Chapter 40

Chapter 40. The Soaring Firebird (3)

It had felt like a long road when I walked it underground, but crossing it aboveground like this, it did not take nearly as long.

Before even an hour had passed since we left the road and entered the forest, we reached the abandoned village.

The village looked no different from how it had in my previous life.

Collapsed houses slowly being reclaimed by the forest, and kitchen plots that no longer left even a trace behind.

The well was the same.

The well through which Adria and I had escaped in my previous life was still half-collapsed and choked with weeds, just as it had been then.

At a glance, it was obvious that no one had gone down there in a very long time.

First, I tied the rope we had brought to a tree beside the well, then said to Juan,

"I’d like you to stay here and keep watch, just as I told you before we came."

I did not know what might come out of this, but the fewer people who knew the secret, the better.

As expected, Juan understood his place well.

"Yes. Understood."

His short answer pleased me greatly.

Even today, he had not asked why we came here or how I had come to know the Firebird Hunter.

I did not know whether it was because he trusted me or because he thought of me as the benefactor who had paid for Mother’s treatment, but at the very least, he was a reliable man who could keep his mouth shut.

Even so, it seemed there was still something he wanted to ask.

"Then how long should I wait?"

He was asking me where the line was—how long he was meant to wait before acting.

"Until sunset."

"Understood. If you have not returned even after sunset, I’ll report it to the estate at once."

At his words, I nodded as well.

We were entering through the exit rather than heading toward the underground of the fortress, so that much time would be more than enough.

Juan and I tied my sword to the rope we had secured and lowered it down into the well.

Splash.

A short while later, I heard the sound of the sword touching the damp bottom of the well.

Whoosh.

I leaped into the well first.

"Ah! If you go down without holding the rope—"

I heard Juan’s startled voice from above, but I kept kicking off the walls as I dropped.

After all, in my previous life, Adria and I had climbed out of this very well without any equipment at all.

I was stronger now than I had been then, and my condition was better too, so there was no reason I should not be able to make it down.

Just as I expected, the Firebird Hunter jumped in after me.

Unlike me, who braced my feet against the wall and slowed my descent, she fell straight down.

Shhhhht!

She passed beside me and landed on the muddy bottom.

Boom! Splash!

With a loud impact, the water pooled below burst high into the air.

Thud!

A moment later, I landed as well.

The water had splashed everywhere and made a mess of things, but the cave connected to the well was still there in the same place as in my previous life.

"So that’s the way, right?"

"Yes."

She lit the lamp she pulled from her clothes, held it in one hand, and stepped into the cave.

The closer we drew to our destination, the more obvious her excitement became.

She spoke less, and hurried along just as she was doing now.

On top of that, she must have been curious how I had found this place, but she did not ask.

After untying my soaked sword from the rope, I dragged it along and followed after her.

As we passed through the cave, we encountered many of the same creatures I had seen in my previous life.

They were not monsters, but they were creatures whose appearance differed greatly from anything on the surface.

Many of the insects and the half-blind cave animals fled from the light of the lamp she carried, but some charged at us instead.

Even so, they could not slow our steps in the slightest.

Since she was taking the lead and swinging her sword diligently, I had no need to draw the dagger tucked inside my clothes and could simply trail after her, dragging the great sword behind me.

After walking like that for quite some time, we arrived at the iron door blocking the cave.

A large emblem had been engraved upon it as well—the emblem of the soaring bird.

'Ah, last time I came out from the other side, so I never saw it.'

The Firebird Hunter carefully traced the emblem on the iron door with her fingers.

I, on the other hand, stepped back.

Last time I had come from the opposite side, so I had opened the door easily enough, but I did not know how to enter from this side.

'Since she has a sword bearing the same emblem, she probably knows how to get in as well.'

Even if she could not, it did not worry me much. I could always slip in alone through the side path leading down from beneath the fortress and open it from the other side.

Fortunately, I did not have to go through all that trouble again. She knew how to open the iron door.

'Is she channeling mana into the door?'

She was not merely tracing the emblem.

Mana flowed out through her hand as she followed the emblem in a fixed pattern.

Starting from the feet, then up the wide-spread wings, then the head and both eyes.

The moment she pressed both eyes with her hands, I heard a click from within the door.

Then, when she pushed against it with force—

Creeeak.

The iron door slowly began to open. I stepped forward and pushed with her from the side.

The door swung fully open, and a stale smell drifted out.

"It really was here...."

The woman at my side stared at the ancient burial chamber with a face half-lost in disbelief.

Just as I expected, the burial chamber was no different from what I had seen in my previous life.

Stone walls fitted together in a square enclosure, and at the center of the empty burial chamber stood a large coffin atop a raised altar.

While the Firebird Hunter walked toward the coffin, I looked toward the crack in one corner of the wall.

A gap large enough for one person to pass through.

But I already knew that the cave connected to that gap narrowed more and more until only someone young and small like me or Adria could barely squeeze through.

As I was remembering what had happened in my previous life, I heard a sigh from the center of the chamber.

"Ah...."

At some point, the Firebird Hunter had already reached the coffin.

It was the sight of the empty coffin that drew the sound from her.

After staring at it, she jerked her head up and looked at me.

