novelraw Chapter 50 : Fairy Forest (3)
Chapter 50 : Fairy Forest (3)
Fairy Forest (3)
From the very moment I entered the dungeon, I could tell—this place didn't feel like an ordinary dungeon, but evoked the feeling of an ancient ruin.
A location formed as that ruin collapsed and was buried beneath the ground over the course of many long years.
That was exactly where I found myself.
'If I hadn't brought a torch, this would've been pretty tough.'
If I hadn't borrowed the torch that Vince had packed, it would have been almost impossible to walk through the long stretch of pitch-black corridors.
After we walked for quite some time with nothing in particular happening, Grancesia spoke up, seemingly bored of the endless passage.
[But is this Damian guy really that strong?]
Though Damian and Grancesia had lived in the same era, Damian had only started to earn his renown after Grancesia's death, so she didn't know much about him.
"Of course. The entire concept of the Seven Heroes started with Damian Viet."
The Sword God, Damian Viet.
There were countless tales about him, but if I had to mention a representative one, it would be how he journeyed across the entire continent, dueling strong opponents wherever he went.
[There was actually someone who went around doing such a hassle of a thing?]
"He even travelled beyond the western continent to the East, seeking out stronger opponents. And the remarkable thing is, despite all those fights, he wasn't defeated even once."
Looking at the stories connected to Damian, he seemed to be someone who was never satisfied.
It was said that after every victory, regardless of how strong his opponent, he would always say:
"It's not enough. I can't reach it with this."
[Can't reach it?]
"I don't know what exactly he meant by that. In the end, Damian eventually settled in the Asktalin Empire for a time, after his long journey."
Naturally, people showed great interest in Damian, who had fought so many strong opponents, and they asked him:
Who was the strongest among those you faced?
To that question, Damian answered:
"I can't single out the strongest, but there are six who stand as my worthy rivals."
[So, adding those six to Damian, they became the Seven Heroes?]
"That's right. People wanted to celebrate Damian and those six, so they were called the Seven Heroes."
A title referring to the continent's seven strongest individuals.
That was the Seven Heroes of the continent.
The title continued to be passed down and was still an object of admiration for people even now.
"To ascend to that position, you have to defeat and be acknowledged by one of the current Seven Heroes holding that spot. It's not something easily attained."
There was only a single exception to this necessity.
The Asktalin royalty had always claimed one spot among the Seven Heroes throughout the generations.
[Well, they do have the blood of dragons, after all. But Damian... even before, I always felt kind of familiar with that name.]
It was a vague reaction, but it seemed there was nothing in particular coming to mind for her right now.
'But just how far do we have to go down here?'
The path that appeared after passing through the traps was longer than expected.
It felt like ages since we'd started walking through the pitch-black darkness, yet nothing special had happened.
'There's no trace of monsters, so just what is down here?'
Even the Synopsis didn't specify anything clear.
What was certain was that Fabian had learned swordsmanship from Damian in this place.
After that, whatever happened here was resolved not by Fabian, but by Damian—whose death ensued as a result.
[But Damian lived hundreds of years ago—how is he still alive?]
"When you're an ancient Seven Hero, aren't there supposed to be ways? I mean, just look at you—your body hasn't aged a day."
Grancesia's body, a contemporary of Damian, had been preserved in the form of a young woman—neither decayed nor aged.
So, I figured Damian must also have had a way of preserving his life.
[... Well, we'll know if we check for ourselves.]
I agreed with Grancesia on that.
And so, I continued to descend through the dark corridor.
How much time had passed?
When it felt like about an hour had gone by, I finally found myself in a massive cavern.
"This place..."
That place, shaped like a giant dome, was truly strange. When our torchlight hit the walls, brilliantly bright reflections bounced off from all sides.
"No way, is all of this around us made of mithril?"
It was almost ridiculous. I knew there were supposed to be mithril veins here, but I'd never imagined they'd have been used in this way.
[Wow, what an insane waste of money.]
"It's not about wasting money. You'd need real skill to make something like this."
Mithril is hard and highly attuned to magic.
Of course, forging it requires exceptional craftsmanship.
And to produce enough to surround this whole chamber? That's not something that could be done with ordinary skill.
"There's no way they'd do this for no reason. There's definitely something..."
I stopped mid-sentence.
I'd noticed something moving in the darkness.
[Don't tell me—that's the 'Damian' you were talking about?]
Grancesia sounded quite displeased.
No wonder.
What was coming toward me from the shadows was, by no stretch, a normal human being.
A suit of armor and helmet covering its entire body.
And the body visible through the gaps was rotten and decayed.
"Who are you?"
A harsh voice like steel scraping sounded.
It wasn't even a human voice, more like the howl of wind echoing through the air.
"How did you manage to get all the way here?"
The fact that it spoke at all stunned me so much that I momentarily forgot to answer.
And for good reason—this thing...
[It's a Death Knight.]
Just as Grancesia said.
A knight who'd abandoned his human dignity and reached this end—a being with great strength.
'I've never heard of a Death Knight that could talk...'
Usually, knights don't choose to become Death Knights themselves.
But there were cases where a dark mage made a Death Knight from the corpse of a powerful knight, and each such case led to a major incident.
"Who are you, sir?"
Although I was already guessing the Death Knight's identity, I pretended not to know as I spoke.
"You're quite calm. Aren't you afraid of me?"
"I can stay calm because you aren't showing any hostility."
At my words, the chin visible beneath his helmet rattled as it moved.
Was that—could it have been a laugh?
"I wondered what kind of human could make it all the way here. You're quite an interesting one."
He said this and slowly removed his helmet.
The half-rotted face beneath came into view. Hideous, but his features from life were still clear.
"I am Damian Viet. What is your name?"
[... Huh?]
Grancesia seemed surprisingly shocked by his calm introduction.
I was curious about the reason, but introducing myself to Damian came first.
No matter that he was now a Death Knight—the fact that he had been one of the Seven Heroes didn't change.
"My name is Clay Vanhart. I never expected to meet the Sword God, one of the Seven Heroes, in a place like this."
"The Seven Heroes... To think such a useless name is still remembered."
"Not only is it remembered, but people today honor the heroes of the past, and the seats of the Seven Heroes are still passed on."
"How laughable."
He snorted and put his helmet back on.
"So, what brings you here? You didn't come all this way for no reason."
"I came at the request of the Fairy Queen, Beatrice."
"Beatrice? Ah, yes—I remember there used to be a fairy forest nearby."
"Not nearby—the dungeon is actually inside the fairy forest."
"... So the forest's grown over time? I guess that could happen."
It seemed he hadn't left the dungeon in a very long time.
'Just what has Damian been doing in here all this time?'
There were a thousand questions racing through my mind, but for now, I needed to explain the situation to Damian.
After all, I had to resolve Beatrice's request.
"According to Beatrice, an evil miasma has been emanating from this place at regular intervals. But this time, even though the interval should have arrived, nothing has happened."
"So you've come to investigate the reason why, then?"
"Yes."
He slowly nodded at my reply.
"I see. But it will be a long story, if I'm to explain."
He turned away as he spoke.
"Follow me. I'll tell you the reason."
Relieved at how smoothly this was going, I let out a silent sigh.
'I thought things could go bad the moment I saw he was a Death Knight...'
If this had been a mindless Death Knight, even thinking about what might have happened was terrifying. No matter how effective I was against undead monsters, there were limits.
[So that's it—I thought I'd heard that name somewhere before...]
Just then, Grancesia murmured softly, as if drained of strength.
'Were you two acquainted?'
[Yeah. But the Damian I knew would never have become anything like a Death Knight... There must be a reason.]
Her words carried a note of longing and sadness.
It seemed that for Grancesia, the shock of Damian becoming a Death Knight was far greater than that he had been one of the Seven Heroes.
I wasn't particularly affected, but for her, as his priestess, it might have felt much more significant.
'At any rate, we'll know once we hear his story.'
[Yeah, you're right.]
Hearing Grancesia readily agree, so unlike her usual self, gave me a strange, fresh feeling.
At the same time, it became clear to me just how deeply Damian was connected to her.
* * *
"Sorry, but there's nothing to offer you here—it's a place where only corpses reside, after all. I hope you'll understand."
"That's perfectly fine."
Following him, we arrived at a room of reasonable size.
Apparently, he'd been living here all this time—ordinary furniture was arranged about.
'All mithril.'
As I stared intently at it all, Damian spoke up.
"Mithril simply proved the most suitable material—not rotting or rusting, even after so many years. I wasn't going for luxury or anything."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"No need to apologize. Anyway, I imagine you have a lot of questions for me."
He sat down facing me, even resting the sword at his waist against the wall.
"First—the evil miasma hasn't been coming out lately because that one is gathering strength for a longer period down here."
"That one?"
"Lugal Necris. A master of dark magic, now turned into a lich—a monster that revives endlessly."
The Underworld King, Lugal Necris.
As I'd expected, the reason Damian was here had something to do with him.
It was shocking enough that Damian became a Death Knight—yet now Lugal had become a lich as well? I never saw this coming.
And as the story continued, a question came to mind.
"... Could it be that Underworld King Lugal turned you, sir Damian, into a Death Knight?"
"Him, turn me? Haha, now that's a joke. You think I'd lose to him?"
"I didn't mean that, but..."
"Well, I'll admit—unless one's at his level, turning me into a Death Knight would be impossible. I understand the question."
He nodded with his arms folded, then made a shocking revelation.
"I became a Death Knight of my own free will."
He became a Death Knight—by choice?
I was so stunned I couldn't speak for a long moment, finally managing to stammer a response.
"So, you remained here to restrain Lugal, then, sir Damian?"
"Impressive—you catch on quickly."
"I don't think it takes particular quickness. Anyone would guess as much after hearing your story."
I couldn't know the precise details, but anyone could deduce as much from the circumstances.
'Honestly, the reason this happened isn't even important to me.'
Beatrice's worry was that something terrible might happen.
But if Lugal was the cause of everything and Damian was keeping him in check, there was no need for concern.
No matter how many times Lugal revived, in the end Damian would be the one ending him.
'As far as the request goes, it's practically resolved already.'
All that remained was to receive Damian's instruction in swordsmanship.
Yes, that was how it should have gone...
'You've got to be kidding me.'
I checked the plausibility requirements for the swordsmanship skill "Moon Severing Divine Sword" listed in Setting Addition and couldn't stop myself from swearing.
==
〈Moon Severing Divine Sword (斷月神劍)〉
Plausibility Requirements
1. Spar with Damian Viet 50 times
2. Master at least one technique of the Moon Severing Divine Sword
3. Deliver the finishing blow to Lugal Necris
==
The first two, well, I could accept.
The first was going to be a grind, but doable with repetition.
The second, I could take my time and get there eventually.
But the last one... What? I have to land the finishing blow on Dark King Lugal?
'I'm screwed.'
That thought echoed through my mind like a curse.