Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Infermer, the City Where the Dragon Sleeps (2)
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Dragons, drakes, atailatl. In every culture and every race, they were an ancient species now only found in legendary tales.
One of the races that fell during the Ancient Celestial War, their numbers hadn't even reached a hundred individuals back then, or so the records say.
They were the ruling species that had dominated this world since the material realm first stirred to life, quasi-divines who attained immortality at birth.
“Dragons? There’s a dragon?”
“Yes! Y-Yes!! I-I’ll guide you there!”
“? Does the path split again inside?”
“No! Th-the path only goes one way...?”
Fernandez tilted his head as he looked down at the panting vampire.
“Then what use are you anymore?”
“The s-seal! This gate is sealed. I can undo it. J-just spare me, and I’ll...”
Indeed, this massive gate pulsed with extraordinary magic. Fernandez gazed at the red iron chains wrapping around the door.
Chains woven from mana twisted together in intricate patterns. He smirked.
“[Tellaine’s Blood Chains], huh. Been a while since I’ve seen them.”
“?!!?! How?!”
-Sizzle.
When Fernandez lightly touched the chains, they heated up red-hot, scorching his fingers. He slowly withdrew his hand and stroked his chin.
“A textbook seal. Looks like they followed the book to the letter.”
“Y-you... You’re a mage?!”
What kind of mage slaughters vampires with swordplay?! The vampire flapped his mouth in confusion.
“I’ve pretty much memorized the Tellaine school’s secret tomes.”
“The secret texts that were never leaked outside...”
-Crack.
Fernandez’s sword sliced through the vampire’s neck. The vampire’s head hit the ground, frozen in a mask of shock and terror.
Fernandez swung his sword once to shake off the blood and smiled.
“Not leaked yet. Not yet.”
-Clink.
Fernandez sheathed his sword and stood before the sealed door.
Tellaine’s Blood Chains were no easy spell, but they were still just a spell he knew. He recalled painstakingly acquiring and dissecting their secrets after the fall of Franzrit.
The materialized Feizashi frowned at the door.
-A dragon...
‘Probably just remains.’
-Probably. But surprising. Were there dragon remains in Infermer?
‘Never heard that.’
No matter how ancient, if dragon remains had been unearthed in his past life, he’d remember it.
The Infermer he knew was merely the ‘Franzrit bloodline’s forward harbor.’ If dragon remains were there, or if they’d done something with them, records would surely exist.
‘If their plan was the same before our intervention, doesn’t that mean the dragon remains clashed with the Gaimern royals?’
-The Gaimern royals abandoned the harbor over a dragon?
‘High possibility. The picture’s starting to form.’
-Zzzzt.
Fernandez tapped the sealed door thoughtfully. Dragon remains.
-Ssss...
With his hand seals, the red chains binding the door snapped one by one.
[Mystic Sight] was an artifact specialized in magical analysis. No matter how elaborate the seal, it couldn’t stop Fernandez with the answer key in hand.
-Zzt...
The final chain holding the seal broke. Fernandez smiled and pushed the door.
-Whoooosh.
A gust from deep underground carried stale mana. The seal had been blocking leaks to the outside.
Probably to fool the elves’ sensitive senses. As the mana dispersed, a staircase shrouded in darkness appeared before his eyes.
‘Dragon remains. Tempting.’
-Dragon hyoid... The superior posterior surface of the hyoid would be useful. Nice.
Fernandez descended the stairs slowly.
*
Kirhas hid in the alley. The ‘weird guy’ she’d been tailing was definitely alone at first, but by the time she snapped out of it, they were swarming every alley.
‘Sh-should I contact Silver Duke? Is it too soon?’
Those ‘weird guys’—the suspicious ones in ragged cloaks gripping gleaming blue daggers—hadn’t done anything blatantly heretical yet.
If she called Fernandez and it turned out they were just starving slum-dwellers, how could she face him?
Kirhas clutched the censer in her bosom and glared at them.
The alley was dark, but catfolk had better night vision than humans. This gloom was easier to see through than daylight.
“C’eaxi? Cohic, Oraion?”
They conversed in an unfamiliar tongue. Silver Duke would’ve known and explained, but Kirhas drooped her ears in thought.
No matter how much knowledge she crammed from the Heretica archives, she couldn’t match Fernandez’s wisdom.
No matter how much swordsmanship the Heretica brothers taught her, as a ‘Demonica,’ his combat prowess outstripped simple fighting.
‘Am I useless?’
Even on the last mission, ‘chain-breaking,’ it was the same. How useless must she be for him to evacuate her and solo the enemies?
The report later showed Silver Duke had taken down a lich, werewolves, and a heretical sect leader in those few days.
“Oraion! Drako Un muck wit Vampirr!”
Then, one ‘weird guy’ shouted loudly. Kirhas snapped to attention and focused ahead. From deeper in the alley, a hulking man emerged.
The man wore only pants; his bulging torso was covered in intricate blue tattoos.
He dragged a scrawny, slum-dweller-looking man by the throat with one hand.
‘What are they doing?’
“Vampirr? Huh! Crac un wit mact!”
-Crack!
The man snapped the slum-dweller’s neck outright. The victim died without a groan.
