kscans

Chapter 228 - Clovis and the Universe Connected by the Dungeon

We were standing in front of a small shrine on the outskirts of the city. I couldn't guess how long it had been here, but the stones used to build it had lost their sharp corners, their fit was poor, and it looked more like a random pile of nearby boulders than a quarried structure. Clovis entered, followed by two guards.

"You sure this thing isn't going to collapse?"

I complained, but was ignored. The members of Levante walking behind me had also been silent for a while. I let out a small sigh and steeled myself. Then, I followed Clovis inside. The smell of mold hit my nose, and the stagnant, cold air stung my skin. It was a dim space. However, there were gaps in the walls and ceiling, and the light filtering through allowed me to see what was inside. The stone walls and ceiling were covered in mottled stains of red, black, and white. There was probably some mold mixed in, but it seemed the entire interior had once been painted with a picture. Now, however, it offered no clue as to what it might have been. In the center of the floor was a black circle, about the height of a person, from which black shadows flickered and rose like flames. As expected, this shrine was the entrance to a dungeon.

"Hey, we're not going into a dungeon."

"There's no need to worry. This dungeon has only one floor. We'll reach our destination soon,"

Clovis replied. I instinctively looked at Marmi.

"Give me a moment."

After speaking to Clovis, I led her to the wall and pressed her against it by her shoulders.

"...What?"

Her expression was unchanged. However, her long ears twitched slightly. And her silver eyes looked up at me.

"Is the myth passed down by the elven race different from the one the humans have?"

"...It is."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"...I tried to explain a few times. And besides..."

"Besides?"

"...I didn't want Myra to hate me. I don't want to be kicked out of the party."

Myra is deeply religious, but she is also a seeker of knowledge. She's cooperating on this journey to find the truth of the myths. I thought it was impossible for her not to know about the myths other races believed in. Marmi talking about it shouldn't have been a problem. At the same time, the fact that neither Marmi nor Myra had mentioned it before must mean there was something very inconvenient about it. Was it inconvenient for humans? Or was it inconvenient for the gods?

"Is it that different?"

She nodded at my words. Was it the part where humans interbred with various things to increase their numbers? I thought that part sounded fishy too.

"What do you mean you don't want to be kicked out of the party? I wouldn't kick you out just for having a fight with Myra."

"...But Mash is planning to kick me out when Cecily and Aira come back."

"N-No, I'm undecided, but I wouldn't kick Mo out..."

"...That's a lie. In the end, you'll say I'm just a kid and remove me from the party. I don't want that. It's true I'm a newcomer, but I decided to follow Mash. I made that decision. I want to be with you until the end. In times like these, Famu just follows Mash's will, so she's not reliable. I need allies."

"..."

I wanted to deny her thoughts immediately. But she was right. For now, though, I couldn't give her an answer about that choice.

"Let me think about that for a bit. So, what's the difference between the human myth and the elven myth?"

"...Clovis will tell you that now."

In the end, she had no intention of telling me herself. Her gaze shifted to Clovis, who should have been behind me. I followed her gaze and turned around to find Famu, Mizuki, and Myra right behind me, eavesdropping.

"Wha—you guys!"

It was a common sight, but it still surprised me. While I was stunned, they quickly dispersed.

As Clovis had said, we were led to the first floor of the dungeon. It was a corridor made of stone bricks. It was dim, but like other dungeons, no light was needed. Light seeped in from somewhere, illuminating the corridor. It seemed to stretch on forever. We encountered monsters along the way, but they were eliminated by the guards. It was just a slime, so I couldn't say for sure, but from their swordsmanship and efficiency, the two of them seemed to be skilled warriors. And from their shouts, I learned for the first time that they were women. I had thought they had beautiful faces, but because they were elves, I had assumed they were men. The fact that they were wearing armor that hid their figures also misled me. I would have to be careful not to make assumptions when I saw elves in the future. As I was thinking this, I noticed Clovis had stopped and was looking at me.

