Chapter 21

Chapter 21 — For the Emperor (4)

"...Is this a dream?"

Gatis, who'd been in the corner, had gotten up at some point. Did I hit him too lightly? Well, he's a prince, so I was a bit scared to go hard. Still, I was glad he seemed to have woken up after the fight was over.

"No, it is not."

"Ah, this should've been the dream."

Gatis sighed. Seeing his disappointment, he must've been having quite the pleasant dream. At some point, my own dreams had become a dissonant blur sitting on the border between reality and something else, and I briefly wondered what a child's dreams might look like.

"Why does Tomi look like a rag?"

"Wraith corpses are typically used as rags."

"That's not what I asked......"

I held Gatis close and spoke to Tomi again.

"Hey, your answer?"

"...Follow me. My calling... seems to end here......"

Tomi slowly sank into the ground. Now, in this empty rectangular space, there was only me and Gatis holding my hand.

By the way, I'd thought this was the last floor. I tapped the ground lightly with my foot. Right—a Mana wall this strong meant we were at the dungeon's outer boundary. Should I try stomping really hard?

While I was thinking that, Tomi poked just his head above the ground.

"There are stairs on the right... come back down... stop destroying the space where my memories rest......"

Horseshit. What kind of memories does a monster even have? I grumbled as I carried Gatis on my back and headed to the right room.

Opening the right room, there was indeed a door leading underground. A barrier strong enough to conceal my aura sense. Whatever lay below had to be significant.

"There's something written over there."

Gatis said. I saw it too. Clearly three lines or more—it looked like a pain to read. Several characters were carved in intaglio on what appeared to be a stone door.

"Tomi, come out and open this."

I said it, but Tomi, who was surely listening, gave no response. The tablet reeked of a hidden boon. Just from the craftsmanship of the intaglio lettering, you could gauge the level of mastery of whoever had left this legacy.

But there was a problem. Some of the words mixed in were too difficult for me to decipher. I looked at Gatis.

"Your Highness, this sort of thing needs to be read aloud."

"I already read it all, though?"

"Please read it aloud."

Gatis, apparently not even considering the possibility that I couldn't read the words, opened his mouth and began to speak.

"O man of the sun, you who shall cry my name from the highest place in this world. Nothing in this world is not mine, so O pilgrim who saw my name written at the edge of the sky and journeyed to the ends of the earth, my beloved."

Gatis began reciting in a clear, resonant voice. Right, right. So that word was "pilgrim."

"Weary from the long journey, I bury myself here, roots and all. Rake through the chaff of my soul and succeed me."

I was absorbing words like "succeed," "chaff," and "roots" when Gatis continued.

"The giant of time shall face you, so you, the pilgrim, must never be afraid."

Probably referring to Tomi? Or maybe not.

"My child, my child who crossed the vast seas and open plains to find me at the ends of the earth. Now prove yourself and draw yourself out, and draw me out."

The inscription's lines were measured like classical verse, each line matching in word count, but the final line was written below a scored groove.

"If you are not my pilgrim but merely a passing wanderer, then simply pass on by. If you have the courage to face the giant of time, then you too may enter my dwelling."

This was like a postscript on an email. Well, in any case, that part was referring to me. I'd never come seeking the Great Ancestor, after all.

"Hm. It says to prove myself and draw myself out?"

Sharp kid, truly sharp. At eight years old, you'd think words like "pilgrim," "chaff," and "wanderer" would be beyond him, but the prince's early education was on another level entirely.

"What do I do? Should I take my clothes off?"

"How is that proof?"

"I have to show myself, don't I? I should show my purest self."

I stopped Gatis with my hand as he tried to pull off his top.

That's not it, kid. There's no way you could prove anything with such a shoddy method. My seasoned web novel experience was telling me the answer to this door. The characters carved in intaglio for a reason. And the Mana imbued not in the tablet itself but only in the letters pointed directly to the answer.

"Your Highness, would you allow me your hand for a moment?"

"Here."

Gatis spread his palm wide without a second thought. I used my fingernail to make a tiny nick at his fingertip. Just barely.

"Ow! What are you—!"

I smeared that blood across the inscribed door. The instant that tiny drop of blood touched the intaglio letters, blue Mana filled them in. Every letter began glowing, now brimming with Mana.

Then, Mana condensed around the tablet. The tablet rumbled and sank into the ground.

