find the descent difficult, though I was a little worried about the climb back up.
Security was incredibly tight, too.
There were several doors along the way down, as well as a checkpoint just before the warehouse.
Perhaps they'd been notified of the Grand Archduchess's arrival in advance, because the iron gates along the way were wide open. She also passed through the checkpoint without being questioned.
But I was stopped at the checkpoint and almost barred from going down.
"Alex De Gracia? The Duke of Gracia shouldn't have a son named Alex."
In front of the half-open iron gate, an old noble who looked stubborn to a fault glared at me.
The Grand Archduchess, waiting ahead, furrowed her brow, and another knight approached the noble to whisper to him.
"Well... he is an illegitimate son."
"What? Why is a bastard coming here?"
The knight's quiet whisper had been completely in vain.
The inspecting noble's voice echoed through the entire underground passage.
At his words, the Grand Archduchess started to step forward, and the knight quickly spoke up again.
"He came as the Grand Archduchess's escort. He is a fellow Academy student."
The noble looked back and forth between the Grand Archduchess and me before finally letting me through.
Even without seeing his expression, it was glaringly obvious that he found the relationship between the Grand Archduchess and me highly suspicious.
No matter how hard I worked or how much I proved my skills, whenever I met someone who knew nothing about me, I was forced to face the reality of my position.
In the past, whenever this happened, I'd think of taking my mother and hiding away somewhere quiet. But now, a different thought writhed deep within my chest.
The desire to bring everyone who looked down on bastards to their knees and sweep away both the idiotic prince and the King was rearing its head.
But my companions—the people who truly knew me—were keeping that dark urge in check.
'Still, I can't just let this slide.'
I etched the inspecting noble's face deep into my memory.
At the final checkpoint, the other knights came to a halt.
From that point to the warehouse, only the authorized individual and a single escort were permitted to proceed.
The Grand Archduchess and I walked through the ancient passage and approached a massive door.
It was covered in strange, intricate patterns.
In front of the door others referred to as the entrance to the Royal Warehouse stood a figure with a robe pulled low over their face.
"Are you the ones who have come to view the Royal Warehouse this time?"
Though I couldn't see his face, neither the atmosphere he exuded nor the mana flowing from him suggested he was any ordinary person.
I had no way of knowing who he was, and I hadn't heard anything about him.
But the Grand Archduchess handled his question smoothly.
"Are you the warehouse keeper? Yes, that is correct. My escort and I have come to visit the Carlos Royal Warehouse."
I didn't know whether the Duchy operated in a similar fashion or whether she'd been tutored separately, but at the Princess's response, the warehouse keeper nodded.
"It is not often that someone visits accompanied by an escort, but since you are a lady, it is not entirely incomprehensible."
There was something slightly odd about the warehouse keeper's words.
He didn't seem to know exactly who the visitor was.
"I shall now open the door. As you know, the items inside cannot be taken outside without official permission."
"Is it alright if we do not remove our artifacts before entering?"
The Grand Archduchess showed her hands to the warehouse keeper.
The rings and bracelet sparkled in the light hanging on the wall. All of those accessories were artifacts.
She, too, seemed to think the artifacts she possessed might pose a problem when entering the Royal Warehouse.
Looking at her hands, I prayed in my heart as well.
Hoping that at least a single dagger would be fine.
The warehouse keeper replied.
"It is fine."
Nice!
"You do not need to remove your artifacts. Every artifact stored in this Royal Warehouse is registered to the vault. They will not mix with other artifacts, nor can they be smuggled out. It does not matter what kind of artifacts you bring inside."
That was nice and all, but wait—if that was the case, there was no need to leave anything behind on purpose!
And that middle checkpoint had only asked for my name for no reason. Somehow, I felt both relieved and annoyed.
"This Royal Warehouse itself is a single artifact. We are storing treasures inside an artifact. That is also why someone like me was appointed as the Royal Warehouse keeper."
The warehouse keeper placed his hand on the door.
Hum.
As the door vibrated, my hand instinctively went to my sword.
That was because I could feel mana surging toward the door.
It was an aura stronger than that of an average knight, even surpassing that of a boss-grade monster.
Seeing my hand move toward my sword, a chilly aura emanated from within the robe.
"To perceive this aura... are you of royal blood?"
Since I was the son of a Duke, I was technically related to royalty if you traced the lineage back far enough.
But that was probably not what the warehouse keeper was asking.
He was asking if I possessed 'Mana Resonance,' the innate ability said to be held only by the Carlos royal family.
My senses had sharpened, and I could feel and see mana, so it wasn't as if I lacked the ability entirely, but...
Even when I checked the information window, 'Mana Resonance' was still in the process of being unsealed.
And I had absolutely no idea how to unseal it.
Well, even if it weren't in the process of being unsealed, it wasn't as if I could simply claim to be royalty.
I shook my head.
"It seems I was mistaken."
He turned his head back, and before long, the door overflowing with mana began to move.
Grrr.
The door swung wide open with a grand, rumbling sound.
Incredibly, as it opened, the warehouse inside lit up brightly.
Even from outside, the light was blinding.
"Follow me. There are a few precautions to keep in mind while looking around inside."
The Grand Archduchess followed him, and I stepped into the warehouse behind her.
The inside of the warehouse was, quite literally, a treasure trove.
Gold coins were piled high on one side, while precious gems rolled around on the other.
"You must not take even a single gold coin out by mistake. An anomaly will be reported immediately, bringing the knights running, but even before that, something unfortunate will happen to you personally."
He didn't explain what that unfortunate thing would be.
We continued past countless treasures.
The warehouse keeper seemed completely unfazed, likely because he'd seen it all countless times, and the Grand Archduchess was incredibly calm, as if this level of treasure meant nothing to her.
As expected, the problem was me, the poorest of the lot.
Though I'd escaped absolute poverty by making money from artifacts, seeing gold, silver, and jewels piled up like this made my eyes spin.
I barely held myself back because of my greed for artifacts, but plans to secretly rob the treasure vault kept unfolding in my head.
Passing through the gold, silver, and jewels, we arrived at a place where old antiques awaited us.
In my past life, these would have been antiques worthy of appearing on a TV appraisal show, but the items here were no ordinary antiques.
They were all artifacts that contained mana or could use it.
"I heard you came to see the artifacts here. You may take your time and look around calmly."
The warehouse keeper, who'd been speaking quietly, suddenly raised his voice.
"However, you must absolutely NOT! touch this sword."
The warehouse keeper pointed to a sword standing far off in a separate area.
Chains were draped around the sword, and a warning was written in stark red letters in front of it.
[Do Not Approach, Do Not Touch]
What a terrifying warning. Was the sword doused in radiation or something?
As the Grand Archduchess and I stared at him, the warehouse keeper explained the sword.
"This is the Sword of Death. Since the passing of the founding King Carlos, not a single person who touched this sword has survived."
They really die?
[That sword is indeed an artifact used by the Hero. It's the sword that the Muscle Idiot, Knight Carlos, used to wield. He used to carry two swords: a shiny one and that black one.]
"While the Knight's Sword was passed down through generations into the hands of the kings, this sword had no one capable of wielding it, so it ended up sealed here."
[Carlos used it perfectly fine. Come to think of it, was that why he didn't let any of the other Heroes even lay a finger on it?]
A sword that kills anyone who touches it. A useless sword because it brings death to its wielder.
But I was closer to death than anyone else, having experienced it countless times.
To me, the word 'dying' was not much different from saying 'it's going to hurt like hell.'
I swallowed hard as I stared at the sword.