I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse - Chapter 79

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

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◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈

Chapter 79: The Secret Room

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-Kyaaaah!

Pelerian was practically foaming at the mouth.

-A tourist attraction? Somewhere worth visiting with children?

I had no idea what had happened.

Still, it was clear that Pelerian's Dungeon, once belonging to the man known as the ‘Archmage Heaven-Defier,’ was now being treated like a tourist attraction.

If this were the modern world, it would probably show up in blog posts under search terms like “Places to visit in Kalea City” and “Recommended restaurants in Kalea City.”

“My child loved it. I strongly recommend it as a must-visit spot for families with children!”

-How can my honor be so thoroughly torn apart and violated?!

He seemed to be overreacting, so I said a word.

‘Well, it looks like it was looted long ago. You were famous enough that it probably became a tourist attraction.’

-How can a dungeon become a tourist attraction?!

‘Why can't it? Don't you have places like war memorials around here?’

-...What does that have to do with anything?

‘You said you were notoriously evil. People are drawn to villains. If there were a dungeon made by that villain, I'd want to visit it too.’

-Is that so...?

I was getting the hang of dealing with a loud, hot-tempered old man.

Pelerian was still fuming, his face red and blue, but at least he stopped shouting.

-We have to go see it. We absolutely have to.

‘Of course we do.’

I was also incredibly curious about what condition the dungeon was in.

It was supposedly a famous local tourist attraction, after all.

First, though, we needed to get a room and unpack.

“Give us your best room. One with two beds, and make sure it's clean.”

“Ooh, excellent. Go up to this floor. There's an empty room at the end of the hallway.”

“We haven't eaten, so it'd be nice to have a meal too.”

The innkeeper's face lit up.

“Our inn has the best food in Kalea. Roasted chicken is our specialty, and for dessert we have cherry pie with cream. Would you like some beer as well?”

“It's still midday, so no beer. Do you have juice?”

“We have fresh-squeezed orange juice, and coffee too.”

“One juice and one coffee. No... two juices and one coffee.”

When I tapped him lightly, Roil corrected the order.

“I'll pay in advance.”

The inn we found and the room we rented were quite expensive.

Considering the money Roil barely earned from a single trading trip, this was not the kind of place he could normally stay.

Yet Roil paid without hesitation.

The moment we entered the room, Roil took off his coat.

As soon as he did, I plopped onto the floor.

Then I claimed one of the beds with astonishing speed.

‘Wow! A bed!’

The mattress was stuffed thick with clean straw.

The blanket was filled with duck down.

Ah, I used to think a rotten hole in a tree was like a hotel, and now I was enjoying this luxury.

I was so happy that I bounced up and down on the bed.

The mattress's springiness made it even more fun.

“Wow, it's a bed!”

Amaen saw me and climbed onto the bed beside mine, bouncing along with me.

Jacky the puppy barked excitedly too.

This was fun.

“Huaaah...”

Perhaps he had been tense the whole time, because Roil dropped heavily onto the floor.

His hands trembled.

What a timid human.

“My heart is pounding.”

If he got that nervous over something like this, he would not live long.

I approached Roil.

Fortunately, he was no longer afraid whenever I came near him.

I took out the notebook and pen Amaen had given me and wrote:

‘Do not be afraid.’

“Ah, yes. I'm all right now.”

Roil was a merchant with a conscience.

He was grateful that I had saved his and his son's lives.

Until we investigated Pelerian's Dungeon, he would help me.

I had made him swear to keep my existence secret.

Still, I was a little worried, so I lied and told him I had placed a curse on both Amaen and Roil. If they failed to keep the secret, they would cough up blood and die.

Remembering how pale Roil had gone, I did not think he would betray me.

Naturally, as a merciful snake, I intended to pay him too.

I took out a piece of gold from my Subspace.

Thud.

What fell before Roil was a crafted bar of pure gold.

‘Sell this and exchange it for silver coins. Buy what you need, and you may keep the rest.’

It was one of the gold items I had taken from Pelerian's Dungeon.

Apparently, it would fetch a higher price if sold properly in a large city, but that could not be helped.

Roil carefully accepted the gold bar.

