novelraw Chapter 49 : Chapter 49
Chapter 49 : Chapter 49
Chapter 49. Mammon (3)
Mammon was dumbfounded.
‘What? How do they know that place?’
That place was a secret passage that had existed even before he came here.
He himself had only discovered that place a few hundred years ago.
‘To bypass the trap I made in one go. This is troublesome.’
Mammon's only pleasure was making traps.
He wasn't the one who had made this place in the first place, and since he had hidden himself voluntarily, no one came to visit, but he had put his heart and soul into making traps for those who might one day enter.
Other than that, there was nothing else to kill time with.
But what?
To mock him like this?
Moreover, one of the two was a dragon.
She was in human form, but Mammon wasn't stupid enough not to know that much.
‘I was secretly looking forward to someone coming in after a long time, but to think a dragon would be mixed in. This is dangerous. No. This is the worst!’
And it wasn't as if the human next to her looked easy either.
An unknown power was overflowing from him, and he wasn't confident he could win even in a one-on-one fight.
‘What kind of guy is he? To think a mere human has that much power.’
Facing one opponent was not easy, but facing two would be even more disadvantageous.
‘What should I do? There's nowhere else to run here.’
This was the lowest floor of the ancient ruins.
Due to the powerful barrier in place, it was impossible to go any lower.
‘I barely managed to escape here, avoiding the Goddess' eyes, but is this the end?’
To think that the archdemon who once ruled the entire world would end up like this.
The words he uttered after much thought were an expression that he himself felt was shameful.
“Who, who’re you?”
But other than those words, there was nothing else he could say.
It was true that he was curious about their identities.
Soon, the opponent's answer came.
“You don't need to know, just hand over the Bracelet of Truth.”
“Wh-what?”
“This much should be enough. What do you think?”
To his astonishment, the man took out a bundle of gold coins from his bosom and handed it to him.
A feast of gold coins, looking to be about 100.
Mammon licked his lips and managed to open his mouth.
“How did you know it was here?”
“I don't have time. Are you going to give it or not?”
Keuk. To suffer such a humiliation.
The name of the archdemon weeps.
‘Both of them are no pushovers. If we fight, I'll lose 100 percent.’
Nevertheless.
Mammon acted bold.
“That much is not enough.”
“Hmm. Then how about this?”
The man took out another bundle of gold coins from the other side of his bosom and shook it.
A bundle of money of the same volume as the one he had just given.
Mammon's eyes sparkled.
“A-are you saying you'll give me two hundred gold coins?”
“That's right. It’s a useless item for you to have anyway, so isn't two hundred gold coins a profitable deal?”
Mammon was contemplating whether to accept it or not when he flinched at the dragon-in-human-form's shout.
“Didn't you hear me say I don't have time? Do you want to die?”
Damn it. It felt like being shaken down.
As she said, 200 gold coins was a profitable deal, but why did he feel so bad?
Mammon gave a bitter smile and slowly nodded his head.
“Wait here for a moment. I'll bring it right away.”
Mammon, while watching the two of them, took out the Bracelet of Truth from the treasure vault behind him and brought it.
“H-here it is.”
“You didn't give me some strange item, did you?”
“H-how dare you! Who do you take me for! I don't play around with things like that!”
In any case, this item wasn't particularly valuable among the items he owned.
‘Losing the bracelet won't kill me, but if I challenge them, it's the end.’
The man let out a chuckle,
“Alright. I'll trust you, Mammon.”
“You know me?”
“Of course. I'll come with money often in the future. Please take care of me.”
“Y-yes.”
With those words, the man disappeared from sight with the dragon-in-human-form.
‘What in the world…….’
Mammon waved his hand towards the two who had already left.
On one hand, he felt happy to see a living creature other than himself for the first time in a long time.
And since he said he would visit him again, he hoped that his words would come true.
That's how much Mammon was craving for a presence other than his own.
The demon of greed?No. From now on, call me the demon of loneliness.
Mammon shouted loudly in the empty ruins.
“Kraaaah!! I'm sick of it! I'm so sick of it!!”
***
“I hear a strange sound from behind.”
“Don't mind it. Just focus on getting back.”
I used the side path on the way back as well.
Otherwise, all sorts of traps would have been waiting for us.
‘If that were the case, the Marquis would have already arrived at the royal palace by then.’
If you don't use the side path, it would take an incredibly long time just to reach the lowest floor.
About half a month?
That's just one way, so it would take more than a month to return.
And that's just the pure travel time, so it would definitely take more time to break through the traps.
‘This is no different from the knowledge I had in the game. What a relief.’
Even using the side path didn't mean you could come and go from the lowest floor in an instant.
As I came out, I felt my power disappearing.
‘Is it already dawn? It seems it took twelve hours just to come and go.’
It was worth coming back as early as possible.
Mammon might be a demon crazy for gold coins, but he only deals with opponents when they have comparable skills.
If it were an insignificant opponent, he would have taken their life in an instant.
Wouldn't it have been fine since Anonymous was next to me?
Anonymous would have been fine, but he would have tried to kill me even if it meant a mutual destruction.
It was his characteristic to eliminate any being that seemed weaker than him by any means necessary.
That's why in the game, you could only enter this place right before fighting the Demon King.
Otherwise, you would likely be annihilated with a game over message appearing in an instant.
‘Drinking the Magic Potion was a godsend.’
Anyway, since I found what I wanted, it was now time to find Isabel.
I took Anonymous and quickly went to Isabel's room.
Since her bedroom was on the floor right above the entrance to the ancient ruins, I was able to knock on her door quickly.
“Ugh? Who?”
A voice that had just woken up from sleep was heard from beyond the door.