"Are you interested in them? If you plan to stay here tonight, I will send them to you."

"..."

"There's no need to worry. They are both my concubines. I will have them observe the children of elves and humans."

The ones to worry about were Famu and the others behind me. If that was the case, I wished he had said it when they weren't around. Looking closely, one of the guards vaguely resembled Marmi. She might have some distant relatives with Star Union family blood. Since the elven population was declining, it was entirely possible. As I was thinking this, Famu pushed me from behind. Clovis started walking, so we started walking again. What was he trying to show me? Were we heading to the Area Guardian's room? As I was pondering this, his footsteps eventually stopped. The stone-paved corridor ended there. Beyond it was a darkness like outer space. Within that darkness, what looked like broken fragments, several blocks of stone, were floating in the air.

"A zero-gravity space? Is this... space...?"

Mizuki murmured. But we could still breathe. This wasn't the first time I'd seen this sight. It was the world I had seen through the crystal wall in the Crystal Palace.

"Space... All transmigrants call it by that name. However, I call it the 'World of the Jar of Holy Oil.'"

Mizuki, listening to his voice, approached the end of the corridor, holding out her hand as if to feel it.

"I wouldn't recommend that. Beyond this point is filled with mana, but there is no air."

"The Jar of Holy Oil... And what is this..."

I finally managed to squeeze out the words.

"This dungeon was destroyed by the Divine Grace, 'Yasakani no Magatama.'"

I had thought that the walls of a dungeon and the rooms of the Area Guardians couldn't be broken no matter what force was applied. But a special skill that could destroy them did exist.

"Did he come here?"

"This dungeon was destroyed long ago. It is said to have been Okita Soji. But you all know that there is someone else with the same ability."

So this had been the state of things since before Clovis was born. The people we and he knew of were Yuki and the small transmigrant, but if they had been able to use that special skill, the battle on the forty-ninth floor of the Crystal Palace would have turned out very differently. It wasn't Emma either. Come to think of it, Etoin from New World had said he felt something was off about the forty-ninth floor. We were looking for someone who had disappeared there. However, the Crystal Palace had not been destroyed like this dungeon. Thinking about it, Yasakani no Magatama didn't seem to be a simple dungeon-destroying ability. He pointed a finger at the dark space. Squinting my eyes, I could see an entrance gaping open in the distance. It was the continuation of the broken corridor.

"Thanks to that, no one has been able to explore this dungeon."

"So, what does this space have to do with the myth passed down by the elves?"

"In the ancient world, born of the two primordial pillars and created by the five pillars of creation, a tribe of humans called the People of Light appeared."

Clovis created a small fireball on his fingertip. He released it into the darkness. The fireball was extinguished in an instant, like a flame plunged into water. And then he began to speak of the People of Light. They were a race with advanced technology, he said. They brought writing, agriculture, bronze tools, and magic to the humans who were living as hunter-gatherers.

"Wait, wasn't magic only usable because the Jar of Holy Oil was destroyed and this world was flooded with mana?"

It might be wrong to call the inside of a dungeon 'this world'. The world where people usually live and the inside of a dungeon are clearly separate spaces. To use Clovis's phrasing, it's the 'World of the Jar of Holy Oil'.

"That's not accurate. It's not that there was no mana in this world. It is said that a small amount existed. Furthermore, it is also not accurate to say that the Jar of Holy Oil was destroyed and this world was filled with mana. It is true that during the war of the gods, the amount of mana in this world increased at once, allowing for the manipulation of large amounts of magic, and the effects became proportionally larger. However, from the distant past to the present, the amount of mana has been gradually increasing."

He raised his palms as if to scoop up mana.

"Thus, a civilization of humans was born. The king who ruled that world thought,"

if I want to gather more wealth and treasure, I should increase production. To do that, I should gather people. He began to use magic to gather people to the city he ruled. He gathered the inhabitants of the same world, but he was not satisfied with that and also summoned the inhabitants of other worlds with magic. Those were the ancestors of the other races, such as Famu's dog-eared race and Patricia's flower folk.

