The five days of rest that Zich gave them felt like a dream to Hans and Snoc. Although some people had picked a fight with them on the first day, Zich had helped them and nothing else happened after the incident. They still had plenty of time and money, and the place they were in was a world-class tourist site. And like that, Hans and Snoc spent the next couple of days enjoying themselves.
Thus, even when Zich ordered them to follow him to an ancient ruin under the city, they did so happily. One could say the ancient ruin was the number one contributor for creating Violuwin. People had originally flocked to the city to look at the ancient ruin, which was found by accident. Then, services and businesses gathered at the location to make money out of these visitors, and these businesses encouraged more people to come to the city. It thereby created a chain of events that created the renowned tourist city, Violuwin.
“You guys also toured this place, right?”
Hans and Snoc nodded. The ruin was fantastical enough for them to spend two out of their five free days in it. The three of them mixed in with the group of ordinary tourists and went inside. And as soon as they passed through the entrance, they saw a passage made from stone blocks.
“When and who do you think made this? And for what reason?”
“I don’t know. We looked at it for two days, but don’t you think it looks somehow different each time?” Snoc and Hans murmured from the back, and Zich scanned the passage; before his regression, the only site Zich had explored in Violuwin was this place.
‘Let me see. I’m sure the path…’
Zich tried to swim through his dark cloud of memories, but his memory was foggy.
‘I mean, even when I had information about this place, I didn’t use it.’
Zich was informed about the existence of Tornium and the directions to its location. However, at that time, he had simply broken or torn down everything in his way to find it.
‘I should go where I can think of for now.’
The passage was dark, and the only light sources available were the torches attached to the walls. But the tourists seemed to enjoy this darkness and wandered around the passage. However, Zich knew that he couldn’t walk through the entire ruin. The ruin was structured like a maze, and if he made one wrong turn, he could possibly never see the light of day. People disappeared inside this ruin every year.
Zich continued to walk while trying to recall his memories. A rope with a wooden sign hanging on it soon blocked their path.
[Please Do Not Enter]
Zich immediately ignored the sign and lifted the rope to go under it. Hans and Snoc no longer questioned Zich’s behavior and followed him. The passage that continued beyond the line was completely dark. There were some holders to place torches in, but it seemed like the holders hadn’t been cleaned for a long time as they were all rusty and full of dirt.
After pouring mana into their eyes, Zich and his companions entered the dark passage. The passage’s structure wasn’t different from the outside and simply had a lot more dust. After walking in the front for a bit, Zich admitted calmly, ‘I’m lost.’
Zich wondered if he should just break everything like he did before the regression. After all, he remembered the directions only faintly.
‘Nah. I can find it slowly.’ Zich decided to relax a little. Although he didn’t know the directions to the hidden passage, he remembered what it looked like. He was sure that he would be able to recognize it from sight. It wasn’t easy to find a specific place in a ruin that was built like a maze; however, one of Zich’s companions had a natural affinity to the earth.
“You remember the path we walked, right, Snoc?”
“Yes! I can draw a map immediately. Right, Nowem?”
Koo! Nowem raised his feet like hands and squeaked confidently. Thanks to Snoc and Nowem, Zich didn’t have to worry about getting lost.
‘Heh, it was a great idea to bring them.’
It was very comfortable to have a servant with an automatic map function. Zich wanted to compliment himself for persuading Sam to bring Snoc with him.
‘Still, I probably won’t be able to find my destination within just a day or two.’
If the scale and structure of the ancient ruin were that simple, Violuwin would have already figured out the layout by now.
‘I should look for it slowly, and when it’s time to meet with Lyla, I should go out.’
Then, after he finished his date with Lyla, he could look for the sword again.
Sssk!
“Huh?” Zich stopped his footsteps after hearing a strange sound. It seemed as if Hans and Snoc heard it too.
Clang!
Hans took out his sword and put his guard up. Snoc placed Nowem on his shoulder and freed both of his hands. It was an instant reaction as a result of Zich’s training and everything they had experienced so far. Zich was pleased to see both of his servants’ great progress and searched for the area where he heard the noise.
Sssssk!
They didn’t have to put much effort to locate the source of the sound, since the sound rang out again. A wall was pushed back as if it was a reverse door.
“…Did someone touch something?”
Hans and Snoc shook their heads. Zich glanced at the space that had appeared between the walls. A dark passage continued beyond it.
‘This is not a place that I know of.’
But still, Zich was curious about what was past the opening that suddenly appeared.
‘Should I try going in?’
“Let’s go.” Zich followed his curiosity and went through the opening. Hans and Snoc were both reluctant, but they followed Zich. Not long after they entered it—
Sssssssk!
They heard the sound again, and the door closed. The three turned around. A dead-end now blocked them from going back.
“…Will it open again?”
“We can break it if it doesn’t.”
