Underground City of the Ancient G.o.ds 3

Hikaru peeked through the door to check the ruckus outside. Lavia followed him, sticking her head out just under Hikaru's. About ten meters ahead, a group of people - four on one side and two on the other - were arguing.

「I said I'm just going to get more holy oil.」

「You probably don't plan on coming back. This is a breach of contract! What happened to all that bragging? "We're rank C. I'm sure we're the best ones around here." We're just wandering around areas already explored!」

「Listen, Mr. Gaf. You're a n.o.ble, so…」

「I'm not a n.o.ble!」

「Okay, okay. You might not know this, so allow me to tell you. Undeads are way too powerful at night. Didn't you see? Their abilities have been greatly enhanced.」

「Well, you're also slacking off during daytime!」

「Enemies are much stronger beyond the wall.」

Wall? There's a wall? They're rank C adventurers, all right. They're composed and know when to pull out.

Hikaru observed them calmly. The adventurers were men in their mid-twenties. One person talked, while the other three stood behind, just chatting among themselves. Either they really trusted the guy, or they were only strictly following their roles.

The old man he was talking to, Mr. Gaf, was about fifty, or sixty-something years old. He had messy hair that was almost entirely gray, but the clothes he was wearing looked fancy - the kind n.o.bles wore when hunting and definitely not fit for exploring a dungeon.

It made sense that the adventurer kept referring to him as a n.o.ble. Although the man himself denied it.

「You know I want to go beyond that wall.」

「Well, yeah… Anyway, let's sit down. You must be tired from all the walking.」

「I'm not tired!」

「Your legs are shaking. You should drink some water.」

「Guh…」

They all sat in a circle, with the magic lamp in the center. Hikaru fixed his gaze on the person beside Gaf. He thought it was a man at first, but as it turned out, it was actually a woman. She was tall and fit. Her hair, bluish-gray, cut short. Underneath her cloak, she wore plate armor with certain parts removed that protected only the important parts of her body. Is she wearing chainmail under?

Hikaru noticed she had short swords hanging down from both sides.

A two-sword fighting style? That's unusual. She looks like a knight, but I don't think there are female knights around.

「Listen. We're here right now. These parts here have been explored. You're clearly cutting corners here.」Gaf said, pointing at the topmost sheet from his stack of papers.

It must be a map, Hikaru thought.

「A map… I'd love to take a look at it. Wait here a bit, Lavia, and don't move away from the range of the holy oil's effects.」

「Where are you going?」

「To scout.」

Slipping through the door, Hikaru activated his Stealth and started walking. He made sure his footsteps weren't heard. It would spell trouble if someone among them had Instinct. Not a lot of people had "Detection", but there was a fair amount of people with "Instinct."

「Just one more day. I want to at least go see what's beyond the wall…」Gaf said, putting his stack of papers beside him. He was sitting on a collapsed wall.

Hikaru inched closer. When he was five meters away, he checked their Soul Boards. The C rank adventurers had high stats, but nothing really stood out. Bow 4 and Water Spirit Magic 4 caught his attention, and that was about it. Perhaps they fight by coordinating their attacks.

Now for this old man…

【Soul Board】Gafrasti N. Valves

Age: 62 Rank: 10

50

【Magical Power】

..【Mana】1

..【Spirit Affinity】

….【Earth】1

【Willpower】

..【Mental Strength】5

..【Faith】

….【Holy】5

【Intuition】

..【Intelligence】

….【Arithmetic】1

….【Language】1

..【Memory】2

Hmm… Wait, Gafrasti? I'm sure I saw that name in that book we read. The historian who knows about the Poelnxinia dynasty.

The N. in his name indicated that he came from a Viscount family. He might even be the head of the house himself. A bona fide n.o.ble, no doubt.

He denied he was a n.o.ble, though… Is he here in secret? He's not doing a very good job of hiding it.

The condescending att.i.tude towards the adventurers. The fancy clothes. No matter how you looked at him, he was a n.o.ble.

Whatever. I guess this woman's his bodyguard, then.

【Soul Board】Aglaia Van Houtens

Age: 21 Rank: 26

12

【Vitality】

..【Stamina】2

..【Immunity】

….【Disease Immunity】1

….【Toxic Immunity】1

【Magical Power】

..【Mana】3

【Physical Strength】

..【Strength】4

..【Weapon Mastery】

….【Sword】2

….【Long Spear】2

….【Armor】2

【Willpower】

..【Mental Strength】2

..【Faith】

….【Evil】3

……【Accursed Magic】1

【Intuition】

..【Instinct】6

Accursed magic? And what's with her middle name? Van? Roland's memories has nothing.

「c.r.a.p!」

Aglaia turned around and stared at Hikaru, causing him to freeze on the spot. The light from the magic lamp was being blocked by Gafrasti. He should be in complete darkness, and yet she was glaring at him.

That's right! She has six points on Instinct! Just as good as the knights' captain!

