Chapter 51: Tomb of Death ⑩ – The Story of a Certain Brother and Sister

All that lies ahead is the path to despair.
That’s all there is.

I thought I was dead.
This time for sure, I felt certain that I had died.

“Onii-chan!?”

In a dim, vast crypt.
A strange space tinged entirely in a bronze hue.

Before me stood a rotting giant—Saturnus, I think.

Its four grotesque eyes, arranged in a cross, stared at me as a massive hand reached out.

Ah, so I’ll be eaten and die now.
This is the end for me.

I’m sorry, Elina.
I dragged you to a place like this.

Your big brother was a fool. I just wanted to make you happy somehow.

Our parents were explorers.
That’s why I wanted to be one too.

Three years ago, they went out on a job and never came back.

So I became a hired hand under the best Hunter Guild in town—Coon Hunt.

Even when treated like a slave, it was the only way we could survive.

Kids like us had almost no way to eat properly.
Even getting into the trash heaps cost 300 Oros.
And even if we did get in, there was rarely anything valuable enough to sell.

And even if we found something, there was no one willing to buy it.
And if someone did, they’d lowball us.

So no matter how harsh or painful it was, working for Coon Hunt was our only option.

Luckily, both Elina and I had Relics.
Even having just one made all the difference in the world.

But… I wanted to make a name for myself. To earn more… and this is the result.

We were tricked by low-rank explorers in Coon Hunt.
They used us as bait and ran off.

And now, we can’t even leave this Tomb of Death.
If we try, we’ll become sacrifices to death.

In the end, that’s our fate too.
Dying in rags, pathetically.

The Tomb of Death. The Giant’s Crypt.

Dying in a tomb … what luck—or maybe no luck at all.

“Onii-chan!!”

Goodbye, Elina.

I’m really going to die now—
At that moment, someone stepped in front of me. Who? A kid?

Another hired hand?
They got caught by Saturnus.

“I-I’m saved…?”

My legs gave out beneath me.
I don’t know who it was, but I was saved.
Saved… saved… I was saved.

Then Saturnus suddenly began thrashing around.
What’s going on? As I wondered, something fell.

“Whoa!”

What the—
There was a metallic sound.
I looked and saw the gleam of a glowing white… knife blade?

“Onii-chan!”
“Elina!”

My twin-tailed little sister came running toward me.

“Onii-chan, are you okay?”
“Yeah, somehow I’m still alive.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. Anyway, let’s get out of here!”

This is our chance. We need to get away while we can.

“Wait, Onii-chan. That knife blade.”
“Huh? What about it?”
“We need to take it with us.”
“Why would we take something like that?”

Sure, we don’t have any weapons right now, but even so… it’s just a fragment.

“Onii-chan, that thing is incredibly powerful. Why is something like that even here?”
“Elina… you mean it’s a Relic?”
“Yeah. I saw it with my Relic— True Sight . Just pick it up already.”

Elina’s Relic, True Sight, can see the essence of things—or so I’ve heard.
The “essence” of things… I don’t really get it.

But I do know her ability is amazing. I’m proud of my little sister.

“But it’s a blade, you know?”

How the hell am I supposed to carry it?

While I hesitated, Elina said:

“It’s fine. It won’t cut you.”
“…Huh?”
“Just do it. We can’t stay here. Grab it, now!”
“O-Okay!”

I did as she said and picked up the blindingly white knife blade.

My finger brushed against the edge—but it didn’t cut me.

“Now let’s run!!”
“R-right!”

I gripped the blade tightly and fled the scene.

Zombies in white clothes attacked us.

“Uwaaahhh!!”
“Onii-chan! Raise the blade!”
“L-like this!?”

The blade shone with a brilliant white light.
The zombies recoiled in fear and backed away.

“W-what the!?”
“No time—let’s go while we can!”
“W-where to?”
“Anywhere! I just want to get out of this tomb!”
“Y-yeah, you’re right.”
“This way!”
“R-right behind you!”

Elina led the way with surprising confidence.

I followed close behind.

We ran into more zombies and skeletons, but whenever I held up the blade, they ran away.

We entered a narrow corridor—quiet, no monsters.

I don’t know where it leads, but at least it’s safe.

“This is insane… Could this be an OOPArt!?”
“If you mean something legendary, then yes.”
“Is that what they call it? I can never keep track—Legacy, Legendary, whatever…”

It’s all a blur to me.
Elina puffed her cheeks in irritation.

“See? This is why you’re hopeless.”
“…Ugh, well… I don’t have a fancy Relic like you, okay?”
“That doesn’t matter. Even your Relic can be amazing—if you use it right.”
“Even so, I don’t really get it…”

My relic is [Synthesis]. It can combine two objects together.

But most of the time, it just creates trash. It never really works out right.

“I want to do something with this blade too.”

