Return of The Martial King

[ Chapter 16 ]

Approximately 30 minutes later.

“Ah! Is this the place?”

Stefan exclaimed with overwhelming joy.

“Without a doubt, Lord Stefan.”

Edward added, his voice filled with emotion.

Before them, nestled between the narrowing valleys, stood a partially crumbled giant building. Its architecture was unlike anything from the current continent, featuring a unique shape with a diamond-like narrowing facade topped by a circular roof. The material was ordinary granite, with signs of erosion peeling off various parts of the exterior walls.

It was unmistakable.

Their destination, the resting place of the great knight, Sir Claude.

An ancient ruin, ‘Falton.’

Calming his excitement, Stefan examined the building. To the left, a semi-collapsed passage was visible. Todd closed his eyes and after a brief moment of magical incantation, he said with certainty,

“This is the entrance.”

He had sent an orb of vision sharing magic into the passage for a preliminary exploration. Urged by Sir Edward, Sillan, the cleric boy, illuminated their path with a sphere of light, and the group stepped into the passage in unison.

Inside was a large rectangular stone chamber. Moss filled the gaps between the bricks, and the air was humid. The walls bore various indecipherable symbols carved in relief. The chamber was quite large, roughly the size of a noble’s mansion party hall.

Directly opposite the entrance they used was another doorway, beyond which stretched a long corridor engulfed in ominous darkness.

After Todd and Sir Edward carefully inspected the interior of the chamber, they reported,

“This place appears to be safe, my lord.”

“Good, everyone get ready.”

Deciding to make this their base camp, they began to unpack. Orc slaves tirelessly collected thick branches, setting up simple barricades at both entrances. Relsia kindled a campfire while the knights took out jerked meat to fill their bellies and checked their equipment. Todd and Sillan also began their meditation and prayers, preparing themselves for the dungeon’s deeper exploration.

While watching this scene, Repenhardt approached Stefan and said,

“I shall wait here then.”

“Eh? You may return to the village now.”

Stefan waved his hand dismissively, puzzled. At this point, the guide’s usefulness had expired, and the gesture meant it was time for him to leave.

Repenhardt, with a servile smile, rubbed his hands together.

“No, I have no means of returning to the village by myself.”

Reflecting on it, they too had endured hardships to reach this point. There was no way a mere traveler could pass through. Stefan cracked a smile. Even this arrogant, burly man had come to realize the greatness of the knights!

Feeling good, a kind tone naturally emerged.

“Well then, as a reward for guiding you here, I shall protect you on your way back.”

Though Stefan said this as if he was offering a great kindness, Repenhardt was dumbfounded. Was this supposed to be something to be grateful for? It seemed like the fact that the guide wouldn’t have been here without them in the first place wasn’t even in his mind.

‘Were you not going to bring me along then? Isn’t it just basic human decency?’

It was a comment made out of concern that he might be suspected if he suggested leaving alone after all the trouble on the way here, but it seemed unnecessary.

As Repenhardt stood dumbfounded, Stefan frowned slightly. He, a knight, had offered mercy, yet it wasn’t appreciated.

‘Indeed, those who don’t understand honor… Tsk.’

Clicking his tongue, Stefan turned away. With that, he erased the existence of this guide. He then looked back at his knights, regaining their brave demeanor, and smiled contentedly.

Now was the time to explore the cursed ancient dungeon with these brave knights. The vision of retrieving the magic sword Altion and triumphantly returning to the capital came to mind.

Stefan drew his sword and exclaimed valiantly.

“Within lies a great being. It is our duty to continue their legacy!”

“Wow!”

Though he wasn’t sure what made the pompous dead so great, the knights dutifully responded to his speech.

“Let’s go, brave knights of Altion!”

Stefan rushed down the corridor. Relsia, Edward, and the other knights followed enthusiastically. Todd and Sillan moved with indifferent faces, assuming these were just their natural dispositions, and the orc slaves also prepared for dungeon exploration, carrying necessary supplies on their shoulders towards the chamber.

“Take care~.”

Repenhardt kindly saw them off as they entered the chamber. As their footsteps faded, he stretched.

“Well, now it’s time for me to see to my own business.”

The ancient ruins, Falton, was originally a logistics base used during the Silver Age. Now, spanning dimensions, it has turned into a den teeming with various monsters and undead, but during the Silver Age, it was just one of the ordinary military buildings.

Of course, all the tools used during the Silver Age are now considered miraculous relics by today’s standards of demonology, so their value shouldn’t be underestimated just because they were considered ordinary back then.

“Ah, it’s really been a long time.”

Surveying his surroundings, Repenhardt murmured with a face filled with nostalgia. It was he who had proposed the theory that this place was a logistics base. Through his exploration, understanding more than half of the defense system through the power of strong magic, this was the conclusion he had reached.

In the past, he had explored this place with Siris, just the two of them. It had been a happy time. He remembered the precious moments they shared, even amidst the tension.

Suddenly, the illusion of a beautiful elf woman appeared before him.

