Relics in the Pouch
Relics in the Pouch
Only God knows how deeply I love you.
The only reason I endured your father's cold indifference and the tyranny of your elder mother, the Countess, was you, my beloved son.
If you succeed in this task, your father, Count Chaipree, will surely acknowledge you and name you his heir.
This is a promise the Count made to me explicitly. For your own sake, and for mine, you must succeed in this mission, no matter what.
As you know... (omitted)... what the Count gave you is a map showing the location and internal layout of the ruins in the Seal Grounds, along with the seal ring obtained at that time...
This mother of yours will spend every single day praying that you return with the treasures of the ruins and ascend to the title of count as soon as possible, so please do your absolute best, my son.
I love you always.>
Even rereading the letter, I could feel the terrible greed and stubborn obsession dripping between the lines.
Inheriting the family line seemed insanely important to other people.
Anyway, the long letter detailed everything about the map and the signet ring.
The map and signet ring were items brought back by an ancestor of the Chaipree family.
The ancestor of the Count's family had been a soldier serving the Founding King, Knight Carlos.
During the Great War, he had apparently followed Knight Carlos and played a part in sealing the Demon King in the Seal Grounds.
Along the way, he seemed to have met the last magician of the ruined Old Empire and obtained this map and signet ring.
The letter rambled on about how he had returned to the Kingdom to establish his family line, and how one of his children had married King Carlos's daughter and become nobility.
As a third party, I couldn't for the life of me tell whether this rambling backstory was just boasting about their lineage or trying to emphasize how critical it was to become the family heir.
At any rate, it seemed the Chaipree family had spent centuries sending mercenaries, knights, and retainers to the Seal Grounds in search of the ruins depicted on the map.
After hundreds of years of searching, they finally managed to narrow down the ruins' location to some degree, fifty years ago, prompting the Count to dispatch his son and an order of knights.
"But in the end, it all ended with everyone dying before they could even set foot inside the ruins, huh."
And so, the map and signet ring had passed through Ride's hands and ended up with me.
I folded the letter and tucked it into the pouch.
Then I examined the map.
"It's because of items like these that people never stop coming to the monster-infested Seal Grounds."
This peninsula on the eastern end of the continent, known as the Seal Grounds, had once been the heart of the Old Empire.
It was where the Demon King had first emerged, and the very reason the glorious Old Empire had perished overnight.
Though it was now known as the Seal Grounds—where the Demon King was sealed and monsters teemed—many relics and ruins from the Old Empire still remained here.
The ruins drawn on the papyrus were one such place.
You couldn't tell just how grand the ruin was; if you were unlucky, it might turn out to be completely useless—a total hit-or-miss gamble.
Previously, exploring a simple tomb with Katrin—not even a ruin-level site—had yielded decent relics and treasures.
Since even a tomb yielded such spoils, I could somewhat understand why people lost their minds over proper ruins.
The papyrus had maps drawn on both sides.
The front showed the terrain where the ruins were located, while the back depicted the ruins' internal structure.
"It's going to be tough to find it with just this..."
The interior map seemed to have many missing sections, and the terrain map was hard to make out, given how the landscape had transformed into a dense jungle over time.
That must have been why the Chaipree family had spent centuries searching for the ruins.
"Fifty years ago, they must have narrowed down the location to a fair degree, seeing as they sent their knight order and their son to the Seal Grounds."
Considering they hadn't sent anyone back since and had frantically searched for this pouch instead, it seemed this map and signet ring played a crucial role in verifying the ruins' location.
"Or maybe it's because of this signet ring..."
The emblem engraved on the ring matched the crest on the dead knight's armor.
In other words, it was the crest of the Chaipree family.
Since the emblem on this ring must have existed before the family was even established, their family crest was clearly modeled after the design on the ring.
"Which ultimately means this signet ring is the official seal of the Chaipree family..."
This signet ring was the official seal of the head of the Chaipree family.
"I haven't heard any rumors about the Chaipree family losing their official seal, so could the seal they currently use actually be a fake?"
If so, the Chaipree family desperately needed to recover this signet ring.
It might not cause any issues in normal times, but if an internal family war broke out or they had to sign something like a pledge scroll to install a king, the real seal would be an absolute necessity.
"In a situation like this, with a civil war looming between the princes, this official seal would be indispensable when backing one of the factions."
Come to think of it, this signet ring seemed far more important than a hit-or-miss treasure map with an uncertain location.
But this signet ring didn't look like something I could make use of right away, either.
"I'm already more than satisfied with the gold coins, so I'll seal away the map and signet ring for now."
I stuffed the ring, map, letter, and gold coins back into the pouch.
"Speaking of which, this pouch itself seems to be quite an impressive artifact."
Its capacity didn't quite match that of the artifact bags in the Kingdom's royal treasury, but a surprising amount of space was hidden inside this small pouch.
The tiny pouch, easily held in one hand, could hold as much as a large bag—no, a small cart full of items.