「What's wrong, Aglaia?」

「Sir Valves, I don't have proof, but there could be a rat snooping around.」

「What?!」

Gafrasti quickly stood up and turned to look around.

「Is it someone from the royal family?!」

「I don't know…」

「Kill him!」

「Yes, Sir.」

The adventurers had no idea what was going on.

「What are you saying, Sir Gaf? That woman didn't even fight once. Is she a Mage or something? She has two swords with her, though…」

Aglaia ignored the men and started chanting a spell.

「O' great G.o.d residing in the abyss, I ask for your power. My name is Aglaia Van Houtens. Cast slumber on my enemies.」

Faint, purple-colored mana rose from her body that slowly expanded around her, like a gust of wind.

「Wh-What's this? Oh, it's nothing.」

「No, leader! Something's wrong with Olhunte!」

One of the adventurers suddenly hung their head low before collapsing on the ground.

「Hey, what did you do?!」

「Quiet. You look pathetic. He's just sleeping. It's a spell that only works on those hostile towards us.」Gaf said.

「Hostile?」

「Oh, so your archer had ill feelings towards us, your client. He was glaring at us a lot. Anyway, what's the status, Aglaia?」

Eyes fixed at the darkness, she shook her head.

「There's no one there. It seems it was just my imagination. I apologize.」

「Don't worry about it. I brought you as my bodyguard for extra precaution. You can be proud of that.」Gaf said, before freezing on the spot.

「Sir Valves?」

「I-It's gone!」Gaf exclaimed, pointing at the place next to where he was sitting.

「My files are gone!」

The moment Aglaia suspected someone was snooping around, Hikaru was quick on his next move. While his Stealth was still in effect, he quickly closed the distance and s.n.a.t.c.hed Gafrasti's files, then bolted. The papers were actually behind the stones when Gafrasti stood up, so they didn't notice they were gone right away.

For a moment, Hikaru felt guilty stealing from someone who hadn't even done anything wrong, but it was already too late. He already stole the papers.

They wanted me dead. Besides, I can return them after I'm done. Is this really okay? I guess I've gone numb after stealing something back in the after life.

Something was bothering Hikaru too.

That old man sounded wary of the royal family. And he's here in secret. Something's fishy.

Hikaru returned to the house they were hiding in and shut the door tightly so the light didn't slip through. He felt some magic being used right after, but he was sure they were out of range. Lighting up the magic lamp, he went over the doc.u.ments.

「What's this, Hikaru?」

As he suspected, the file on top was a map. There were a lot of tiny notes, but overall it reminded Hikaru of a certain place.

「Lavia, does this remind you of something?」

「What? Um, let's see. Wait, seriously?」Lavia noticed it as well.「It's similar to the royal capital. 」

「You think so too, huh? Just the central part of the capital, though.」

Hikaru had been to the center and remembered the general layout of the place.

「Let's both go over them quickly. I'll explain things later.」

「Okay.」

With his Mana Detection, he knew Gafrasti and company hadn't moved from their spot. The old man was throwing a fit. Hikaru could hear the words "Go after them."

The files were bulky, but most of them were maps and charts, so fifteen minutes to skim over them were enough. Maps. What's been discovered so far. A study into the ancient Poelnxinia dynasty.

『The Poelnxinia dynasty, although known as an "ancient" regime, actually existed no more than six hundred years ago. And yet strangely enough, despite the fact that they had a very powerful army and almost united the whole continent, not a lot of written accounts about it remain. Other foreign countries from back then still exist today. Only a poem verse referenced the dynasty's collapse.』

The next page was the last.

The king of Poelnxinia, gifted in sorcery

Compiled spells more powerful than spirit magic earnestly,

Utilized them as a cornerstone for his dynasty

He brought glory and claimed divinity

Set to conquer the continent entirely,

G. Poelnxinia vanished on Day of Dawn completely

Vanish. Does this refer to the fall of the dynasty?

There were plenty of parts that caught his attention. Sorcery powerful than spirit magic. Not "magic" but "sorcery".

Using one's own mana to manipulate the power of the Spirits and cause supernatural phenomena - that was Spirit Magic.

Healing magic involved expending one's own mana to directly manipulate someone's natural healing power and multiply it.

Sorcery, on the other hand, referred to a different kind of arcane arts that didn't rely on the spirits or G.o.ds. An example was the art of crossing worlds that brought Hikaru to this world. It was, however, extremely inefficient and required large amounts of catalyst - like magic rocks - to use.

The term "Day of Dawn" also bothered him. This world had a calendar as well, but there was no "Day of Dawn". What does it mean?

There was one thing he noticed too.

「The underground city of the ancient G.o.ds…」

The origin of the dungeon's name. The word "divine" came up in the poem as well.

「Hikaru, does this mean this dungeon is the ruins of Poelnxinia?」

「Yeah… Wait, actually…」

Then, Hikaru sensed movement with his Mana Detection. Slowly, Aglaia got up and carefully walked towards their location.

Not long after, the door opened. Aglaia found Gafrasti's files, but no sign of the one who took them.