Chapter 94

Chapter 94. Relics in the Pouch

<Beloved son.

Only God knows how much I love you.

The reason I could endure your father’s disregard and the tyranny of your eldest mother, the countess, was solely for you, my beloved son.

If this matter succeeds, your father, Count Chaifri, will surely acknowledge you and make you his heir.

This is certainly what the count promised me. For your sake, and for mine, you must succeed in this matter.

As you know……(omitted)…… what the count gave you is a map organizing the location and internal structure of the ruin in the sealed grounds, as well as the seal obtained together with it at that time…….

This mother will spend every day praying that you return with the treasures of the ruin and ascend to the countship as soon as possible, so please do your best as well, my son.

I will always love you.>

Even after reading the letter again, I could feel terrifying greed and obsession between the lines.

It seemed inheriting a house was an extremely important matter to other people.

In any case, the long letter described the map and signet ring in detail.

The map and signet ring were objects brought back by an ancestor of House Chaifri.

The ancestor of the count’s house had been a soldier of Sir Carlos the Hero.

It seemed that during the Great War, he had followed Sir Carlos the Hero and played a part in sealing the Demon King in the sealed grounds.

In the process, he apparently met the last Mage of the fallen Old Empire and obtained this map and signet ring.

The letter rambled on about how he returned to the kingdom and established a house, and how one of his children married King Carlos’s daughter and became a noble.

As a third party, I could not tell whether this long-winded story was pride in the house, or whether it was meant to show how important it was to become the house’s heir.

In any case, it seemed House Chaifri had spent a long time sending mercenaries, knights, and members of the house to the sealed grounds to find the ruin on the map.

Several hundred years passed like that, and fifty years ago, they were finally able to roughly determine the location of the ruin, so they sent the count’s son and the knight order.

“But in the end, they died without even entering the ruin?”

And so the map and seal had passed through Ride’s hands and come to me.

I folded the letter and put it into the pouch.

Then I examined the map.

“It must be because of objects like this that people never stop coming to the monster-infested sealed grounds.”

This peninsula in the eastern part of the continent, called the sealed grounds, had once been the center of the Old Empire.

It was the place where the Demon King first appeared, and it was also the cause of the brilliant Old Empire’s overnight destruction.

Now it had become the sealed grounds, where the Demon King was sealed and which was filled with monsters, but many ruins and relics from the Old Empire era still remained here.

The ruin drawn on the papyrus was one such place.

I did not know how impressive a ruin it was, and if things went wrong, it might be useless—a true gamble of a ruin.

When I had searched for a tomb with Katrine before, which had not even been at the level of a ruin, we had obtained decent relics and treasures.

Since we had obtained such relics even from a tomb, I could understand to some extent why people’s eyes would turn toward such ruins.

The papyrus had maps drawn on both sides.

The front showed the terrain where the ruin was located, while the back showed the interior of the ruin.

“It would be hard to find it with just this…….”

The map of the ruin’s interior seemed to have many missing parts, and the section showing the terrain was not easy to recognize now that the terrain had changed into something like a jungle.

That was why House Chaifri had searched for the ruin’s location for hundreds of years.

“Fifty years ago, they must have identified the location to some extent, right? Enough to send the knight order and the count’s son into the sealed grounds.”

Seeing as they had not sent anyone again afterward and had instead diligently searched for this pouch, this map and signet ring seemed to play an important role in confirming the ruin’s location.

“Or perhaps it is because of this signet ring…….”

The pattern engraved on the ring was the same as the emblem engraved on the dead knight’s armor.

In other words, it was the coat of arms of House Chaifri.

This ring’s pattern must have existed before the house was established, so the house’s coat of arms had clearly been modeled after the pattern on this ring.

“In the end, this signet ring is House Chaifri’s seal…….”

This signet ring was the official seal of the master of House Chaifri, the head of the house.

“I have never heard that House Chaifri lost its official seal. Could the official seal they have now be a fake?”

If that were the case, House Chaifri absolutely had to recover this signet ring.

In ordinary times, there would be no particular problem. However, if civil war broke out within the house, or if they needed to sign something like a joint petition to establish a king, the genuine official seal would be absolutely necessary.

“In a situation like now, where civil war may break out between the princes, this official seal would be essential when supporting one prince.”

Thinking about it, this signet ring seemed more important than the treasure map, which was a gamble and whose exact location was unknown.

However, this signet ring also seemed difficult to use immediately.

“The gold coins alone are more than enough to satisfy me, so I should seal away the map and signet ring for now.”

I put the ring, map, letter, and gold coins back into the pouch.

“Come to think of it, the pouch itself seems like an impressive relic too.”

It did not seem to have the same capacity as the relic bag said to be in the kingdom’s treasury, but this small pouch also had an extremely large space hidden inside it.

The small pouch that fit in one hand could hold the capacity of a large bag, no, perhaps a small cart.

With this much space, it seemed possible to live outside for a long time with just one pouch.

“For now, I am satisfied with the gold coins and the pouch.”

I carefully put away the pouch again and looked out at the dark forest.

Dawn was gradually approaching.

---

The sleeping people woke one by one.

“Are you feeling a little better?”

“Mm. I can move now.”

Katrine’s grimacing expression had also returned to normal.

She tried moving her body here and there, then let out a sigh of relief.

She did look somewhat uncomfortable, but it seemed she could move to some extent.

As expected, potions made by alchemists deserved to be called miracle medicine.

In just one night, it had closed a wound that had been spilling blood.

It did not heal instantly the moment it was poured on, like in the novels or comics I had seen in my previous life, but its effect of strengthening natural healing power by more than ten times was truly remarkable.

Of course, it was so expensive that ordinary people found it difficult to use, but for nobles who could attend the Royal Academy, it was not a great burden.

The students also looked more energetic than yesterday.

Their expressions darkened from time to time because Ride had not returned, but while washing up and preparing breakfast, they recovered somewhat.

However, Katrine’s expression stiffened whenever Ride was mentioned.

Yesterday, she had seemed filled with guilt, but now she seemed to be troubled by something.

Breakfast ended quickly. Fortunately, each person had one or two days’ worth of travel rations, so no one went hungry.

“Then, what should we do now?”

Jesus asked after we gathered following the meal.

Jesus, the light ability user, had not been very helpful in yesterday’s battle, but his personality did not seem bad.

“The others should have returned before sunset yesterday, and the search party should have stayed behind and be looking for us.”

At his words, Katrine explained the current situation.

“Then if we meet the search party, can we return right away?”

“No. It will take about a week for the magic circle to fill with mana. During that time, we have to endure here somehow.”

Everyone’s expressions darkened at the news that we had to stay in the sealed grounds for an entire week.

“Do we have to meet the search party?”

At Mirisa’s following question, Katrine wore a troubled expression.

Right now, it was difficult to be certain whether the search party had safely made it through last night.

That did not mean we could simply ignore them either.

Last night, we had been wounded and in danger, so she had stopped us from going. But now, everyone had recovered to some extent, and she herself was able to move.

However, that did not mean we could act recklessly, so her worries only deepened.

That was when it happened.

Fwoooosh, bang!

In the distance, smoke rose from the middle of the forest and exploded in the sky.

It was the signal flare I had seen before.

“Did the search party survive?”

Everyone looked up at the sky outside the cave in surprise.

‘But the color is different…….’

The color of the signal flare I had seen before was blue. However, the smoke of the current signal flare was red. It was a different color from before.

“That is a rescue signal.”

Katrine clenched her teeth after seeing the signal.

She could move, but she was not in a condition to fight yet.

That did not mean she could send the students either.

However, I could move.

“I will go.”

Even last night, I had not been able to find the search party because I did not know their location. Even now, I had been wondering whether to go or not.

However, with them showing their location like that, I could not avoid going.

Somehow, after coming to the sealed grounds, everything felt intense, but considering that I had saved Katrine again, this much was manageable.

At my words, Katrine thought for a long time before finally giving permission.

“Only this time. From now on, I will move myself.”

Perhaps because they had suffered enough last night, no one seemed inclined to say they would follow me.

Bria and Mirisa looked sorry instead, while the two male students quietly avoided my gaze.

The day had brightened, and with the people remaining in the cave, they could block weaker monsters well enough.

I departed immediately.

Once again, I leaped up into the trees and began imitating a monkey.

I crossed the forest by jumping from tree to tree.

Perhaps because I had already done it once, my speed was a little faster this time.

Running diligently like that, I met the knights.

They were the knights I had seen yesterday.

Sir Axel and Sir Miro were facing monsters while wounded.

On the ground, one knight lay dead as a corpse.

He was a knight I had not seen yesterday. It seemed he was the knight who had joined the search party in my place.

I jumped down onto the head of the monster they were fighting and cut off the monster’s neck with my greatsword.

Slice.

The startled knights looked at me.

“Are you all right?”

“Uh, you are that illegitimate son of the ducal house, right?”

It felt as though the word illegitimate son had become something like a nickname.

I did not like it, but there was nothing I could do about it right now.

After bringing down the monster, I stood at the front and looked around. Meanwhile, the knights busily treated their own wounds.

It was nothing more than pouring potions and wrapping bandages, but in this world, that was the best method.

As he wrapped a bandage, Sir Miro asked,

“How did you survive the night?”

“I was lucky.”

To be honest, luck had been part of it. If I had slipped even a little, things would not have gone according to plan.

At my words, the knight nodded. Since he did not know my ability, he had no choice but to think it was luck.

He immediately asked another question.

“Did you perhaps find the stranded group?”

It was the most important question.

“Yes. I am with them.”

I nodded, and after hearing my answer, the knights’ expressions brightened.