The group searched every nook and cranny of the stone room, but like Zich predicted, they couldn’t find anything suspicious. All it had was a coffin that contained a corpse. After they searched through all the stone rooms they could find, Zich and his companions gathered at the Golden Emperor’s grave.
“Did you find anything?” Hans, Snoc, and Elena simultaneously shook their heads at Zich’s question.
“I shone Estellade’s light in every corner and searched, but I couldn’t find anything noteworthy.”
“In case there was something inside the walls, I used my ability to search but I couldn’t find anything either.”
Koo!
“I don’t think there was anything hidden with magic too.”
The trio hadn’t found anything with their abilities. Zich turned to Marilyn this time. She also left Lyla’s side and searched for suspicious places.
“I also didn’t find anything worthwhile.”
Zich wasn’t disheartened by the disappointing news; he had already expected this. Instead, he became sure that the object sealing the tree was inside the pyramid. Zich went inside the stone room and saw Lyla still deciphering the ancient text.
“How is it going?” Zich asked, and Lyla turned her head away from translating. “Are you making any progress?”
“I don’t have any problems with translating since most of Clowon’s writing system is in my head now.” Lyla swiped down the letters in front of her with her hands.
“Did you find out anything important?”
“Yes.”
Zich’s eyes sparkled. “What is it?”
“I will tell you later. Wouldn’t it be better for you too if I translate all the text from the other graves and organize their content before informing you?” Indeed, that seemed preferable.
“That sounds reasonable. I’m sure you will organize the content cleanly, but if there’s any information about sealing the tree, I hope you can tell me right now.”
“I guess that means you all didn’t find anything.”
“It’s what we both expected.”
“There was nothing among the texts I translated that mentioned the sealing object.”
“Then I guess there’s only one method left.”
While accepting the possibility of shadows and statues wreaking havoc, Zich had to climb the pyramid. Lyla also agreed.
“When are you going to go up there?”
“Let’s go up after resting at least a full day. Since an intense battle might be abrupt, I want to be in my best condition.”
“I agree.”
“You should also rest. I bet you looked at those letters without resting, but you have to go up the pyramid with me.”
“Okay, I will.” Lyla obediently followed Zich out of the room.
The party members prepared a camp in a corner of the tomb. Perhaps it would’ve been more comfortable to build the tent inside the grave, but nobody wanted to sleep next to a corpse. After taking out tools from the magic box and preparing a tent and thick blankets on the ground, they made a quite nice sleeping place. In comparison to the ones they had to sleep in during Zich’s training, it could’ve been considered a luxurious setup. The group gathered burning materials, made a fire, and cooked food over it. It was a simple dinner, but it was enough to fill up their bellies and relieve their fatigue from the day’s work.
“Everything is perfect except the fire lights up there. They’re a bit bothersome,” Snoc grumbled at the mana light lighting up the space brightly from the ceiling.
Hans smirked and agreed. “Yeah, that’s true. It’s not easy to sleep if it’s too bright.”
“Yes, certainly.”
“Um you guys? Am I really hearing this from you both? You both sleep as soon as your head falls to the floor,” Elena said. As a lady who had grown up in an extremely prestigious family, she had a hard time adjusting to Zich’s traveling accommodations at first. She was now mostly used to it now, but in the beginning, she had a hard time sleeping and was always jealous of the two for being able to fall asleep immediately as soon as they lay down. Thus, it was unbelievable that those two were muttering such words.
“Aren’t you also quite well-adjusted now?”
Koo!
Elena’s eyes narrowed as she watched two people and one animal laugh at her. While their disciples conversed like this, Zich and Lyla began to officially discuss their plans to go up to the pyramid tomorrow.
“First of all, I think we have to do something about Windur.” Lyla pointed at Windur beside Zich.
“I know. Since I can’t leave it behind, I will put it inside my magic box.”
“It’s most preferable for you to just leave it, but…”
Since the tree and Windur’s union created an unimaginable event, it was best to try to prevent it from happening by leaving Windur. However, it didn’t seem right to leave Zich’s main weapon far away. If a dangerous situation suddenly arose while they were apart from the sword, they could fail to properly respond to the situation.
“I guess it can’t be helped. Let’s put it in the magic box like you said.”
After deciding Windur’s temporary removal, they changed their topic to the sealing object, which they guessed was somewhere inside the pyramid now.
“Don’t you think it’s highly likely that the object will be on top of the pyramid? Or near the tree. Did you see anything unique when you were up there?”
Although the entire party had gone up to the top of the pyramid, it was only in a hurry after an unexpected event erupted. Zich and Leona were the only ones who leisurely searched the pyramid’s peak.
“I was too focused on the tree, so I didn’t see the area closely.”
“I guess I have to search for it as soon as I get up there.”
“It could also not even be at the peak but inside it.”
“Then I guess I have to find an entrance connecting to the inside.”
“It would be a bit easier if we ordered Snoc to do it. After all, it seems to be made of stone, although it has magical elements.”