“But it’s a ruin. Won’t it be heartbreaking if we break it?”
When they saw the blocked path, the first thought that came up inside Hans and Snoc’s mind was to destroy it. Zich really seemed to be rubbing off on them. And they headed towards the door again.
Sssssssk!
Contrary to their worries, the door opened again.
“I think it automatically opens when people are nearby.” Snoc was happy about this, but Zich found this statement questionable. The pathway to Tornium was also a hidden pathway like this. However, it was not a path where the door automatically opened when people were standing nearby.
“Hey, stand back a bit.”
The three of them took several steps back.
Sssssssk!
The door closed again.
‘It really does seem like it responds to human presence.’
“Hans. Step forward.”
Hans went several steps forward. However, the door didn’t budge at all.
“What?” Hans moved towards the door again. He touched the door at different places and even tried tapping on it. However, the door didn’t move at all, and it looked like it was firmly attached to a part of the wall.
“Move back a bit.”
“Yes, sir.”
Hans titled his head in confusion and moved back. Zich sent Snoc this time, but the door also didn’t move. After Snoc moved back, Zich moved towards the door.
Ssssssssk!
With a loud sound, the door opened. Zich moved a few steps back, and the door shut itself again. Zich moved back and forth a few more times, and likewise, the door moved and opened according to his movements.
“The door responds to Sir Zich’s movement.”
“I wonder why?”
Zich could hear his servants talking from behind. Moreover, Zich had the same question.
‘Why does it only respond to me?’
He did not know why. Before he regressed, nothing like this had happened to him before.
‘Is there something about me that changed?’
But he couldn’t think of anything in particular. Zich looked behind him. The dark tunnel looked as if it was beckoning for him to come in and find the truth.
‘Let’s first try going in.’
Zich led Hans and Snoc into the tunnel and began walking. As expected of an ancient ruin, tunnel paths crossed each other in complex ways. However, this place was still less complicated than the places open to the public.
‘It really does seem like something is in here.’
To prepare for an unexpected situation, Zich expanded his senses, but it was hard to sense anything. There was something blocking his sensing abilities. Likewise, Snoc and Nowem were unable to detect their surroundings. But fortunately, Snoc said he was able to remember the path they walked, so they could at least avoid the worst-case scenario. With this in mind, Zich moved towards the place where he felt the greatest disturbance.
The paths in the passage were twisted, so it was extremely difficult to walk in one direction. They reached dead ends a couple of times and walked around the same place several times. However, after this happened several more times, they reached a room.
The room’s ceiling was low, but the area was pretty large. Numerous pillars were stuck to the ceiling of the room and many paths were connected to the room. But all three of them only focused on the object in the middle of the room. On a three-level, low platform, a magnificent object stole their attention.
It was a sword.
“Hey, Nowem. There’s a random sword here,” Snoc whispered to Nowem, and Hans stared at Zich.
‘Did Sir Zich come here to get that?’
But judging by Zich’s reaction, that didn’t seem to be the case. There was none of his usual easygoing and carefree attitude as Zich stared at the sword with a serious expression. Hans moved his neck a little further to look at the sword a bit more closely.
‘It definitely looks like an amazing sword.’
It also seemed amazing that they would find an unknown sword in an ancient ruin like this. The outside of the sword also looked very magical and mysterious. Unlike ordinary swords that glinted silver, this sword was completely white and the decorations on it looked holy.
‘It really looks like a holy sword from a story.’
“Sir, do you know what that is?”
At Hans’ question, Zich quietly replied, “That’s a holy sword.”
“…Huh?”
“…What?”
Hans and Snoc didn’t expect it to actually be a holy sword, so they were completely dumbfounded. However, Zich did not say anything more. He moved towards the sword.
‘Holy sword Estellade. Why the heck is this here?’
If the demon sword Tornium represented the ‘Demon Lord of Strength, Zich Moore,’ the holy sword Estellade represented the ‘Sun Hero Glen Zenard.’ Zich walked up the platform and stopped right in front of Estellade. The pure white sword was exactly the same as he remembered. It was the sword that had killed him. As if he was spellbound, Zich grabbed the hilt of Estellade. There was no way he could pull it out.
Fundamentally, Estellade and Tornium were completely different in nature. Estellade chose its own master, so people it deemed unworthy were not able to pull it out. Thus, Zich didn’t think he would be able to pull out Estellade.
Screech!
A loud sound rang across the room as the sword was pulled from a rock. The sword shouldn’t have even budged, but it came out easily. Zich’s eyes widened. Snoc and Hans, who were behind him, also looked at him with utter shock.
Clang!
With a clear sound, Zich completely pulled out the sword. Even though there was no light source, Estellade let out a subtle light across the whole room, and Zich looked at it incomprehensibly.
“…Why the hell did you come out?”