"One day, they summoned the Ark."

Immediately, thick clouds that blocked out the sun covered the world, plunging it into darkness. And a calamity befell the world. Storms, thunderstorms, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes that distorted the surface of the earth.

"They had accidentally summoned the god of another world. People called it the God of the End. The ones who came to the rescue of the perishing world were the Fifty Gods."

The kin of the gods who appeared at that time were the elves and dwarves, he said. Likewise, the kin of the God of the End are the demons. The battle between the Fifty Gods and the God of the End continued. In the end, they sealed the God of the End by sealing the Jar of Holy Oil, the staff, and the mirror that had been brought along with the Ark. The war did not end there. A civil war broke out over the treatment of the human race. The gods who wanted to wipe out humans from the world, and the five goddesses who opposed them.

"It is said that it was Rishal who destroyed the Jar of Holy Oil, and by doing so, the space of mana, that is, the 'World of the Jar of Holy Oil,' was created. It served as a boundary between the connected worlds, and the worlds were separated. This world, the world where races other than humans lived, and the world where the gods lived."

Clovis finished his story. I suddenly noticed Myra looking at me with a calm gaze.

"You knew this myth too, didn't you, Myra?"

"Yes. What do you think, Mash?"

"The gods can't interfere with this world anymore, so they're sending transmigrants to fight as their proxies, aren't they?"

"Yes. But in this myth, not even transmigrants should be able to be sent to this world."

The fact that she also knew it meant that what Clovis had told me was not his own creation. And she was trying to deny this myth, but then, what did the dungeons scattered throughout this world mean?

"In the 'World of the Jar of Holy Oil,' mana crystallizes like dregs to become a Crystal Core, which eventually forms a dungeon. Considering its structure and the monsters that appear there, I don't think it's something that spontaneously generated from inorganic matter. If you consider that it's mixed with imagination and creations from the outside world, then the 'World of the Jar of Holy Oil' doesn't completely sever the connection between different worlds, does it?"

Thinking about how Mizuki and I were transferred to this world, and how Lushe, one of the five goddesses, had given prophecies to the nomads, that seemed more natural. The dungeon seemed to be taking in information from the outside world. And it had become an entrance to the 'World of the Jar of Holy Oil' from another world. Not just from this world, but from other worlds as well, there might be similar passages, and they might be connected somewhere. There was a high possibility that it was also connected to the original world where Mizuki and I had lived. If so, it would be possible to return to the original world by following those passages. But then, why was Laciel trying to be vague about Mizuki's wish to return to her original world? There was still much I didn't understand.

"And the mission given to us transmigrants is still a mystery. The five goddesses say to defeat the Demon Lord. And the other Fifty Gods say that if we defeat the ones summoned by the five goddesses, they will grant our wishes. Other than the ten-year limit, the coercive force is weak. We're being made to fight in this world for reasons we don't understand at all."

"Do you think it's wrong?"

"No, I don't think I can deny everything. I don't think the myth Myra told me is all true either. I think both have some truths and some mistakes included."

Of course, there was the possibility that everything was a lie. But I wouldn't tell her that for now.

"I see..."

She clasped her hands behind her back and lowered her head. The gesture looked so lonely.

"You're on a journey to find the truth, right? You're going to see my journey through to the end, right? We're in this together until the end."

Myra clasped her hands in front of her chest again. And she lifted her face. It was a beaming smile.

"Yes! My hero, of course we're in this together!"

I turned to face Clovis again.

"You have a reason for telling me this story, don't you?"

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. But it was only for a moment, and he returned to his expressionless face.

"That's right. I will release Sameim."

"What did you say?"

"In exchange for the woman there."

He cast his gaze on Mizuki.

"If you come here, you can see Yuki as much as you like."

I stood in front of Mizuki, blocking his line of sight.

"That's not happening."

"Then what will you do?"