"When you found this tomb, was there really nothing here? No—how did you even learn about this tomb? Who told you?"

Now that she realized the tomb was empty, it seemed the doubts she had been setting aside had finally surfaced.

And from the look of it, she must have been half certain all along that the tomb would indeed be empty.

As expected, she was the descendant of the grave robbers who had plundered this tomb long ago.

That was why she knew how to get into the tomb, and why she possessed a sword engraved with the same emblem.

Damn, it seemed I had been lost in thought for too long. Suspicion rose on her face.

I hurriedly opened my mouth before she could break the contract.

"No one told me. I simply found a narrow passage connected to this place while exploring the underground of Mallorca Fortress."

I raised a hand and pointed to the cracked wall.

"Ah.... There was a gap? I never heard anything about that...."

Either the lore had not been properly passed down, or it had been deliberately hidden.

"When I came in here, it looked exactly as it does now. I just confirmed that it was empty and went back home. Then, in the marquess’s territory, I happened to see your sword bearing the same emblem engraved here."

Naturally, I had come here in my previous life, so there were no traces left behind in the route we had taken or in the cave connected to the fortress.

If she inspected things carefully, she would realize I was lying, but there was no way she would go that far.

"Then there really is nothing here...."

Just look at that. Even now, she believed my words immediately and grew visibly dejected.

Was she really a mercenary? Her skill was beyond doubt, but when she acted like this, she seemed far too unworldly to be one.

It was an interesting side of her, but I could not leave her like that if I wanted things to move forward.

"When I came here before, I don’t think I looked carefully enough. Is there really nothing inside the coffin?"

"There isn’t. Just scraps of clothing, bone fragments, and bone dust. Nothing but the traces of the tomb’s owner."

"Really?"

I walked up to the coffin as well.

The inside of the coffin looked exactly as she had said, and exactly as I had seen in my previous life.

'Back then, Adria found it first....'

Unlike Adria, the Firebird Hunter did not seem able to casually touch the inside of the coffin.

I bent down and brushed my hand across the bone dust covering the bottom.

Scrape, scrape.

"Ah, if you touch it so carelessly—"

As I brushed the dust aside, she cried out in alarm, but before she could finish speaking, her mouth fell open.

On the bottom of the coffin, beneath the swept-aside dust, the emblem of the soaring bird and a keyhole had been revealed.

"Huh? What’s this?"

I deliberately put on a startled face, as though I were seeing it for the first time.

'Hm. Was that a little awkward?'

It had not been my best acting, but she was so shocked that she did not notice at all.

She looked from the emblem and the hole to the sword in her hand.

It seemed Adria’s guess had been right. Judging by the Firebird Hunter’s face, I would not even need to steer her toward it.

Shrrring.

She drew the sword.

Thanks to the light of the lamp in her other hand, the bird emblem engraved on the blade looked as though it were burning brightly.

She held the sword and stared at the hole.

If I left her alone, it looked as though she would shove the sword in at once.

I spoke before she could.

"I’ve already told you everything I know. Before you put the sword in that hole, couldn’t you at least tell me the story attached to this tomb?"

"Ah!"

At my words, she let out a startled sound.

At last, she seemed to recover herself.

"Ah, sorry. I lost my head for a moment."

Letting out a sigh, she began to speak.

"I never dreamed I’d find it like this. Originally, this was where one of my family’s ancestors obtained his power. He was one of the Heroes, but sadly he died during the Great War, so very little was passed down. Only fragments of the story of this tomb survived through oral tradition, and the rest of the lore wasn’t preserved intact either."

She looked at the sword with mournful eyes.

"Perhaps this sword is the only thing that was properly passed down."

She tightened her grip on it once more.

"The others in the family gave up, but I couldn’t. I had duties entrusted to me as well, but I simply couldn’t stop searching for the lost lore. There wasn’t much time left for me, either, and yet to find it like this...."

As expected, she was no ordinary mercenary. A descendant of a Hero’s line.... Even if most of the lore had been lost, if she truly was of a Hero’s successor family, then she was undoubtedly a noble.

It seemed she was getting worked up again as she spoke.

Looking at her face, flushed red with excitement, I tried throwing a little cold water on it.

"There might still be nothing inside."

"No, there has to be something. The lore mentioned a door that opens with the sword."

That meant it was not a complete dud, which was very good news for me as well.

"Then may I open it?"

I nodded and quietly stepped back.

Even if a hidden door did appear, I had no intention of going in immediately.

The message still had not appeared yet. I intended to move only after I heard it.

But she lifted the sword at once.

And thrust it into the hole.

Thrust. Click.

I heard the sound of some mechanism being released.

And then—

KRAAAASH!

The entire altar collapsed downward.

Both she, who had been standing at its center, and I, who had only stepped back a single pace, fell with the collapsing stonework.

I had stepped back specifically to avoid getting dragged in, only to be swept up again anyway.

A door opening and an altar collapsing are worlds apart!

Why was it that the lore having been poorly passed down only now turned out to be true?

And Murphy’s law kept holding fast even after I came to this world.

Because at that exact moment, as I fell, a message appeared before my eyes.

[The crisis has ended. A new ‘save point’ has been set.]

Damn it! So this was the very moment when I had died with my future sister-in-law Adria.

The god of this world clearly hated me.