WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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◈ Sword Master of the Fallen Kingdom

Chapter 25

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The Forgotten City (5)

Warm. Cozy. For the first time in a long while since leaving the Magic Tower, Lena fell into a truly comfortable sleep.

How long had it been since she felt this way? She had not gotten proper rest for days. Of course she had not. She had lived in the Lenore Magic Tower from childhood until now, and sleeping rough outside was far too harsh for her. If not for Kyle, she might have given up long ago.

Sniff, sniff.

Something smelled good.

Lena slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a brick ceiling sealed tight overhead. Only then did she remember what had happened yesterday.

Right. I was inside a dungeon.

After blinking a couple of times, the haze in her mind gradually cleared. When she sat up, the thick brown fur draped over her slid down. Lena blinked in a daze. She had thought it felt strangely warm, and apparently it was not just in her head.

I think I heard something in my sleep last night...

But who put this over me?

"...Kyle-ssi?"

When she turned, Kyle was quietly staring at the lamp. He lifted his head and looked at her. Their eyes met for a moment, then Lena realized something and let out a sharp cry.

"Ah! My watch shift!"

"......."

"What time is it?"

"Six."

"If it's six, then..."

Had a whole day already passed?

Lena was about to open her mouth, but Kyle cut her off first.

"Don't apologize. And don't feel sorry. I didn't wake you on purpose."

He often looked out for her like this. Even after intentionally staying up all night, he moved around like nothing was wrong. Lena pressed her lips together. If she added extra words here, saying sorry or thank you over and over, it would probably be ruder.

"Did... did you cover me with this, Kyle-ssi?"

She lifted the brown fur she had been wrapped in.

"Yeah."

"Didn't we only have the blanket we bought at the general store?"

"I picked this up earlier."

"Huh?"

"It's a relic. It had a spell to keep body temperature stable. You were shivering in your sleep, so I covered you. Managing the employer's condition is part of escort duty."

Kyle answered like it was nothing. The conversation felt so natural Lena almost nodded without thinking.

"Drink. It'll settle your stomach."

He handed her a cup. White steam rose from it. It was Mist tea, the same tea she had drunk many times. Looking closer, she saw Kyle was holding the same kind of cup.

"Did you start a fire earlier?"

"There was a Heating Magic Tool."

"A Heating Magic Tool?"

"Yeah. One-use, but not bad. Good enough for a mood lift. I'll give you some dried fruit, eat it with that."

Kyle took a handful of dried fruit from his Inventory Pouch and placed it in Lena's hand. She hesitated for a moment, then started a simple breakfast with the tea.

"Listen while you eat."

After taking a sip, Kyle spoke.

"Today's schedule is the same as yesterday. Our destination is still the center of the ruins."

"......."

"But instead of only taking the shortest path, I plan to explore more around us. If we don't make enough money, there was no point coming into this dungeon. We got some breathing room from killing that Mimic yesterday, but not enough to drag our feet. You said two thousand Gold might be enough, but you never know how things go. It's better to plan to earn above the target."

"Um... is that really okay? What if it causes problems with escaping..."

Lena asked in a worried voice.

"That part is fine."

"It is?"

"These ruins are at least three hundred years old. They've held up for centuries, so stretching our schedule a little won't matter."

"But Erik-ssi said there were no survivors."

Because she had been beside Kyle the whole time, Lena had almost forgotten. Under normal circumstances, this was the kind of horrifying dungeon she would not even dare look at. Ruins of the Kingdom of Alenos, which had fallen three hundred years ago. A demonic place that had swallowed hundreds, maybe thousands of people.

"Rumors are just rumors."

"......."

"And even if it's true, it still won't be a major problem. If they built ruins this deep underground, they would not leave themselves with no way out."

"Th-that's true."

"If it comes to it, we'll cut a diagonal path to the surface. And once we reach the center, we'll get an answer one way or another. At least a clue."

In the end, time would solve that problem. After finishing his tea, Kyle lowered the cup, shook out the last drops, and started tidying up. Lena took the hint and packed the tough cloth blanket and brown fur into her Inventory Pouch.

"By the way, Kyle-ssi. Doesn't it smell like blood around here?"

Before leaving, Lena looked around and asked. There was a faint blood smell in the air, and there was also the brown fur and the one-use Heating Magic Tool Kyle said he had found. Somehow the surroundings felt different from yesterday.

Maybe she was imagining it.

"...Nothing happened."

After a short pause, Kyle answered quietly.

"Huh?"

"Let's go. There's no reason to stay here any longer."

"Ah, okay. Understood."

Lena nodded obediently and shoved the small doubt in her mind far away. As she had for the past few days, she hurried after Kyle as he led the way. The sound she heard in her sleep had probably been her imagination.

***

After leaving the room, Kyle and Lena moved through the ruins as they had the previous day. Kyle took the lead, aiming for the center while exploring the areas between.

The difference was that exploration now took up a larger share of their route. The outer zone had little to offer, but this area was different. The closer they got to the center, the more money and relics they found. Most were simple ornaments or mostly useless Magic Tools, but now and then something worthwhile turned up. Even miscellaneous relics could bring in decent money at auction.

"As expected. This is closer to an underground city than ordinary ruins."

"Huh?"

While they moved after filling their pouches, Kyle spoke. Lena, walking behind him, tilted her head.

"You said it before. That this felt like a huge underground city rather than a dungeon or labyrinth."

"Ah, I did. But I just said that casually."

"Maybe then. Not now."

Her vague guess had become reality. Kyle was half convinced.

Dungeons and labyrinths formed naturally from strong mana flows or monsters, but ruins were different. They were closer to ancient structures or places altered by the mystery called mana. Or places that were packed with powerful magic from the start and became ruins that way.

Most likely, these ruins of the Kingdom of Alenos were the latter.

An ark built against the fall of a nation, or its final hope and bastion.

"The more I see, the more curious I get about what's in the center."

Kyle muttered and picked up his pace. The number of monsters they encountered kept increasing.

It was not a major problem. Thankfully, they were still the same unimpressive types as before. Lena seemed used to it now. She did not scream or cry out anymore. She just watched from behind while the monsters died on their own.

Even as he steadily advanced, Kyle never stopped scouting his surroundings. He checked traces left in the ruins and occasionally used Top-grade Magicite to spread his senses wide. He heard no signs of people nearby, including the three men they killed yesterday.

He did find corpses.

Not skeletons stripped to bone, but bodies only a few days old, with postmortem stiffness already gone.

"Ugh...."

"That's the third one today already."

Kyle muttered. Right behind him, Lena grimaced at the body slumped against the wall.

"Kyle-ssi. This..."

"It hasn't been long. Judging by decomposition, two to three days."

Kyle crouched and examined the corpse. It had been torn apart by insects, the damage severe at a glance. The indescribable stench stabbing at their noses was a bonus. Nobles might not know this, but the smell of a dead body could be just as horrible as the sight.

But that was not what Kyle focused on. Wounds covered the rotting body, some shallow, some deep, carrying the marks of a highly trained assassin. This was not the work of ordinary mercenaries killing for loot.

A skilled killer, someone who could have ended it in one blow, had killed this person very slowly.

The reason was simple. To toy with them. Give them a sliver of hope and watch them run.

And the kind of people who did this were probably...

"Kyle-ssi?"

Lena called to him through her pinched nose. Kyle glanced at the corpse, stood, and closed his mouth.

"Is something wrong?"

"...No. It's nothing."

"Then..."

"From now on, stay right behind me. Don't fall back."

"Yes. Understood."

"That pendant you promised as payment. Do you have it on you now?"

The pendant with the blue sapphire, the one she had offered when she hired Kyle as her escort on the first day. Lena pulled the necklace from inside her clothes and held it out.

"Here."

"You can use it immediately, right?"

"The shield spell? Yes. If I pour in mana, I can use it right away."

"Then keep it ready at all times. Just in case."

At Kyle's grave tone, Lena stiffened and nodded. They moved through the ruins again.

"This way. No..."

"That way."

After briefly closing his eyes with a hand against the wall, Kyle changed direction off their original route. Lena stayed close behind him and walked quickly through the corridor without complaint.

Then.

"Wow...."

The scenery changed so suddenly Lena let out an involuntary gasp. Kyle surveyed the interior with calm eyes.

A massive space spread before them. Countless smoothly carved arched pillars descended from a high ceiling they could not see. Magic Stone Lamps mounted throughout gave off a stark white glow. On both sides of a wide central path, huge bookshelves nearly twice the height of a grown man stood in dense, orderly rows.

One word surfaced in Kyle's mind.

Grand library. Or a sovereign's secret archive containing the wisdom of an entire nation.

There was no better way to describe it.

It was that overwhelming.

"This place is..."

"Looks like a library. If we're lucky, we might find books related to ancient magic."

If his guess was right, these ruins were an underground city built for emergencies.

Of course there would be books preserving the knowledge of civilization.

A huge library or archive was only natural.

"As for people besides us..."

"......."

"Doesn't seem like anyone's here. It's huge, so we'll split up and search. If anything happens, shout immediately. And don't forget to use the pendant."

"Yes!"

Lena answered brightly. As soon as he finished, she whipped her head around and hurried with quick steps toward the nearest shelf.

Guess it's my turn too.

After taking in the forest of bookshelves, Kyle walked at an easy pace into one aisle. Books were tightly packed on both sides without gaps.

Any mage would lose their mind at this sight. Kyle stayed calm as he scanned the books. He was a swordsman who could use magic, not a mage.

More important than curiosity was whether these books would sell.

Or whether they could help with his curse, even a little.

"...As expected. Nothing."

He had expected it, but there were no notably special books where he was. It was not strange. With this many books, they could not all be precious relics.

Even if the Kingdom of Alenos had once been a renowned magic kingdom, it was not overwhelmingly superior to modern civilization. They had lost many legacies in civil war, but many of those had passed to the Kingdom of Kirian and Brendel, then developed for three hundred years. Civilization had not simply regressed. In general, it had moved forward, like how Damascus steel on Earth could not beat modern steel.

Lost technology was that rare. There were probably one or two examples if he searched carefully, but finding them would not be easy.

Kyle pulled out a few decent books, skimmed them quickly, and returned them to their places. Selling them as old texts might bring pocket money, but not enough to justify taking up Inventory Pouch space.

So what now? Go deeper and look for an enchanted grimoire?

"Kyle-ssi! Come here for a second! Hurry!"

Lena's voice rang through the archive while he was deep in thought. Kyle turned toward the sound and moved. Judging by her excited voice, it did not sound like an emergency.

"What is it?"

"Look at this. It's lost ancient magic!"

"Ancient magic?"

Lena waved a sky-blue book in her hand, beaming.

"Yes! It's an applied text on wind magic using airflow. Not just wind magic, it also connects to light and fire magic. Things like refracting sunlight or increasing flame output."

"That much is still possible now."

At Kyle's words, Lena straightened proudly, as if she had expected that answer.

"Right. But the method is different! It's not about manipulating mana in the atmosphere, it's about handling the air particles themselves. The result may look similar, but if this is applied, efficiency and practical operation should be much better. It might shock not just Lenore Magic Tower, but the entire magical community of the continent... ah!"

Kyle took the book from Lena and quickly checked its contents.

While she watched in silence, Kyle flipped through page after page, then shut the book with a snap.

"It is interesting, that's true."

"Right?"

"But that's all."

"Huh?"

"The mana control difficulty is extreme. Aside from a tiny number of naturals, most people wouldn't even be able to attempt it. This is closer to theory than something practical."

"Would even you find it impossible, Kyle-ssi?"

Lena asked. She had never directly seen him use Sword Aura or magic, but she knew his mana control was exceptional.

"Not impossible if I wanted to do it... but it doesn't look practical."

"I see...."

"Still, it'll fetch a good price. Put it in the Inventory Pouch. We should get at least 100 Gold. Collectors will like this. There's plenty of demand."

"Really?"

A magic text written in essay form by a high-level mage from the old Kingdom of Alenos. At auction, it would likely bring in a tidy sum. That alone made it worth taking.

"100 Gold... one book for 100 Gold..."

"Packed it?"

"Yes. Ah, right! One more thing. There was something like a magic book in the middle of the central path."

"The one hidden with Illusion Magic?"

"You already knew?"

"I was going to check it later... but now works too."

They stepped out from between the shelves. Once they stood on the broad central path again, they sensed something not far away where mana was gathering in one spot. As they approached, it became clearer.

"Light Magic."

"Y-yes!"

"Condense the orb in this direction. Shine it from top to bottom... good."

He gave Lena detailed instructions on how to dispel the Illusion Magic. He did not do it himself. To use magic, he needed Top-grade Magicite. Lena did not. She had no curse.

"Ah...!"

It did not take long before Lena cried out.

"That was it. A grimoire that manages the archive."

As the concealment came off, a floating book appeared above a long rectangular pedestal. Its white cover fluttered as the pages turned on their own.

"This is... incredibly expen..."

The archive shook violently. Lena, who had been staring at the grimoire with greedy eyes, cried out and dropped to the floor. Kyle quickly steadied his stance and looked beyond the reach of the lamp light, into the distant darkness.

"I knew it."

"Uh... Kyle-ssi?"

"Get up. We may have to fight soon."

"Fight? Against who?"

Instead of answering, Kyle jerked his chin forward. Lena turned the same way, and her face slowly froze in shock. With heavy thudding steps, something at least five meters tall emerged from beyond the darkness.

It imitated a human skeleton, yet had no blood or flesh, only cold inorganic matter.

A guardian of the fallen Kingdom of Alenos, and the sentry of this archive.

An iron golem.

Rune Guardian.

"Get ready."

The metal golem stopped advancing. In the center of the archive, two humans and one Guardian faced each other.

Steel whispered free of its sheath.

Kyle slowly drew his sword. A clear ring of steel echoed through the quiet archive. Lena, now composed again, gripped the wand she had pulled from inside her clothes. Under the lamps, the grimoire's shadow wavered unsteadily.

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