As Clovis asked, the sound of metal striking the floor echoed. Petra had struck the floor with the handle of her great-hammer.

"Mash, that man is a Linker, or one of their clan."

"Oh?"

Clovis's eyes narrowed.

"In this world, there is a clan that hears the words of the gods and acts according to those words. Beings like the People of Light exist among the elves, demons, and dwarves as well."

"Are the descendants of the People of Light still alive?"

"Haven't you noticed?"

It was something I should have been able to figure out without thinking. I shook my head.

"Petra, are you one of them too?"

"My grandfather and I are not. Unfortunately, we are not of that clan."

she replied, then turned back to Clovis.

"And, if we're talking about myths, the dwarves and demons have them too. Each myth has its own sacred texts. Since you went to the trouble of calling us to a place like this, you might as well tell us about them, don't you think?"

She stared past Clovis, deep into the corridor. Five shadows were slowly approaching. Walking at the head was Sameim. The female warrior following her had a single horn growing from her head. A demon, perhaps? The small transmigrant was being carried under her arm, with its back to us. The person was struggling, and after escaping from her arm, they ran to a corner of the corridor. Then, they crouched down, covering their head. They were wearing an oversized robe. I still couldn't see their face, but their gestures and movements looked just like a child's. Next, a human male. An adventurer, perhaps? There wasn't much to distinguish this man. His cheeks were gaunt and thin. He looked young. But he had a quiet demeanor. Finally, Yuki.

"Allow me to introduce you. The Messiah."

Clovis spread his arms and announced the name of the party. And Yuki stepped forward. As if drawn by him, Mizuki also took a step forward.

"Senpai, did you really kill people who came from the same world as us?"

"Mizuki, join us. I won't treat you badly. There are ten people from the same world on our side."

"Is there a guy named Izaak among them?"

I interjected, and Mizuki glared at me.

"Be quiet for a little while. Let me talk to Senpai."

"...Yes..."

After I replied, she turned back to Yuki. It annoyed me a little that she used informal speech with me and honorifics with Yuki, but I decided to watch quietly.

"If Senpai wants me to, I'll join you. But I don't want to kill people who came from the same world. What are you trying to do, Senpai?"

"Clovis is on our side. We will activate the Ark. We are close to grasping the power of the Three Sacred Treasures."

"I heard about the events of the myth from Clovis. If you do that, won't a calamity befall this world?"

"I can control it."

Mizuki gasped.

"And do what?"

At her words, he took a deep breath.

"I will rule this world. And then, I will connect it to our original world and control everything."

His expression was unwavering. What could have led him to think of such a thing? Was he being serious?

"...If it's about ruling, this guy here is closer to it, and he has the talent. The city of Miglutt fell almost entirely into Mash's hands in about ten days. And for some reason, he even has transmigrant allies,"

Marmi muttered. Was she trying to hold Mizuki back? Or was she simply competing with Yuki? Still, why did she have to add 'for some reason' to me having allies? I wanted to pinch her cheek.

"Hey, world domination is impossible for me. I can't imagine anyone being happy,"

I retorted to her in a low voice. However, it echoed louder than I expected in the corridor. Mizuki sighed, as if exasperated.

"What are you going to do, Mizuki? You were forcibly brought to this world, what are you thinking now?"

"I want to go back to my original world. I want to go to school again, do swimming, and go home with Senpai. If we have time, I want to go out together again, just the two of us,"

Mizuki replied to Yuki. Unlike Yuki's idea, her wish was completely understandable. However, the fact that her relationship with me was completely ignored meant I'd have to remind her about it later.

"That world doesn't exist anymore..."

Yuki replied.

"What do you mean..."

Clovis stepped in front of Yuki, cutting off Mizuki's question.

"If you don't intend to join our side, then you will die here. Sameim."

At his words, Sameim, holding a short sword, stepped forward. In response to her movement, Famu stepped forward. In her hand was Maryanne's katana. She slowly drew it. The blade gleamed as if wreathed in pale blue flames.