Kays Translations

Chapter 164: Beyond the Door

“This door’s pretty massive again.”

“It’s reminiscent of the one we encountered in the rock desert ruins last time.”

Eto and Willem observed the door, shining their lantern’s light on it.

The solid door fitted into the wall was made of a material resembling a mix of concrete and plastic commonly seen in other ruins, standing out somewhat amidst the exposed rock formations of this particular site.

“Oh, unlike the previous door, there seems to be a console-like thing here.”

Right beside the door on the wall, slightly lower than eye level, Isamu remarked while shining the lantern’s light.

Embedded there was a glossy black box about 40 centimeters tall and 30 centimeters wide.

“Most likely a magic tool to open and close the door. I’d like to investigate more, but I’m not sure how much time it’ll take. Shall we leave it for tomorrow?”

“Indeed. Something that’s been around for hundreds or even thousands of years won’t change overnight.”

Felix replied to Isamu’s words, and the other members nodded in agreement, seeming to have no particular objections.

Once they had set up their camping gear again and had dinner, it was time for a footbath.

Since the room wasn’t very large on the first day and the ceiling was low, Gascoigne and Schmeichel’s were experiencing it for the first time.

“Wow, just dipping your feet in hot water feels this good…”

“Yeah, after walking around so much, this is nice.”

Both of them relaxed their expressions, clearly enjoying it.

The bath was large enough for about four people to soak their feet at once, so besides the two from Eriksen’s domain, Isamu and Felix also joined in.

On Isamu’s knee, Orihime occasionally peeked into the water, playfully splashing it with her front paws.

“So, do you think that door can be opened??”

Since they were close, the conversation naturally turned to tomorrow’s plans.

“It’s hard to say, but I think there’s a possibility. Based on previous patterns, the magic on the activation circle is likely depleted, but the functional circle side often remains active. So, first, we’ll need to infuse the activation circle with the required amount of magic. Usually, this magic requirement is ridiculously large.”

“Yeah, just hearing that is already a lot…”

“And once activated, we might open it using this magic tool we obtained earlier, which seems to be for authentication. If it doesn’t work, well, we’ll have to figure something else out.”

“Can’t we just melt the wall with that muddy madness thing you used earlier?”

“That only works on rocks and stones. It doesn’t affect the mysterious substance used on that wall in the ruins. It might be another form of security.”

“I see. I haven’t heard of it being broken by other magic either, so it won’t be easy. Well, I can’t do anything about it, so I’ll just watch and learn.”

“Haha, understood. Just in case monsters appear, I’ll count on you.”

Grinning, Gascoigne patted his own bicep and said so.

The next morning, after a simple meal and packing up their belongings, Isamu began investigating the black box that seemed to be a security device.

“Hmm, it feels a bit different from what I saw in Kalenberg and the ruins before.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure how to put it into words, but it feels a bit older or more rugged…”

Isamu wanted to say it felt more industrial, but decided not to since the nuance might not come across.

“Well, the structure seems similar, so let’s try opening it for now.”

Saying that, Isamu inserted a mithril blade into a gap visible on the left side of the box.

It was an ultra-thin mithril blade with a soldering iron function created when dismantling a magic tool called the “recharge box” used to fill magic stones with magic.

Inserting it a few centimeters and twisting the blade using the lever principle, there was a crack sound.

Inserting fingers into the gap and pulling them forward revealed that there was something like a hinge on the right side, and it opened like a thick book, dividing into front and back sides.

“Hmm, it seems like I can’t read the functional circle… The activation circle is here… Ah, here it is. This activation magic is about 1,800… It’s not that much.”

“Hmm, the ruins in the rock desert we saw before were about 1,500, so it feels similar.”

“Yes, around here seems to be the going rate.”

“Since it feels quite different from Kalenberg’s, perhaps the purpose and era are completely different.”

While discussing this, Willem efficiently started creating a magic circle to charge the activation magic.

“Alright. Let’s activate it.”

Connecting the finished magic circle to the activation circle and touching it to the activation magic stone.