Then tears streamed down his face.

“You're giving something so precious to me... Saving our lives wasn't enough...”

Roil hugged the gold bar and burst into tears.

Amaen, who had been happily bouncing on the bed, also began to cry and hugged his father.

“You've given us more money than I could earn in half a year of trading...”

Huh, was it that expensive?

It would be awful to ask for half back now, right?

“Thank you, Master. Hic.”

With even Amaen sniffling and crying, asking for it back would make even me seem like complete trash.

I simply smiled mercifully.

-You're showing off with my possessions as though they were your own.

‘What's mine is yours, Old Man, and what's yours is mine.’

Roil bowed deeply and left the room.

While Amaen and I remained inside, the innkeeper brought our food.

Roasted chicken legs steamed beneath a coating of sweet brown sauce.

The cherry pie, packed with cream, was especially incredible.

‘Delicious!’

It seemed to contain only the flesh of cherries preserved in honey.

Together with black coffee, it made for a happy meal I had not enjoyed in a long time.

After eating, I placed a bowl, no, a flowerpot by the window.

I planted Kibaemi's seed in it.

I watered it just enough.

The spot received plenty of sunlight, so I hoped it would sprout.

Roil returned a while later.

He had even diligently learned more about Pelerian's Dungeon.

“It stays open until six in the evening. Local residents enter for free. Adults pay one silver, and children under thirteen pay five copper!”

Then how much would a snake cost?

It might be expensive, so I should sneak in.

Anyway, shall we go?

* * *

【Archmage Pelerian, Heaven-Defier】

「Pelerian Uglypus began his ugly life in an elven village within the Great Forest.

Elves are naturally born beautiful, but his appearance could never be called attractive.

Pelerian, who would have been called ugly even among humans, was said to have looked like an old man from childhood.

Perhaps it was only natural that he failed to adapt to elven society and began to twist.

Yet that prejudice is an error of reversing cause and effect.

It was not that his twisted appearance gave him a twisted heart.

Would it not be more accurate to say that he was born with a twisted heart, and even his appearance became twisted as a result?

When one recalls that all elves are born beautiful under the Moon God's blessing and live long lives through the mana of the World Tree, the answer is obvious.

Pelerian the Heaven-Defier was an ugly elf abandoned even by the gods...」

-Kraaaah!

Pelerian thrashed about in fury.

We were reading the information board in front of Pelerian's Dungeon.

The dungeon really had become a tourist attraction.

The entrance, which should have been hidden, stood wide open, and there was even a ticket booth in front of it.

-Which bastard wrote this kind of nonsense?!

It felt as though Pelerian might burst into tears at this rate.

Even I could see that the description was vicious. It was completely cruel.

‘But your surname was Uglypus? How can someone's family name be Ugly...?’

-No! How could that be? My surname is... Damn it!

Pelerian clamped his mouth shut as he tried to say his surname.

Changing even his name, what an impressive distortion.

‘Just endure it a little longer. If we keep reading, won't something turn up?’

There was another reason we were reading the sign.

‘It might contain things you don't remember.’

Strictly speaking, the Pelerian beside me was only part of Pelerian's soul.

Since the original body was presumed dead, Pelerian had no memories after separating from it.

-Right...

He must have been curious about how he had met his end as well.

「The evil deeds Pelerian committed in life are too numerous to list in full.

The most famous was likely the massacre on Pejite Island. On that day, seven hundred citizens of the kingdom and thirty elves died by his hand...」

I quietly looked at Pelerian.

-What? You think I don't know I'm a villain?

Pelerian gave a cruel smile.

-I did kill them. I did.

‘Who said otherwise?’

I continued reading through Pelerian's life.

Come to think of it, had Pelerian not been an elf supremacist?

How had thirty elves died?

Had they fought Pelerian on the human side to atone for the sins of their fellow elf?

「Yet the gods did not forgive that elf's tyranny.

After dozens of days of battle, the Empire and the Kingdom mobilized heroes and soldiers to pursue the wounded Pelerian.

The efforts of Caspian, master of the Magic Tower and the greatest Archmage of the time, were a blessing for the Kingdom in ending Heaven-Defier's life.