THUD!

The sound of the tablet hitting the bottom rang out, and the door opened.

"You may enter now."

"That's kind of amazing."

Beyond the opened door, another staircase leading underground appeared.

The staircase was very bright. The lighting helped, but there were also many sparkling things embedded in the walls. On closer inspection, they were all gems that looked extremely expensive.

"Wow, they're pretty."

"Best not to touch them."

"Why?"

"Strange Mana currents are flowing behind the gems. Whoever's down there seems to be fond of tests."

I said, eyeing the gems. This was the very definition of a painting of rice cakes—bags in a luxury department store display case.

Honestly, if I'd been alone, I would've just tried pulling one out. But what if the trap was the entire dungeon collapsing? If this 150-floor dungeon collapsed, Gatis wouldn't survive. There were limits to what I could shield. Even if I protected the space around him, he'd probably suffocate.

When we reached the bottom, a large room opened up. From across the large doorway, a statue was gazing steadily at us.

Given the circumstances, it was clearly a statue of Trafviche the Great. The massive statue stood with its sword raised toward the sky. In front of it, a shrunken Tomi waited.

"Welcome, blood of the imperial line......"

"Mm."

Much more polite than before. Probably because the blood had been proven.

"And the passing wanderer as well......"

After that fight to the death earlier, Tomi had recovered his form considerably. Well, since he'd become this docile, I couldn't very well hit him.

"Blood of the imperial line, wanderer... offer your glory to the Great Ancestor......"

At Tomi's words, Gatis let out a gasp. I'd more or less guessed by now. Of course, Gatis couldn't have expected it. The statue bore the face of an ordinary man—nothing like the sculpted Adonis in the Great Ancestor's Hall.

Tomi spoke slowly.

"...The thirteenth."

"What? I wasn't the first?"

Gatis cried out. Honestly, I was a bit deflated too. Thirteenth was awkward—hard to brag about. Thirteen in a thousand years wasn't bad, but still, being first was what mattered.

"But... two appearing in the same generation is a first......"

Two in the same generation. So Gatess had been here. In the latter half of the novel, there was a time when Gatess opened up to Marina and rambled about all sorts of things.

That had been in front of the Great Ancestor's Hall.

— Marina, I've actually seen the Great Ancestor's spirit in person. This necklace is what I received then. I'll give it to you.

— Where did you see him?

— Beneath the Imperial Library.

That's why I'd thought "nice" when Gatis mentioned the underground dungeon. It had to be the place from that passage.

"Blood of the imperial line, receive your forebear's relic......"

Tomi stared into the void. He opened his mouth wide. The black hole stretching up to his eyes looked grotesque.

From it, a red strand began emerging. Ugh, disgusting. It looked like he was vomiting something up. But what came out was dazzlingly beautiful.

What Tomi had disgorged was a necklace. A crystal necklace with water swirling inside it. The necklace floated up and settled around Gatis's neck. For reference, Gatess's was a crystal necklace with flames blazing within.

"Overflowing with boons, this place."

Thirteenth, huh. When I spoke, Tomi cracked open his narrow eyes.

"Now... this is the last. This relic too......"

Whoa. It was the last? Then that actually meant something. The glory of any raid was always the final hit, after all.

"And you, the wanderer who came here—you are the first outsider......"

Well, that made sense. Gatis couldn't tell right from wrong yet, so he'd dragged me down here without thinking. If he'd been even ten, he wouldn't have.

"Now... I believe my duty is done, old friend......"

Tomi turned his back and looked at the statue. Soon, something like smoke began flowing from Tomi's mouth.

— That's when the Wraith Queen breathed out smoke. I simply covered my face with my sleeve, thinking it was poison mist, but it turned out to be the spirit of Trafviche the Great.

Tomi's body was visibly shrinking. When his body had dwindled to a speck, the drifting smoke headed toward the statue.

Soon, with a grinding creak, the statue moved. Even I was a little startled by this.

"...What is your name?"

A low voice resonated from the statue. It spoke without moving its lips—it seemed to be speaking through the vibration of its soul. Both Gatis and I felt it instinctively.

This person was unmistakably the Great Ancestor.

"I am Gatis Trafviche, Great Ancestor."

"Appari Tion. I serve as Prince Gatis's guard."

"Trafviche Trafviche. A pleasure."

The Great Ancestor continued in a solemn voice.

