Chapter 216: Treasury
「I don’t understand. 」
「I’m keeping my body at 4cm so Master can easily carry me around! 」
X-Stick energetically responded.
Well, he did say he’s maintaining that size, but actually, he also changes his thickness so I can use him easier depending on my purpose. This is probably one of those 「discrepancies 」, so I should take care not to change his thickness way too often.
X-Stick said he’s fine as long as I use him as my poking stick, but now it’s too scary if he’ll gradually lose his consciousness just like the Bough in here.
「Why the heck did you even consider the ease of carrying 『King’s Bough』, huh. 」
「He’s playing a very active role in my ‘poking’ endeavors. 」
Too handy, in fact, that I can hardly let go of him.
「So it’s really true that human desires vary greatly. 」
Guide Spirit mumbled while Khan had a ghastly grimace on his face.
「I already know I’m an oddball and there’s the ‘discrepancy’ you’re talking about. That’s why I wanna know if you’re really okay with me destroying that 『King’s Bough』. 」
「… 」
Khan shut up as I stared up at him.
His height and width are way bigger than Dean’s. Thick chest plate, thick neck — I can already imagine his rippling muscles and abs even with his armor on. Argh, why do all the folks here grow up like thatttt!!!
「Ordinarily, no one in their right mind would traverse the desert just on a whim. However, now that the Great Deity has changed, no one knows when the summoned heroes might come here and transformations and changes might also occur among the spirits that inhabit this desert from here on, so… 」
Oh right, there’s a transition phase and the spirits might also be replaced, huh. Humans also have that transition phase between eras after all. There’s a high chance that the environment will turn completely different in a very short period of time.
「The guardian of the heroes is a light spirit. I don’t think this place will suddenly turn green enough to attract people. 」
「Oh my, is it a light spirit? Previously, it’s rumored it’s the spirit of ice and darkness, although that did change recently from spirit of light to spirit of the earth, of water, of fire and the like. The gossips brought by the sparrows are constantly changing so we totally can’t tell which attribute conducted the summoning and which gained power, but one thing is for sure; the names of the light spirit’s kin are frequently mentioned. 」
Guide spirit shrugged her shoulders as she muttered how hard it is for information to reach this far.
Eh, wait a sec, is that perhaps Riche and the deities…? Oh well, I guess it’s fine, I didn’t lie.
「There is still enough time before the winds cease and the new summoner spirit gains power. The other spirits will also gain power during this time. 」
「Yeah. 」
I agreed with Khan.
「You being here is also some sort of destiny, so you’re fine. There’s a torch on standby in the middle of the room, so burn 『King’s Bough』 with that fire. It’s really hard, so ordinary — no, even spirit swords can’t cut it at all, but it’s weak against fire.
Khan turned his gaze towards his broad sword.
Did he try cutting it with that sword, perhaps?
「Why are you using fire only in this place? 」
The entire place up to here had been illuminated with the help of light spirits, so I wonder why they would go out of their way just to put fire inside this room when the Bough is here.
「That’s to burn the Bough, of course. I planned to settle this myself, but I’m in this state. 」
「It’s a special fire that we obtained from the fire spirit that had been summoned by the priests through a ritual. 」
Guide Spirit followed up.
As expected, it’s no ordinary fire, huh. Was Khan possessed while they were deciding on this?
「Come to think of it, why is Guide Spirit cooperating with you? 」
「I am Khan’s contracted spirit since I was this tiny. 」
She smiled and held both of her index fingers up to show me the size; she was quite cute when she did that.
「She’s no longer small enough to be bound by my mana, but Bayliss didn’t run away from me, whimsical as she is. 」
Khan smiled wryly. So Guide Spirit’s name is Bayliss, huh
「Listen carefully. Someone from the past will appear, but it’s just a stranger to you. Do not be fooled with that appearance from before it went crazy; don’t hesitate and burn it. 」
Khan retracted that grim smile and pursed his lips. He didn’t speak loudly, but each word was enunciated with force.
「Got it. 」
When I nodded, Khan fixed his grip on his sword and touched the stone door.
「X-Stick, there’s fire so I’m putting you away. 」
「Ou, Master! 」
I asked him to shrink to around 30 cm before tucking him at an angle inside the coat, just a little below my waist. I made a holster for X-Stick, of course.
Beyond the door was the treasury of this kingdom. However, the first thing that caught my eye was the ornately embellished white stone wine goblet with a blazing fire in it. The goblet was placed in the center of the room, right in the middle of a magic circle that had been painted on the floor. Black spirits that were almost human-like stood evenly spaced around it.
They must be former priests based on their robes. Ah, but they looked scary.
「Use that burning iron on 『King’s Bough』. 」
Bayliss whispered in my ear. Upon closer look, there’s a single rod of metal plunged into the blazing fire.
The priests clad in rotting robes turned their eyeless sockets towards us — no, they’re looking at Khan.
「Your King has returned, step back! 」
They shuddered and stopped moving when Khan bellowed.
Unlike Khan, they didn’t seem to be able to suppress the black spirits possessing them. However, they looked like they still have a tiny bit of consciousness left, just barely hanging by a thread — or perhaps it was muscle memory. Either way, they still respond to Khan, apparently.
「Go. 」
Khan said curtly, so I approached the fire.
The priest closest to the fire suddenly attacked me, but Khan cut him down with his sword. It didn’t die; it crawled towards me instead. The other priests began chanting something that couldn’t be put to words.
I hastily grabbed the rod. Ack, so hot! I’d probably be burned badly if I was barehanded. Thank goodness I was wearing my gloves. It was actually quite simple logic that one will get burned when carelessly handling fire, but yup, my mind blanked out at that moment.
Gold coins and ornaments overflowed on the floor from the stone chests that must’ve been moved out of the way when they were drawing the magic circles. Stone tablets buried underneath all the treasure, gorgeous gems and jewels on pedestals, swords, shields, books…
Something flew at me from behind. Khan probably deflected its trajectory because it flew towards another direction.
The 『King’s Bough』was placed in front of the wall facing the door. The wall was carved with a ceiling-high wooden relief of a spirit, and on either side of the pedestal stood statues that looked like spirits.
The pedestal also had intricate carvings and a bulky red cloth embroidered in golden thread was draped over it.
A crown was placed on the stair beneath the pedestal; on top lay 『King’s Bough』.
It had a beautiful slender black body with branches that spread out like corals. Upon closer look, what seemingly looked like fine black cracks were more obvious. Was it originally white? The branches glowed faintly and they were also white.
Eh? It really did look different from X-Stick, didn’t it?
Notes
T/N: Blame too much tiktok, ugh, can’t help but imagine Khan dancing to Meghan Trainor: Even with my armor o-o-o-on~ I made you look (I made you look)! XD (Might be ages later when this chapter comes out, haha)
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 80 hours
Thanks for the treat.