3 bar menu

Volume 8 Chapter 4 Part 4

Translator: Kell

But… there’s some good news as well. It’s much more difficult to find an Altar of Bestowal here than in BBO, but this world has a long history.

I don’t know anything about this world’s past, but considering that there are Sages other than me, and people who know how to learn the Awakened Skills, the information in this world is not something to overlook.

With hundreds or thousands of years of time, it would not be at all surprising if someone just happened to find an Altar of Bestowal.

There are some issues: such as whether the discoverer realized the importance of the Altar of Bestowal, or the information is still available right now, and whether those who have the information are friendly (those who used Sandstorm and Awakened Skills were clearly hostiles). But I have a lead: the Enchant Shaft I have right now.

Enchant Shafts are made with advanced Skills from very precious materials; they’re not something you can just find lying on the ground. You can’t create it through sheer coincidence either. It’s safe to assume that it was made by someone who knew how to use it, and with some purpose in mind. Naturally, Enchant Shafts without enchantments are just useless pieces of junk, so they should’ve had a way to perform the bestowal.

In other words, the location where this Enchant Shaft was found may allow us to find an Altar. It’s also highly likely that it’s somewhere near where the shaft was found.

After all, the most likely place to lose an Enchant Shaft is on the road to the Altar. You can create the item anywhere, so the crafter’s workshop should be somewhere safe. As for transportation and trade, given that it’s a valuable item, those who know its value would only conduct business in a safe place.

In contrast, an Altar is basically in a dangerous place and cannot be moved. If you want to do a bestowal, you have to take the Enchant Shaft to such a place. The most likely scenario for the Enchant Shaft to be lost is that the carrier was involved in some sort of an accident on the way.

The Enchant Shaft I have right now, in particular, has not been used. Since there is no use for it as it is, it’s unlikely that it was taken out for any purpose other than to grant enchantments. Taking all this into consideration, there’s a very high possibility that the location of the Altar can be estimated from the location where it was found.

The problem, though, is that we don’t know where it is.

“A lot of the items here are things whose origins are unknown, right?” I asked.

“Yeah. I don’t even know why they’re here, let alone where they came from. If we had more details about them, they wouldn’t be treated like this.”

“If I say I need information on where this Enchant Shaft was obtained, would you have any leads?”

The king pondered a bit. Then with a frown, he said, “To be honest, I’m not too sure, but I promise to do everything possible.”

Hmmm. I guess I can’t expect much. Not much is known about the item anyway, so I suppose it’s understandable.

“By the way, do you mind if word spreads that this nail is valuable?” the king asked.

“Do you have to mention it when looking into it?”

“Yeah. First, we’ll look into intel that we can obtain privately, but if we can only get help from trustworthy people, sources will be very limited. If the information can be disseminated, then we can broaden the scope of the investigation.”

I see. We can use more resources then. I don’t know how much people like the Garden of Despair know about Enchant Shafts, but I’d prefer it if they don’t suddenly butt in because of an information leak. If possible, I also want to hide the fact that I have obtained an Enchant Shaft.

Still, it’s much better to have them butt in than to have no information. A Sage is useless against a lack of information. If they stick their noses where they don’t belong, I can just take care of them.

Not like we have much information to hide. If the enemy knows the location of an Altar, an intel leak might force them to protect it, which would then help us determine its location.

But I want to keep the information secret if it doesn’t interfere with the investigation. In particular, I would like to withhold the information that I’m the one who will use the Enchant Shaft.

“If it’s necessary for the investigation, I’m okay with the information being disseminated, but I’d like you to withhold the fact that this is an item that will make me stronger.”

“Got it. We’ll just make something up for the reason. And I’ll have my people look into a few other unknown national treasures at the same time. If we only investigate the nail, they can easily deduce that it’s special.”

“Thanks.”

Let’s see what kind of information we can get from this. If we can get any leads at all, it would be great.

From the king’s tone, he didn’t sound too sure. I just hope the kingdom’s intelligence network can help.
If we’re lucky, information may come from an unexpected source.

“How long will the investigation take?” I asked.

“As for the work itself, I’ll have them start right away today. I don’t know how long it will actually take to get results, but give me a week for now to search for leads.”

“Okay.”

Thus I was left to wait for the king’s investigation. I don’t know how I’m going to get information on an item that’s been unidentified all this time, but I’l just have to trust the king’s power. An organization the size of a nation might have a network of information that I can’t even begin to imagine.