With a capacity like this, one could comfortably live outdoors for extended periods carrying just this single pouch.
"For now, I'm content with the gold coins and the pouch."
After securing the pouch properly, I looked out into the dark forest.
Dawn was gradually breaking.
One by one, the sleeping people began to wake up.
"Are you feeling any better?"
"Mm. I can move around now."
Katrin's grimace had faded, too.
She moved this way and that, then sighed in relief.
She still looked a bit uncomfortable, but seemed able to move around to some extent.
As expected of a potion brewed by an alchemist, it truly deserved to be called a miraculous medicine.
In just a single night, it had managed to close wounds that had been gushing blood.
It hadn't healed the wounds instantly when the potion was poured on, as it would have in the novels or comics from my past life, but its effect of boosting the body's natural recovery power by more than ten times was truly phenomenal.
It was expensive enough to be out of reach for ordinary folk, but for nobles attending the Royal Academy, it wasn't much of a burden.
The students also looked more energetic than yesterday.
Though their expressions briefly darkened over Ride's failure to return, they seemed to recover well enough while washing up and preparing breakfast.
But Katrin's expression stiffened whenever Ride was mentioned.
Yesterday, she had seemed consumed by guilt, but now she looked troubled by something.
Breakfast ended quickly. Fortunately, everyone had brought one or two days' worth of rations, so no one starved.
"So, what should we do now?"
Hesus asked once everyone had gathered after the meal.
Hesus, a light ability user, hadn't been particularly useful in yesterday's fight, but he didn't seem like a bad guy.
"The others probably headed back before sunset yesterday, and a search party was likely left behind to look for us."
At his question, Katrin explained their current situation.
"Then once we meet the search party, can we head back right away?"
"No, it'll take about a week for the magic circle to recharge with mana. We have to endure here somehow until then."
At the news that they had to stay in the Seal Grounds for a whole week, everyone's faces darkened.
"Is it okay if we don't meet up with the search party?"
At Mirisa's follow-up question, Katrin wore a troubled expression.
Right now, it was hard to even be sure whether the search party had survived the night safely.
Yet it was just as hard to ignore them.
Last night, she had stopped anyone from moving because of their injuries and the danger, but now everyone had recovered to some extent, and she was capable of moving around herself.
Still, moving recklessly was risky, so her dilemma only deepened.
Right then.
Swish, thud!
Far off, deep in the forest, smoke shot upward and exploded into the sky.
It was a signal flare like the one they'd seen before.
"Is the search party still alive?"
Everyone looked up at the sky outside the cave in surprise.
'But the color is different...'
The signal flare they'd seen last time was blue. But the smoke from this one was red—a different color from before.
"That... is a distress signal."
Katrin gritted her teeth at the sight of the signal.
Even if she could move, her body wasn't ready to fight yet.
Nor could she send the students.
But I was capable of moving.
"I'll go."
Even last night, we hadn't been able to find the search party because we didn't know where they were. Even now, Katrin was agonizing over whether to go.
But when they were giving away their position like that, I couldn't just stand by.
Things had been pretty intense ever since I arrived at the Seal Grounds, but considering I'd saved Katrin's life again, this much effort was well worth it.
At my words, Katrin pondered for a long moment before finally granting permission.
"Just this once. Next time, I'm the one moving."
Having suffered enough last night, no one stepped forward to follow me.
Bria and Mirisa actually looked apologetic, while the two male students subtly averted their eyes.
Daylight had broken, and everyone left at the cave was more than capable of fending off weak monsters.
I departed immediately.
Leaping up into the trees once more, I began putting on my best monkey impression.
I leaped from tree to tree, cutting straight across the forest.
Having done it once before, I was noticeably faster this time.
After racing frantically through the forest like that, I caught up with the knights.
They were the knights I had seen yesterday.
Knight Axel and Knight Miro were battling monsters despite their injuries.
On the ground, one knight lay dead.
It was a knight I hadn't seen yesterday—likely the knight who had joined the search party in my place.
I leaped onto the head of the monster they were fighting and decapitated it with my greatsword.
Slash.
The startled knights stared at me.
"Are you alright?"
"Uh, you're that bastard son of the Duke, right?"
It felt like "bastard son" was being used as my nickname at this point.
I didn't like it, but there was nothing I could do right now.
After felling the monster, I stood before the knights and scanned the surroundings while they hurriedly tended to their wounds.
It was nothing more than pouring potions and wrapping bandages, but in this world, it was the best method available.
As he wrapped his bandages, Knight Miro asked.
"How did you survive the night?"
"I was lucky."
Honestly, luck had played a part, too. If even one little thing had gone wrong, it wouldn't have worked out according to plan.
At my words, the knight nodded. Since he didn't know my true skill, he had no choice but to attribute it to luck.
He immediately asked another question.
"Did you happen to find the stranded group?"
That was the most important question.
"Yes, I'm with them."
I nodded, and upon hearing my reply, the knights' expressions brightened.