He tossed the corpse to the ‘weird guys,’ who began carving it with their blue daggers.
Soon, a blue light flashed from the body, and black smoke billowed up, coalescing briefly into a crow shape before scattering into the air.
‘Heretics!!! Silver Duke!!! I did it!!!!’
She had to report to Fernandez! Kirhas gripped the censer and pictured his face.
As always: black hair, refined nose, sharp eyes, aristocratic jawline, cynical gaze brimming with wisdom...
“...?”
“Chock?”
Then, the crow’s eye in midair turned toward Kirhas’s hiding spot. She stared blankly. For some reason, it seemed to smile...
-Screeeeech!!!
“Deck!!!!”
“Deck hum Eld?!”
A earsplitting shriek rang out, and the cultists turned as one toward her spot, shouting.
The musclebound giant gestured at Kirhas, and light burst—peng!—exposing her from the shadows.
“Uh, h-hi... N-nice night, huh!”
Kirhas forced a trembling smile, sweat beading. The cultists fell silent a moment, so she backed away slowly.
“W-well, have a good day! I’ll be off!”
“Xich!”
“CrrrA!!!”
“Kyaaaak!!!”
With the giant’s roar, the cultists charged! Kirhas bolted from the alley, yelling.
“Silver Duke!!! Perverts are chasing me!!!”
*
‘Hm.’
Fernandez flinched and halted. The stairs stretched endlessly.
With vision so limited, he couldn’t gauge the depth. No trap traces, but caution never hurt.
-What’s wrong? No traps.
‘No, just a weird feeling.’
Fernandez rubbed his neck and continued down. How deep had they dug? If it was a dragon slain late in the Celestial War, it was at least two thousand years old...
‘Oh?’
Light flickered far ahead. The passage ended between half-collapsed doors. Fernandez crouched low and slipped through. The wall carvings looked familiar.
‘Archaic era ruins.’
-A tomb. The Franzrits did well to excavate this. Bastards.
A dragon dead in war wouldn’t be intact, but a preserved tomb like this meant substantial remains.
‘Ancient serpent script. Incredibly valuable site.’
-No time for academic value.
‘Foolish. Mages are scholars. This should make your heart race.’
-If you had a heart to race.
Fernandez chuckled at Feizashi’s words.
Past the entrance, a cliff plunged into the depths. The ruins were grander than expected.
Fernandez stood at the cliff’s edge, eyeing the makeshift stairs below. Twisted wood—more ladder than stairs.
‘Break that, and it’s chaos.’
Water trickled down the cliff in spots. Scaling it looked tough. Sever the stairs, and he’d be trapped in this isolated underground ruin.
-Whoooosh.
A wind laden with potent mana rose from below. Reeked of dark magic.
Mages down there were up to something. Dragon remains probably at the bottom.
‘This is...’
For emergencies, the censer was with Kirhas. Fernandez pondered.
Entering an ancient ruin known only to cultists and vampires, no outside contact...
-Report to Gaimern and end it. Calling backup is wiser.
‘Then the elf king monopolizes the remains.’
-Dragon remains aren’t our goal, Fernandez. Not worth the risk.
‘What is our goal? Uncover and thwart Franzrit’s plans. We must learn what they did to seize Infermer and oust the Gaimern dynasty.’
Not loyalty to Gaimern’s king, but curiosity about how Franzrit beat them and claimed northeastern seas in his past life.
Currently, Franzrit’s naval power was negligible. Sure, as Serpentsisle’s great noble, they had a fleet, but not enough for elf ships.
Eradicate heretics. Vampires too were foes of civilized society. But that didn’t make elves humanity’s allies.
For humanity’s civilization and the Holy Pantheon’s ultimate victory, exclude vampires, heretics, and elves—claim the northeastern coast for the civilized world.
‘And our scarcest resource is time, Feizashi. Dragon remains could save us some.’
-...True.
The debate ended. Plans had variables. Fernandez would exploit them.
The doomsday clock ticked on; his solo actions were limited.
-Creeeak.
The wooden stairs groaned under his weight. One misstep, and snap. Fernandez smiled and descended.
*
“Still inside? You sure?”
“Yes, those humans didn’t even eat dinner.”
“Humans eat at least two meals a day? Weird...”
Leia glared at the firmly shut door, tilting her head. When meeting the king, Fernandez had strutted like he’d butcher vampires on sight. Yet still holed up?
-Knock knock.
“May I come in?”
No response from inside. Leia knew inquisitors and such could fool elf senses with special arts. But this was eerily quiet.
“Just open it. He’ll speak if he minds.”
-Creeak.
Spotting the empty room through the gap, Leia dashed in. Curtains fluttered in the window breeze.
“R-rude humans!”
Fuming, she scanned quickly. Luggage intact—so not gone for good; no arms, so he’d gone out...
‘Seat’s still warm.’
Faint heat lingered on the bed. Leia vaulted the windowsill, shouting.
“Don’t report today’s events!”
“Y-yes!”
-Thud!
She leaped out, glaring at the harbor. Where to start? Pathetic. Less than half a day since the king ordered surveillance, and she’d lost him!
‘Sharp human. Really.’
So, think. Where would a human start tracking? Something he had to do outside her watch?
*