"This is the first time an heir so young has come. I must admit, I am somewhat taken aback."

"My guard's assistance was instrumental, Your Majesty."

"I see. A wanderer serving as a guard—how curious."

The Great Ancestor's statue shifted slightly toward me.

"What is your name?"

"Appari Tion, Great Ancestor."

"Hm. It means 'phantom,' does it not."

He even knew ancient Yensi. Well, from his perspective, it would be the contemporary language.

"How interesting. An Yensi native coming here is a first, and an outsider coming here is also a first. That both are the same person—I could never have imagined."

The Great Ancestor turned his attention away from me and back toward Gatis.

"Young blood, dig into the ground before me. The last thing meant for you lies there."

At those words, Gatis carefully stepped forward. He performed a deeply reverent bow before the statue, then began digging the earth with both hands. Dirt packed under his small, white fingernails.

Buried in the ground was a wooden case. Ah, I'd seen something like that before—when I received 「Solid Foundations: Trafviche Language Study 1」 from Airi. Gatis deftly retrieved it and absorbed it with his Skill.

"Hone it well. Two heirs in one generation—I am curious what shall become of the world."

"Yes. Understood, Great Ancestor."

And Gatis bowed his head. At that moment, smoke burst from the Great Ancestor's body with a puff. It was the kind of steam that rises from a steamer, and Gatis promptly collapsed on the spot as though falling asleep.

I didn't even have time to rush in and catch him—he'd been too close to the statue.

The Great Ancestor drove his sword into the ground, bent at the waist, and placed Gatis behind his back.

"Great Ancestor, may I ask what you are doing?"

"Did you not see the tablet outside, wanderer?"

The Great Ancestor spoke with a hint of laughter. When a soul mixed laughter into its voice, it sounded grotesque—like construction site noise.

"Have you not already faced the giant of time?"

"Ah, you mean Tomi. He was merely the giant's attendant. I owe him quite a great deal."

Ah, so the giant of time was someone else entirely. Right here in front of me, in fact. The Great Ancestor, referring to himself in the third person.

"So you are the giant of time, Great Ancestor."

"Indeed. Truth be told, I have been waiting for a wanderer even more than for my own descendants."

Life returned to the Great Ancestor's rigid eyes. The statue's eyes blinked. It hardly seemed right to call it a statue anymore. Joints seemed to be forming in what had looked so stiff, and the Great Ancestor's movements grew fluid.

"Who are you?"

"I told you—Appari Tion."

"No. Let me rephrase."

The Great Ancestor shook his head.

"O mighty one who leapt across dimensions, who are you?"

I was speechless for a moment. He knew my true nature. This was the most shocked I'd been since arriving in this world. If he already knew, there'd been no need to stand on ceremony.

"How did you know I crossed dimensions?"

"Because you are not the first."

The statue's eyes gleamed gold.

【Unique Skill: Collapse Resistance Lv. MAX has been neutralized.】

Along with that, I felt something pierce through my body, and a wave of helplessness washed over me. Similar to when the Emperor gazed at me, but far stronger. It was likely a Unique Skill of the imperial bloodline.

"Who else was there?"

"Someone from my own era. A person of great power. I do not know how he came to fall into this world."

"I see."

"However, whenever outsiders from beyond arrive, crisis always follows. Even from underground, I could sense it. If my intuition is correct, the Black Tree should be sprouting fresh shoots as we speak."

Spot on. Then there was a causal link between my arrival in this world and the Black Tree.

At this point, I couldn't avoid the fundamental questions any longer. Questions I'd always dodged but would have had to face eventually.

One was the metaphysical question of why I was here. The other was the empirical question of how my existence was changing this world.

"Those from beyond either lacked any drive toward the world and lived in seclusion, or overflowed with drive and led people. Which are you?"

I just came here for romance. But I couldn't say that. And if I had to choose, I did have affection for this world. Because it was the world of a novel I loved.

"If I had to pick, I want to make this world a happy one. It would be nice if I could be happy too."

"That is very good news for our world."

The Great Ancestor lifted the sword lodged in the ground and pointed it at me.

"Now then, I have little life left. O first and final wanderer, satisfy me and break me. That shall be both my first and last command to you."

The Great Ancestor's massive body began to move. I, too, closed my eyes and opened them again. My heart beat slower than ever, yet my blood coursed faster than ever.