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CHAPTER 204: THE KEY

CHAPTER 204: THE KEY

I walked down the stairs leading to the dungeon of the royal castle. I had two objectives in mind at the current moment. One of them was to search for the missing bomb, and the other was to rescue King Alto from his captivity.

Searching for the bomb was obviously of a higher priority here, but according to information that I obtained from Nelphie, “Bloody Joseph” had said that “The King is current imprisoned in the lowest level of the palace’s dungeon.” I could not just leave Ruzarc’s father to die inside of the dungeon, and this was probably a necessary process to verify the accuracy of the information that we have obtained.

As I walked down the stairs thinking about all of those thongs, I heard the sound of metal scraping against the floor and a bunch of excited voices, including angry shouts and strange cries, echoing from the floor beyond the place where I was currently standing.

「Something’s wrong! What’s going on outside!?」

「Hey….. Hey! You guys! Maybe now is our chance to escape from this place!?」

「Yeah, that’s true…… I can’t see any guards around anymore, and no one’s coming down here even when it’s time to feed us……」

「Let’s all work together here to break these bars!」

The other prisoners here also seemed to have sensed that something was wrong and were actively trying to escape.

Since I did not have time to pay attention to them, I decided to ignore them and move forward, but as expected, someone saw me passing by and called out to me.

「Hey, you! You’re not a guard, are you!? Let us out of here!」

「What’s going on outside!? If we don’t get any food, we will starve to death in this God-forsaken hole!!」

I understood their desire to make a fuss about their current situation, but it was truly selfish to ask someone else to be let out of here just because it was noisy outside when they have been incarcerated here for the various crimes that they have committed.

Besides, I simply could not afford to waste any more time in here.

Well, these guys would all calm down immediately if I showed them the difference in our strength, so it might actually be worth it to give it a shot.

— CRAAAAAACCCKKK!!!!!!

I stomped on the ground with all of my might, and the cobblestones around the place collapsed, cracking into a wide net of spider webs.

「Shut the hell up, you morons.」

I spoke briefly with murderous intent in my voice, and the noise from before instantly fell silent.

I then continued on to the back of the floor, and at a certain point, the shape of the cages and the holding cells changed. This was probably the innermost special detention area where the targets with their magical powers nullified were being kept.

Crouching inside of one of the cages was a man dressed differently from all of the others. I had seen his face at the award ceremony before, and it was definitely King Alto.

「Your Majesty, are you okay? I’m here to help you.」

「*Cough*, *cough*! …… Aun of Seiha?」

「Yes, Your Majesty. But your health, is it……?」

「I see, you understand now…… Just as you thought, I don’t have much longer left to live.」

I had a bad feeling about his cough earlier and his pale complexion to boot, which could not be simply explained by the word “tired” or “exhausted”. I appraised his status and found that in addition to his “Fatigue (Large)” and “Weakened” statuses, he also had an abnormal condition called “Sickness (Serious).”

「…… Does Ruzarc know about this, Your Majesty?」

「Yes, I already told Ruzarc about it. But even so, you were the first one to be concerned about Ruzarc. I can see that my son has really found a good friend.」

「I am really sorry about this, Your Majesty, but we don’t have much time right now. We still have not found the bomb that Prince Fernando has planted somewhere around here. So let’s leave here right away for the time being.」

「The bomb…… I see, so Fernando was pushed to that point, huh? ……Aun, you can put me off for later. Instead, please stop Fernando, no matter what.」

「But, Your Majesty……」

「Right now, finding the bomb is the top priority, is it not?」

「…… Yes, that’s right.」

「I am the King of this country, so I won’t be a burden on it any longer. Besides, I am not that senile yet.」

「…… I understand. By the way, Your Majesty, do you have any idea where Prince Fernando might have planted the bomb in the royal castle? We have searched extensively throughout the place, but we have not found anything as of yet.」

「Hmm…… Maybe it is somewhere within the Forbidden Library?」

「The Forbidden Library?」

「Yes, that’s right. Only a very select few know about its existence, but…… There is a hidden room on the second basement floor of the royal castle, and there is a library where books called Forbidden Books are being kept. Only a few people with the right key can enter the place…… But I can entrust you with that key that I have on me at all times.」

Saying this, the King slowly pulled out a small ring from the middle finger of his right hand and then he held it out to me.

The ring that the King of the entire country was always wearing on him was the key, so I could only imagine just how highly confidential of a place the Forbidden Library really was. Judging from the King’s words, Fernando probably had a similar key on him at all times, but even including the caretaker of the library, only a very limited number of people could enter the Forbidden Library itself.

If the bomb was planted in such a place, it was only natural that we could not find it no matter how hard we would try to look for it.

「I have certainly received the key to the Forbidden Library and I understand the full extent of your trust in me, Your Majesty.」

「Please take good care of Fernando, Ruzarc…… and the future of this entire country in my stead.」

「Yes, Your Majesty. I shall do my very best here.」

After receiving the key from the King, I hurried back the way I came just a few minutes ago. Ruzarc should have started moving from the arena to the royal castle by now.

Even if we went to the Forbidden Library right away and found the bomb, there would not be much time left to defuse it. Besides, there was no one nearby who could defuse it in the first place.

In the worst case scenario, there were some measures that could be taken to prevent the destruction of the place, but……

No, let’s stop thinking about the difficult things for now, especially now that we have come this far.

I will just rush ahead with all of my might. That was all I could think about for the time being, and so I just moved forward.

「I don’t want to end up doing something so lame that I end up overthinking small things and then not being able to act when it really counts!」

There are still forty minutes left until the time limit set by Fernando.