In about a second, the charged magical power flowed into the activation circle, and a black box-shaped magic tool started up with the usual “bong” sound.

It didn’t seem to have a display-like feature; a dim red light appeared in the lower right of the front, so it was hard to tell if it was activated.

“This should have started up…”

“It won’t display text like before, will it?”

Watching for a while, Orihime, perched on Tiramisu’s helmet, jumped down and approached the door, lowering her posture and moving slowly toward it.

There was no growling, but she kept moving her ears while crouching low.

“That’s her movement when she hears something curious… Maybe there was a sound on the other side of the door that we couldn’t hear.”

“…We should probably be cautious when opening it.”

At Isamu’s words, Felix drew his sword and took a stance, followed by all the knights.

“Alright, here goes nothing…”

Saying this, Isamu took out the ID card (temporary) obtained yesterday.

“We don’t know what might come out, so everyone please be on high alert.”

“Understood.”

Mizeroi and Tiramisu positioned themselves between Isamu and the door to protect him, while behind Isamu, Annemarie, Eto, Willem, and Karina stood back. 

The other knights formed a semicircle with spacing in front of the door. Orihime perched on Felix’s shoulder in the center.

Seeing the formation set, Isamu called out, “Let’s do this.”

Touching the ID card (temporary) held in hand to the black box, an attributeless magic stone embedded in the ID card (temporary) emitted a faint glow.

Then, a low electronic-like sound named “Von” emanated from the box, and the light in the lower right corner changed from red to green. Vertical lights ran from top to bottom on either side of the slit in the center of the door.

And then…

With a heavy, resounding sound, the large door began to open left and right.

Inside was dark, making it impossible to discern what lay beyond.

The knights stationed before the door tried to illuminate the interior with lantern light, but suddenly, the space beyond the door brightened.

Taken aback by the sudden change, another surprise struck them all.

Right in the center just beyond the opened door, it stood.

Standing about 3 meters tall, its upper body clad in a matte sand beige armor-like material, somewhat humanoid due to what appeared to be a face and two arms.

However, its lower body consisted not of two legs but four, resembling somewhat the shape of a centaur seen in games and such.

Yet, both its arms and legs were thick and short, with a head-like structure but no discernible neck, overall possessing a stout figure. Its facial area was pitch black, with a single eerie red light gleaming as an eye.

“Whoa, whoa, what the hell is this…”

Gascoigne muttered with a tense expression.

“In terms of atmosphere, it resembles the one from Kalenberg’s ruins or the giant crab we saw earlier…”

Felix also watched cautiously. Perched on his shoulder, Orihime kept her posture low with her eyes turning completely black.

As Isamu and the others hesitated to move, the red light resembling its eyes suddenly split from a single large light into several small flickering lights.

“What…?”

As they watched in astonishment, its head swiftly rotated 90 degrees to the left and right, as if searching for something.

“Is it looking for something?”

Its actions seemed akin to a lost child searching for its parent, such was the gesture it made.

“◎△××〇□◇▽×◎”

“Wha–!!”

Once again, abruptly, it emitted a cry.

Slightly high-pitched, it almost sounded like a human woman’s voice, yet it didn’t seem to speak any recognizable words.

“◆◎△▲×〇□◇■×〇”

Continuing to cry out, it now slowly swung its head from right to left.

The knights remained in combat readiness, prepared for it to attack at any moment.

Finally, it halted its movement, facing Isamu on the far left.

“◎△××〇□◇▽×◎”

The red lights that had been randomly blinking now began to move horizontally.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Crash! Crash! Crash!

Then, with a clatter, it turned its body toward Isamu and began moving slowly.

“Please step back!!”

Mizeroi, standing in front of Isamu, raised his voice and lowered his hips.

Glancing briefly at Orihime, whose posture was low with her ears folded back, Isamu noticed she hadn’t growled yet.

After taking about five steps, it halted but continued to emit cries.

“〇◆◎△▲■■×〇×▼”

“…Could it be this?”