Pelerian died and was beheaded.

At last, the demon met his end.」

Ah.

So that was how Pelerian died.

-Caspian...

Pelerian seemed to know the person.

His face had turned pale.

-So you were the one who killed me in the end.

That was unfortunate.

If I had not been hiding inside Roil's coat, I would have patted Pelerian's back.

Come to think of it, Pelerian had occasionally talked about human mages more skilled than himself.

He could not accept it at all, but he had no choice but to acknowledge it.

Was Caspian that human mage?

“Huh, that's different from the history I learned.”

Clever Amaen said that.

What did he mean?

Was there perhaps a theory that Pelerian had not died?

“In the book I read, it said Pelerian was tied to a stake and burned alive.”

“I heard the Emperor personally tore him apart and fed him to crows.”

Roil said the same.

Pelerian's face, which had brightened for a moment, darkened again.

‘Forget it! Let's go inside!’

Who knew?

Come to think of it, the elves were also pursuing Pelerian's traces. We would have to find out properly later.

I urged Roil into the dungeon.

Torches lit the dungeon, which should have been dark.

I wondered whether tourists even came to Kalea City, but there were more people than expected.

There were especially many parents holding their children's hands.

The children pointed excitedly at different parts of the dungeon.

“These are the weapons collected by Pelerian. They are why this dungeon is presumed to have been Pelerian's armory.”

There was even a guide.

Weapon racks stood throughout the dungeon, with weapons of each kind displayed on them.

Glass cases erected nearby protected the weapons.

“The fact that the blades have not rusted despite the passage of time is due to the preservation magic Pelerian cast. Since the duration of preservation magic is a standard for measuring a mage's ability, we can see that his magical skills were truly exceptional.”

Sure enough, the weapons still gleamed and retained their lethality.

‘But why did you collect all these weapons?’

I asked what had been bothering me.

Pelerian was a mage, not a knight.

Yet there were enough weapons here to arm several hundred people.

Pelerian hesitated before answering.

-I intended to create guardians.

‘Guardians?’

Guardians were those who protected a mage.

In other words, they were bodyguards for a mage weak at close-range combat.

‘You said you used to live like a lone wolf.’

But was Pelerian not famous for having no friends?

He might have been friendly with Gnomes and dwarves, but it did not seem likely they would fight for Pelerian, the enemy of the continent.

-I meant to make them into golems.

‘...’

That determination to make friends yourself because you had no friends.

I felt a little sorry for him.

The guide continued.

“As you can see, some of the arms are very well made. It is presumed that they were dwarven weapons, but the dwarves here strongly deny that they made them.”

-Spineless bastards. They did make them.

There was a mine near Kalea City where dwarves lived.

Apparently, Roil also sold the beer he brought to them.

We toured the dungeon for quite some time.

They were supposedly dwarven-made, but they were all old and ordinary items.

The Elven Broadsword I had used before looked much better.

This was a little disappointing.

With so many people around, I could not take anything anyway.

Unlike me, Pelerian was not disappointed.

-What a relief. What an enormous relief.

‘What's such a relief?’

-Not everything was looted!

Pelerian smiled brightly.

-The most important room, the Relic Room, is still hidden.

The Relic Room.

Pelerian explained that particularly valuable weapons and armor were hidden there.

-Some of the equipment I intended for the four golems who would guard me at my side, the ‘Guardian Escorts,’ is hidden in the Relic Room. It's right over there.

There was nothing in the direction Pelerian pointed.

Only a smooth wall.

The humans had found Pelerian's Dungeon, but as the saying went, it was darkest beneath the lamp. They had failed to discover another room hidden within it.

-I concealed it with a mechanism. Do you see the carving in that right-hand corner?

An elaborate carving was engraved on the wall opposite the smooth wall.

If something were hidden, I would have expected it to be behind that wall instead.

-Place your tail on that eagle's head and pour mana into it. Follow the pattern I tell you.

A hidden room in a smooth wall, seriously.

I wanted to enter right away.

‘There are too many people.’

But there were all these people.

We might have to wait until closing time.

-There's no need.

Pelerian taught me a method.

The more I listened, the more plausible it sounded.