Like that, they exchanged opinions and mapped out their plans for tomorrow. From the side, Marilyn listened to their conversation closely.
* * *
The next day, the party headed towards the pyramid. While moving closely together, they walked up the long staircase. Since it was the area where the tombs had previously raised their defensive mechanisms, they needed extra precautions for their safety.
Windur was no longer on Zich’s back because he had already put Windur in his magic box. However, in order to prepare for emergency scenarios, he had an ordinary long sword on his waist. However, since it had been a while since Zich used a sword other than Windur, he felt a bit awkward about it and pointlessly tapped the sword on his waist.
They arrived at the peak of the pyramid. As expected, the first thing that caught their eye was the huge tree letting with its roots reaching up to the sky. This mysterious and awe-inspiring sight was enough for people to become speechless. It was Elena and Marilyn’s first time seeing such a beautiful flow of mana from a tree. The others also gazed with marvel at the tree.
Clap! Zich’s clap awakened them from their daze and brought them back to reality. “I admit that the tree in front of us is extremely fascinating, but we have things to do first.”
Then, Zich assigned each person a location they should search on top of the pyramid and ordered them to look for anything suspicious. The group listened to Zich and began searching everywhere around the top. The only exception was Snoc who put his hand on the pyramid with Nowem and tried to grasp the overall structure of the pyramid.
‘Is it not here either?’ Even though they looked around for some time, they couldn’t find anything unusual.
“Hey, did you find anything?” Zich asked Snoc.
Snoc looked a bit troubled. “Sir, it’s difficult to precisely assess the overall structure of the pyramid because of the mana around the whole pyramid.”
Koo… Nowem also cried out in disappointment.
Zich scratched his cheek. ‘This might be a bit more troublesome than I thought.’
Fortunately, Windur stayed calm inside the magic box. After they looked all over the top of the pyramid, they all reconvened. Nobody was able to find anything. Now, they had no choice but to look around the pyramid’s walls.
“Let’s separate. I don’t think the tree will suddenly go berserk after all this time.”
The others nodded their heads at Zich’s words and began climbing down on different sides of the pyramid. Each step of the pyramid made out of large, clean-shaped rocks were twice the size of an average human being. If they were not careful, a normal person would lose their life.
Tap! After jumping down one step, Zich slowly began walking to one side while facing the wall. If he saw something even a bit suspicious, he tapped the area with the end of his sword.
‘Should I take out Windur?’
The mysterious and coy sword might tell him lead him to another secret passage. However, the problem was that as soon as he took Windur out, it might trigger the tree and the tree might go berserk.
‘If I can’t find an entrance, I won’t have any choice.’ Thus, Zich decided to leave Windur as his final resort. As time passed by, their search range gradually decreased. Next to him, Lyla floated up in the air and moved down the pyramid. She was looking at the entire pyramid with a wide view. Compared to her, Zich meticulously looked at each part of the wall. Like this, a significant amount of time passed when—
“Hmm?” Zich stopped in front of a certain part of the wall. He put his finger on the wall. ‘It’s a gap!’
The gap was a long cut across the stone. It was a clear cut as if a sharp knife had cut through mud. Zich had seen a gap like this before. When they first entered the tomb, the keyhole where he put Windur in looked exactly like this gap. Zich loudly called out and gathered his companions.
“What happened?” Lyla had been hovering near Zich and also looking for an entrance, so she was the first one to arrive. Zich didn’t say anything and pointed his finger at the gap.
“…It’s a gap?”
“You also think it’s what I’m thinking, right?” Even though Zich didn’t specify what he was thinking about, Lyla was able to easily grasp what he was trying to say.
“Yeah, that’s probably right.”
“Should I take out Windur?” Zich took out his magic box from his pocket. Lyla fell into a short contemplation. She calculated their distance from the tree branch and then nodded her head.
“I’m for it. We’re at a good distance from the tree, but most of all, this is the only clue we currently have.”
Zich immediately took out Windur as soon as Lyla expressed her approval.
“…”
“…”
The two stared at Windur with nervous eyes. Fortunately, Windur didn’t show much reaction. Lyla and Zich let out a sigh of relief.
“I was worried that as soon as I took it out, it was going to cause a hell of a scene but fortunately, it’s calm.” He felt sour that even though he was its owner, he had to pay great attention to Windur’s reaction.
“Damn it, I should really throw away my Demon Lord title now.”
“That’s an excellent thought. What’s the good of having such a title?”
Zich puckered his lips and pushed Windur into the gap.
Click!
They heard the sound of something interlocking inside. Zich and Lyla looked at each other. They nodded their heads once and looked back at the gap again. Zich began turning Windur.
Grrrrrung!
The gap in the stone began turning.
Kurrrrung!
With a slight tremor, the wall began moving slowly down. Then, a tunnel appeared in front of them.
“Sir Zich! May I ask what happened!” Hans asked as he answered Zich’s call.
Zich pointed his chin towards the tunnel in front of them and said, “I found the tunnel.”