“Onii-chan, I found this and brought it.”

What Elina handed me was a broken sword.
It was rusted and battered, with the tip snapped off.

“Hey, no way—”

“As it is, it’s useless as a weapon, right?”

“Th-That’s true, but even now, just holding up this blade makes the undead back off.”

“Onii-chan, that won’t keep working forever. There’s something dangerous ahead. We’ll need a weapon.”

“Is that also your [True Sight]?”

“Yes.”

“So you’re saying I should use [Synthesis] to combine the broken sword and the glowing blade?”

“If you don’t, we’ll die.”

Either way, we’re destined to die today as sacrificial relics to the Tomb of Death.

Elina must understand that, too.

But she hasn’t given up hope.
Maybe with her [True Sight], she sees a path to survival.

“…Alright.”

I trust my sister.

Holding the rusted, broken sword in my left hand and the glowing white blade in my right,
I breathe in and slowly exhale.

This is bad. I’m getting nervous.
My hands are shaking.
What if I mess up? I’ll ruin both of them.

“Onii-chan.”

Elina gently placed her small hands over mine.

“Elina…”

“It’s okay. If it’s you, Onii-chan, you can definitely do it.”

Her hands were small and warm. And trembling.
She’s scared too. She’s anxious.

I thought I was the only one afraid.

What the hell am I doing?
I’m her big brother.

“Watch me, Elina.”

I placed the broken, battered sword and the glowing white blade together and activated [Synthesis].

The glowing blade fused into the broken tip, spreading light along the entire weapon.

The rusty, worn-out sword transformed into a white sword.
Its hilt stayed the same, but the whole thing turned pure white and gleamed faintly.

“It worked.”

“You did it, Onii-chan!”

“Yeah, it’s done. A White Sword.”

“Nope. That’s a Holy Sword.”

Elina smiled brightly as she said that. Holy?

Ahead, in the next chamber, an evolved form of a Phantom Soldier was waiting.
It was tough, but with Elina’s guidance, we somehow defeated it.

It was a hidden room, with a treasure chest. Inside were pouches filled with money.
We took them and exited into a red corridor, with rooms on either side.

It felt like some kind of mansion.

There, we changed into clothes and armor we found in the rooms.
One room even had a bath.

Elina said she wanted to wash up, so we used it.
I got forced into washing, too.
We both ended up clean.

“You look totally different now, Onii-chan.”

“…Yeah.”

I wore leather armor. I wanted to wear iron armor, but it was too heavy.
Elina had a red cape and a yellow dress.

Simple, but they looked expensive.
Now clean, Elina looked so pretty.

Come to think of it, I’d only ever seen her looking dirty—
I didn’t even realize my sister was such a beautiful girl.

She wore a battle belt, with a knife and pouch on her back hip.
And even though she wasn’t a magic user, she carried a staff—
A red metal one.

She was overjoyed, twirling around and playing.

Sure, I got excited too when we changed, but…

“What’s wrong?”

“Even if we look like we’ve been reborn… we’re still sacrifices to the Tomb of Death.”

That’s right.
Unless we break the curse on this tomb, we’ll die.

Even with a Holy Sword, there’s no way we could defeat the King of Death.

But Elina didn’t look fazed, even after hearing my complaints.

“It’s okay now, Onii-chan.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just a little longer. Someone will defeat the King of Death. And when that happens… the Tomb of Death will collapse. After a huge tremor, right over there—see? A teleportation circle will appear. We’ll be able to get out. The sacrificial relics will vanish. We’ll be saved, Onii-chan.”

“How the hell do you know that?”

“That’s my relic—[Future Sight: True Sight].”

“Future…?”

What the hell? Wasn’t it just [True Sight]? I don’t get it.

Elina stuck out her tongue playfully and smiled.

“It’s fine, Onii-chan. As long as I’m with you, everything will be okay. Let’s become explorers once we get outside.”

“Eh? I can become an explorer?”

“Yes, you can. Because I’ll be with you—definitely.”

A beaming smile.
I didn’t know Elina could smile like that.

So I really can become an explorer…

“Elina, I’m going to become a great explorer like our parents.”

“You’ll become an even greater one.”

Elina said it with such confidence, like she had no doubt at all.

Hearing her say that made me believe it too.

A short while later, after a loud rumble shook the ground, a teleportation circle really did appear right where Elina had pointed.

Without hesitation, we jumped in and returned to the surface.

Instead of going back to Hydrangea, we decided to head for the royal capital.

That’s what Elina told me to do.

But before that, there’s someone we have to kill.

A man standing right in front of us, screaming with a blood-soaked saber in his hand.

The scum from Coon hunt who brought us to that place.

If I do exactly as Elina says, even a Rank V explorer can be taken down.

It feels like a path of hope is finally opening before us.

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