Soon, Isabel's figure appeared, rubbing her eyes in her pajamas.
She shouted with a surprised face.
“H-how at this hour?”
“I found the Bracelet of Truth.”
“Whaat? Already? No, wait a minute. How did you know I was here?”
That's because I'm a veteran player of this game.
There would be no one who knows the geography of this place better than me.
Isabel quickly scanned her surroundings and asked me to wait for a moment.
Before long, she reappeared, changed into her Saintess robes.
“Ahem. Please come in.”
“Then, please excuse me.”
When I entered her room, a huge bed came into view.
A bed of enormous size was placed right in the middle of the room, and I wondered if it wasn't too big for one person to sleep in.
It must be a tool to prove the value of the position of a Saintess.
She led me and Anonymous to the sofa next to the bed and said these words.
“Did you really conquer the lowest floor and subjugate Mammon?”
“That's not it. Mammon is still on the lowest floor, and I just brought this item.”
Thud.
I took out the Bracelet of Truth and displayed it on the table.
It looked like an ordinary bracelet on the outside, but a strange magical power flowed from it, making it look suspicious at a glance.
Isabel carefully examined the bracelet and asked the same question again.
“The opponent is a Demon King-level demon. How did you get this?”
“We exchanged it for gold coins.”
“G-gold coins?”
“Yes. Mammon is the demon of greed. If you give him money corresponding to the value of the item, you can get a useful item without fighting.”
“How did you know that fact?”
“Didn't I tell you? It's information I found by chance while excavating another ancient ruin.”
I repeated the same words several times, but Isabel asked back with a disbelieving face.
“No way! It's hard to believe you reached the lowest floor in such a short time, but how can you be so fine after meeting Mammon?”
I smiled brightly and shook my head.
“If you don't believe me, we'll know if we test it ourselves.”
“Alright. I'll wear the bracelet. Ask me anything.”
The moment I was about to ask something.
Anonymous suddenly threw a question.
“Do you still love Frank?”
What?
Wondering what kind of nonsense this was, I hastily turned my head to look at Anonymous.
But what was this?
Isabel, who had a dumbfounded expression just like me, soon uttered these words.
“That’s right. I still love him.”
She hurriedly covered her mouth with both hands, but she couldn't take back the words she had already spat out.
The atmosphere instantly sank.
What am I going to do about this atmosphere?
***
Isabel couldn't understand what she had just said, even though she was the one who said it.
‘What did I just say?’
Her inner thoughts just popped out without her realizing it, and there was nothing she could do about it.
‘Is this really the Bracelet of Truth?’
Not knowing what other absurd questions Anticus might throw, she hurriedly tried to take off the bracelet, but her additional questions continued.
“This is fun. So. How far did you two go?”
Heeik!
Are all dragons like this? Do you have no shame?
She hurriedly covered her mouth, but her lips moved on their own.
“We did everything a couple could do.”
“Hoo. For a Saintess, you're quite bold.”
Anticus grumbled but shrugged her shoulders and said.
“Well, since you're not married, does it matter? I mean, it's ridiculous to say you haven't done it at this age. Pfft. Just kidding.”
It was all over now.
She felt like hiding in a rat hole.
And why was her face so hot? It felt like it would burst if touched.
Fortunately, Frank stepped in to stop her.
“Enough! What kind of useless questions are you asking.”
“Tsk. Are you looking out for her because she was your ex-lover? I'm disappointed.”
“Shut up. Be quiet!”
Frank gave a warning to Anticus and quickly took off the bracelet from her wrist.
Then he wore an apologetic expression.
“My maid has committed a great discourtesy.”
“……”
“Anyway, will you believe me now?”
Isabel slowly nodded her head with a shy face.
She had been stubborn for no reason and had suffered an unexpected humiliation.
‘It's all over now.’
She didn't know what kind of face she should have when she met Frank in the future.
‘This is all because of that damn ancient dragon.’
Isabel bit her lower lip and resented Anticus.
Such a humiliation.
It was the first time she had experienced it since becoming a Saintess.
***
A few days after that.
Moltke was riding in a carriage with Bruno.
“Haaam. We'll arrive at the capital soon. You've worked hard.”
“No. Thanks to the Count, I was able to arrive at the capital comfortably. I will never forget this.”
Bruno yawned languidly and closed his eyes again.
Soon, his snoring sound filled the carriage.
‘To think I have to rely on a guy like this. I've fallen quite a bit.’
Anyway, since the Count had brought him, being late to the royal palace and not submitting a report wouldn't be a big problem.
‘The Count is on my side anyway, so I need to win over the advisor and the chairman of the privy council. I have to quickly win them over before Frank raises a problem.’
It would take quite some time for him to come to the royal palace.
Since nobles had to get the King's permission in advance to leave their territories,considering such an intermediate process, time was on his side.
‘Frank. You can never do anything to me.’
But as soon as they arrived in the capital, the carriage that had been running without a moment's rest stopped.
“How dare you! The Marquis and the Count are riding in here! Won't you clear the way at once?”
The coachman got angry, but the answer that came back was firm.
“It is His Majesty the King's command. We have been instructed to escort the Lord Chief Justice and the Finance Minister to the royal castle as soon as they arrive.”
What was this? Could it be that someone had already noticed his betrayal?
Moltke got out of the carriage, maintaining his composure as much as possible.
“What on earth is going on!”
Despite his roar.
The other party repeated the same words as before like a parrot and presented an arrest warrant.
Underneath the warrant, the King's signature was clearly written.
Moltke barely managed to hold the warrant in his cold hands.
‘It's all over. Who is it? Who plotted such a thing!’
His head was spinning.
Hadn't he walked into the alligator's mouth on his own two feet?