Isamu suddenly realized something, holding out the ID card (temporary) in his hand. After a moment’s pause, it began to advance again.

“▲××◆◆●●●”

“I-Isamu-sama!?”

Mizeroi couldn’t help but exclaim, but Isamu reassured him.

“Since Orihime hasn’t growled yet, it should be okay…”

“B-but!?”

Approaching slowly, it stopped about two meters in front of Isamu. The movement of the red dots intensified markedly.

“〇△▽□□”

After about two seconds, it suddenly made a different sound from before in a different tone, changing its eye color from red to green.

Then, it turned its back to Isamu with a clatter and returned back into the door.

“Phew…”

Having observed that, Isamu let out a long sigh and sat down where he was.

“Hey, hey, does Isamu understand the language of monsters?”

Gascoigne, judging that the danger had passed for now, approached Isamu and remarked so, still keeping his sword drawn—a true seasoned mercenary.

“No, I don’t think it understands language.” 

Isamu replied with a laugh to Gascoigne’s question.

“But if it were a monster that would attack without question, it probably would have charged as soon as the door opened. It seemed more like it was waiting for something or searching for something.”

“Indeed, every mysterious monster we’ve encountered in ruins before would attack immediately. Though this one had a similar appearance and atmosphere…” 

Felix added, coming over to Isamu.

“Yeah. And even though Orihime was cautious, she didn’t act aggressively, so I think we’re okay.” 

“Mrrrooow…”

In response to Isamu’s words, Orihime, who had been on Felix’s shoulder, leaped over to his shoulder and nuzzled her head against his cheek.

“True, whenever monsters attacked us before, Sensei would always intimidate them.” 

Mizeroi nodded.

“I think it was probably checking whether we were friendly or not. So, when I showed it the card, it probably decided to retreat peacefully.” 

Isamu speculated, spinning the temporary ID card in his hand as he spoke.

Isamu had considered that it might not be a monster but something more like a guard robot, though he couldn’t be certain. It didn’t fit neatly into either category of monster or machine, so he decided to leave it at that.

“Now then, shall we take a look inside? They were thoughtful enough to even turn on the lights automatically for us.” 

Isamu said calmly, rising to his feet and walking slowly into the door.

—

“This guy again…”

“It’s spacious… and the ceiling is high too.”

Eto and Willem murmured as they looked up.

Beyond the heavy door was a rather large space, perhaps about half the size of a school gymnasium.

The ceiling was high, reminiscent of a gymnasium’s ceiling. This was probably why the entrance was deep underground.

The ceiling was equipped with lighting fixtures that illuminated the interior.

“Whoa, if we hadn’t had that card, would they have attacked us?”

Tiramisu huddled beside the open door, looking concerned.

There, lined up neatly with the creature that had appeared earlier, were five beings that resembled it.

Orihime, now bored, scratched her neck on the back of the monsters she was perched on, showing no signs of movement.

“Sensei’s pretty chill, huh… Hey… But man, these guys are tough. Are all the ones deep in ruins like this?”

Gascoigne said, watching Orihime with a grim expression as he lightly tapped the monsters’ outer shells.

“Yeah, probably. The ones that come out from deep within, like the joint raid we did before, they’re probably all tough. If they had all attacked us at once, it would’ve been quite a mess…”

Mizeroi replied, also tapping the outer shell of one of the monsters.

“This… could it be a leg of a magic giant golem?”

“Well, that’s what I think it is, no doubt.”

At the back center of the door, Annemarie and Isamu looked up slightly.

There, something resembling a large foot was suspended from a crane-like device.

“If it’s a humanoid magic giant golem, it would probably be about 4 to 5 meters tall. Is the ratio similar to the arm-like thing we found before?”

“Yeah, though I’ve never seen an actual magic giant golem, so it’s not necessarily the same length as a human’s limbs. Also, the exterior vibe of this arm we found before was quite different.”

“True… The previous one was smoother with a lot more curved surfaces.”

“Yeah, whereas this one has more straight lines and a duller color.”