Her voice, chirping like a small bird, was vivid in his ears. She, who could command the spirits of the wind, easily found the secret passages that appeared to be mere walls to others.

“Ugh…….”

Somehow, reminiscing had led him into territory not suitable for minors. Repenhardt shook his head. Now wasn’t the time for such thoughts.

‘Ah, but what on earth was I doing with Siris in the middle of this dangerous dungeon? I was a brave one, wasn’t I.’

‘Just wait a little longer. Siris, I’ll come to meet you soon.’

Repenhardt caressed a stone wall engraved with symbols.

‘Surely, it was based on the scales of Libra, with the signs of Aqua and Terra inversely mixed to encrypt it, right?’

This pattern engraved on the wall was called ‘Destin’, a script from the Silver Age. In the past, Repenhardt had learned all the languages of every race on the continent, including ancient scripts like Destin, Ralfin, Pestal, and Alcata. Of course, it used to take him more than half a day to decipher them…

‘Now, it’s as if I’m holding the answer sheet.’

Without hesitation, Repenhardt moved the tiles embedded in the wall. Part of the pattern on the wall smoothly slid aside.

‘It’s tougher than I remembered.’

While he remembered everything, actually moving the tiles was difficult. Most of the defense systems from the Silver Age don’t easily operate without magical power. He summoned all the magical power he had, and where it fell short, he compensated with physical strength, grunting as he moved the tiles.

After several attempts at manipulating the tiles, the wall’s pattern, which naturally formed a certain design, transformed into an entirely new pattern.

“Ah, there it is.”

The wall trembled, and dust poured down. This was the real passageway to the relics of Falton that Todd had never known, discovered by Repenhardt himself.

With a deeply moved expression, he watched the scene unfold.

“Ha ha ha…….”

The door to secrets hidden for thousands of years was now opening.

Standing before the passage, Repenhardt first shed his scarf and fur coat. Considering the battle ahead, it would be unwise to treat the clothing he bought with ten silver coins roughly. It seemed silly to fret over the cost of a coat when he could soon earn money aplenty.

‘There’s no need to deliberately throw away good clothes, right? It’s not like I’m going to catch a cold if I don’t wear them.’

Thus, in his modest attire of just a simple vest and trousers, he warmed up his body lightly. Now was the time to test the capabilities of his body, which had endured so much over the past six years!

As Repenhardt was getting into high spirits,

“AAAAAH!”

Suddenly, a faint scream came from the darkness beyond. It was a small sound, barely discernible even to him, whose hearing had improved, coming from far away.

“Huh?”
Wondering if he had heard wrong, Repenhardt unconsciously tilted his head. The scream sounded familiar. It seemed like it might be Todd’s voice…

“AAH! AHH! AAAAH!”

The screams continued, this time it seemed to be Sillan and that fellow named Edward.

‘Why am I hearing the screams of those who went that way, from over here?’

Baffled, he stared blankly at the passage in front of him.

‘Hold on. What was this passage again? It was originally a logistics base from the era of silver. And this secret passage directly connects to the third basement, right? And if that back door is opened, it means some kind of intrusion is happening…’

He remembered. The logistics base meant it was used for military purposes. And in the event of an intrusion, the remnants of the Falton magic system would mobilize all means to repel the intruders. Yes, it had been the same in the past.

‘And that’s when all the secret traps of the ruins were activated at once, right?’

“Oh no.”

Repenhardt finally realized the mistake he had made. Opening the door as he had in the past was fine, but he had forgotten that the situation was different now. Back then, it was just Siris and him, so it didn’t matter whether the traps on the first and second basements of Falton were activated. But now, Todd and his group were there, weren’t they?

It was clear they had all fallen into a trap and dropped together into the second basement level in harmony. Otherwise, how could their voices be heard so oddly from this direction?

“Damn…”

Repenhardt clicked his tongue. No matter how much he thought about it, it seemed impossible for that group to handle the monsters on the second basement level with their current strength.

The danger levels between the first basement floor and the second and third floors of Falton were entirely different dimensions. And if Todd’s recollection was accurate, the area they explored was just the first basement level. They returned without even seeing the shadow of the demon sword Altion, having only collected a few artifacts. It was only after several more expeditions by the House of Altion that the second basement level was discovered and the sword was recovered. That story was set to unfold 5 or 6 years later.

“I’ve made a mistake. Tsk.”

Repenhardt scratched his cheek, feeling a prick of conscience. Well, even though he had been called a Demon Lord in his previous life, Repenhardt prided himself on living conscientiously. He did not find it pleasant to be the cause of someone else’s death.

Honestly, he wasn’t particularly fond of those arrogant knights, so he wouldn’t feel much guilt if they died there… Besides, after meeting Todd again, he realized he wasn’t someone he wanted to save either…

‘But if that young priest and innocent slaves were to die, I’d have restless dreams, wouldn’t I?’

This won’t do.

Repenhardt lightly rolled his foot, propelling himself forward with his trained body’s astonishing leap. Grumbling, he disappeared into the darkness of the passage in an instant.

“Ah, things have gotten seriously tangled.”