Chin in hand, Isamu and Willem exchanged their opinions.

“Hey, Isamu! This suspended thing might move.” 

Eto called out as he examined something like a console at the base of the crane’s arm.

“Really!?”

“Yeah. I just replaced the cloudy activation magic stone. Let’s see…”

Eto touched what seemed to be the activation magic stone, and after the usual startup sound, a low “vrrrrrr” hum could be heard.

“It definitely seems like it’s started…”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. There were similar magic tools in my original world, and they often made some noise while on standby.”

Machinery powered by internal combustion engines naturally made noise in idle mode, and those powered by electric motors would have sounds like cooling devices.

This magic tool also seemed to have entered some kind of preparatory state.

“I guess the controls… probably these buttons here.”

Four square buttons were arranged on the console. They were in a three-tier configuration of 1x2x1, rather than a simple 2×2 square.

Isamu pressed the button at the bottom.

*Goon Goon…*

Not very loud but producing a solid sound, the crane began to lower.

Just before the suspended leg part touched the ground, Isamu pressed the button again, stopping the crane’s descent. In the aftermath of the movement, the leg swung lightly back and forth.

“Yeah, now it’s easy to move it up, down, left, and right. Later, when we see what’s inside, if it’s something unreadable, we’ll figure out how to haul it out.” 

“Exactly. If we had this in the workshop, it would definitely improve efficiency in making magic vehicles.” 

Despite being surprised by the sudden movement of the crane, the members looked at the two talking happily without being disturbed, even though they were the culprits who caused it.

“Now, let’s see what magic circle is inscribed here…”

Peering into the gap of the lowered leg part, Isamu examined the interior.

“Hmm, I might need to dismantle it to see the magic circle properly…”

Except for the armored exterior, which resembled armor and was covered in something like rubber, it didn’t seem easy to read the magic circle drawn inside.

“Huh?”

Upon closer inspection around the leg, Isamu noticed something small drawn on the heel part.

“What’s this? A crest? Annemarie, do you recognize this crest from anywhere?”

Isamu’s database only contained information on major noble families within the country and neighboring states, so he turned to Annemarie, who might be more familiar with this area.

“I’m not sure… At least it’s not the crest of any major nobility within the country or the main noble families of other countries. I apologize, I don’t have a complete grasp on all the noble family crests from abroad either…”

Even Annemarie seemed unsure, and she shook her head apologetically.

“No worries, that’s to be expected. Actually, just knowing the crests of major foreign nobles is impressive.”

“Thank you. Perhaps Karina might know. Given that this is an ancient relic, it’s likely not from modern crests, right?”

“Indeed! Since it could be over a thousand years old, the likelihood leans more towards that direction…”

Karina, the head maid who voraciously reads books from both ancient and modern genres, is well-versed in the entire history of Ethersia. If this is a relic, there’s probably no one here more knowledgeable than her about it.

“Karina! Please come here for a moment.”

“Are you calling for me, milady?”

Karina, who had been playing with Orihime on her lap a little distance away to prevent her from wandering off, came over while still holding Orihime in her arms.

“There’s a crest carved here. Do you recognize it?”

“A crest? Let me see…”

Karina crouched down to examine the crest.

“This… resembles the crest of the country of Abalush.”

“Abalush country?”

After a moment of thought, Annemarie also tilted her head at the mention of that word.

“Yes. Before the establishment of Zun, this area was divided into smaller city-states during a long era of wars. Abalush was one of those city-states.”

“City-state…”

“It wasn’t a large country, but its army, composed of robust men, was formidable. They were known to whimsically change sides between enemy and ally and engage in battles. Some theories suggest that the prolonged wars in this region were due to this country.”

“Such a country existed…”

“Yes. Eventually, it was annexed by Zun and ceased to exist as a nation, so very few records remain.”

“A small elite army of big men…”

If they were controlling a magic giant golem, it might be logical for a part with their crest to be here, Isamu thought, gently placing his hand on the cold exterior.

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter