Chapter 194 - Secret Room

The second exploration began, and the three teams scattered.

Ferda, who had thought about moving to Rize's team, had no choice but to head right once again.

Their method of moving was different from before.

It was a method where two people moved while looking at each other's faces.

The two adventurers looked at each other, and Ferda and the armor knight moved while looking at each other.

'I'm nervous.'

Valdrova thought from inside the armor.

That emotion had initially started as the flutter of seeing Ferda's face.

The chill of those eyes that were incredibly cold to anyone other than Valdrova.

She had thought those two emotions would torment her.

But what she felt when facing him was different.

'Mr. Ferda's face... he looks like he's having a really hard time.'

It was incredibly painful to watch.

Her five senses instinctively gathered all of Ferda's information.

His rough breathing and a heartbeat much faster than usual.

The beads of sweat forming on his skin, even though they were only walking a little.

Shouldn't she make him rest, even if just for a little bit?

"How about you rest for a bit?"

As if reading her mind, another adventurer said exactly that.

"I'm fine. I won't hold you back."

Ferda firmly refused.

He brushed it off to them, saying it was only a temporary pain.

But that was not the case.

Valdrova could tell.

That whatever was causing him pain was only growing larger as time passed.

That was something Ferda himself was also aware of.

It meant he had a desperate desire to absolutely find something.

'What is it that he's trying so hard to find?'

Is it something he has to find even while making such a pained face?

Valdrova remembered what Ferda had said.

["I am sorry."]

When those masses were staring at him, he had said that.

She couldn't understand what Ferda had to be sorry about.

She wished there was even a small clue to guess from, but she didn't know.

Valdrova had also seen that trauma.

Except to her, it was nothing more than a mass with a giant eye, and even when it clearly stared at her, she had no reaction like the others did.

Her heart ached faintly, but she was not in agony.

If it was something she could do, she wanted to do absolutely anything for him.

But she knew she couldn't while surrounded by this rigid armor.

That must be why her heart ached so much.

'If I... come out, wouldn't he be happy?'

Ferda had always wanted to meet her.

Should she take off the armor right now and tell him she was here?

If she did, wouldn't Ferda be able to smile, even just a little?

'Rather, I might just become a burden to him.'

He might get angry.

Asking why she was in such a dangerous land.

Instead of comforting his worried heart, it could end up hurting Ferda even more.

Was there nothing she could do for him as the armor knight?

With her mind, she couldn't figure it out.

Meanwhile, Ferda, who was struggling to hide his agony, thought to himself.

'I can still endure it.'

The pain of being unable to shake off his thoughts could be diverted to his surroundings.

Just walking while staying alert in a dangerous situation like this was enough to put the brakes on it.

However, if there was one thing bothering him,

'It's this armor guy, as expected...'

At first, he thought it would get better since the discomfort was just about distance, but that wasn't the case at all.

He kept feeling like he was seeing Valdrova's figure in that armor.

That was absolutely impossible.

Her physique was smaller than his and feminine.

'No... there were times when she wasn't.'

When she came wearing the dragon knight armor, she was much taller than Ferda.

Just how tall was it again?

Wouldn't it be roughly the same height as this guy?

'... Is it oddly similar?'

SMACK!

"Ugh!"

"What is the matter?"

The startled adventurers turned their heads to look at Ferda.

Ferda had smacked his own head hard.

"I wasn't in my right mind, so I gave myself a little punishment."

"Ah, is that so..."

Faces full of reproach, as if to say he was startling people over nothing.

Not long after they continued walking, they arrived at their destination.

"We're here."

The place they were heading to was the study Ferda had stopped by earlier.

It was the closest location, and there was also information that could safely yield rewards.

"Are you sure there are magical artifacts here?"

An adventurer asked Ferda.

"Comparing it to the explanation of Gyeonghui Palace, it must be here."

Gyeonghui Palace was a training hall that nurtured talents through a form called the 'Dao'.

And the name of this study Ferda had just arrived at was called the Room of Nourishment.

Breaking down the meaning, it meant a room for replenishing something called 'yang energy', and the hidden meaning was that yang energy equated to mana.

In other words, a room for replenishing mana.

It had to be a room where books for mana cultivation rooms were gathered.

"If you go to the Magic Tower or the Academy, they leave magical tools around for cultivation. Based on my experience, they must be here."

He said 'must be', but Ferda wasn't entirely certain either.

However, it was said that you should assert strongly when trying to persuade someone.

The adventurers, though not fully believing his conviction, ultimately sided with Ferda.

"Then let's search the room."

They began searching to find what each of them desired.

The two adventurers scanned the entire room, while Ferda focused his search on the bookshelves.

Ferda recalled two characters in his mind.

It was what Erica, who knew a little about Eastern characters, had hastily taught him.

'Ae (Love) and Ron (Theory)'

She said 'Ae' meant love, and 'Ron' meant it dealt with a certain subject.

'Among the ones I picked out, there is the theory of mana circuits.'

Ferda went straight to where he had pulled that book from and examined it intensively.

However, the more he pulled out and read, the less he could understand.

'This doesn't seem to be a book about magic theory...'

The format of grimoires is mostly similar.

They have magic circles or runes drawn in them, and they explain the form of the spell formulas related to them.

As someone who had looked for many books with such structures, Ferda found this book full of nothing but text to be completely unfamiliar.

'It can't be helped.'

The only option was to take it to someone who could translate these characters.

Coincidentally, Ferda had someone who could translate all the contents of these books.

'Mori.'

The mysteries of the East might be beyond the reach of the Library of All Things, but if it was a physical object, she would undoubtedly be able to interpret it.

Ferda decided to pull out every book containing those characters and take them with him.

Of course, that was easier said than done.

Once it passed ten books, his arms slowly started to tremble.

'What a trashy body.'

Just then, the armor knight smoothly held out his arms.

Looking at the gesture, he asked.

"Are you offering to carry them?"

Nod.

"... I'll leave it to you."

He didn't like the armor knight, but it would be a lie to say he wasn't reliable.

Thanks to him, he was able to gather over fifty books that he wouldn't have been able to carry alone.

"Huh?"

One of the adventurers, who had been rummaging through the room with the sole intention of finding magical tools, spoke up.

He spoke in an excited voice.

"There's a gap here!"

Ferda stopped searching for books and moved over there.

The adventurers used their tools to carefully pry open the gap.

A staircase leading underground was revealed.

It was the moment when smiles bloomed on the faces of the two adventurers who had seen the horrific illusions.

"A place like this definitely has items secretly hidden away by the master of this palace or key figures!"

"As long as we get magical tools, all this suffering will...!"

But that joy was short-lived.

The terrible illusions replayed in their minds, making their footsteps falter once again.

What if something like that is down there?

At the end of a silence where they only exchanged glances, the clanking sound of plate armor stepped forward.

The armor knight stood in front of the entrance.

"Are you saying you will go in first??"

Nod, nod.

Normally, they would have stopped him, saying it could be even more dangerous.

But they already knew the terror of the illusions brought by their traumas.

Among the three people in this team right now, the only one who didn't know the terror of those trauma-induced illusions was this armor knight.

How was he able to escape that trauma?

"Understood."

The adventurers yielded to him.

At that, Ferda also took a step to follow behind him.

"Still, it wouldn't be good for you to go alone, so I'll watch your back."

Nod.

Like that, the two of them formed a pair and went down the stairs.

The depth was quite profound.

However, there was none of the damp, unpleasant feeling unique to underground areas.

He was sure of it.

Down here was a place maintained as meticulously as the outside.

At the end of the stairs, they faced a stone door.

When the armor knight pushed it sideways, it opened easily, and Ferda quickly scanned the surroundings from the outside.

Even though he entered, there was no reaction from any mana.

The armor knight also looked around and then drew a large circle with both hands.

'I don't know what kind of room this is, but it seems there aren't any magical tools.'

Ferda just hoped there would be books useful to him.

Ferda followed the armor knight inside.

It was then.

As they reached the center of the room, Ferda felt a flow of mana.

THUD!

At the same time, the stone door they had come through moved, trapping them inside.

Ferda hurriedly ran over to it.

He tried to open the sliding stone door again, but it didn't budge at all.

"Damn it... Would you try opening it?"

Ferda stepped back, and this time, the armor knight stepped up to open the door.

CRACK!

A splitting sound was heard.

"Stop!"

And it was coming from the ceiling, no less.

The way the dirt and dust were pouring down was far from ordinary.

"... It seems the intention is to completely bury us alive if we try to force it open."

A trap designed to not react when someone was alone, but to activate when there were two.

This was a headache.

He hadn't even imagined a trap with such a mechanism.

"What is going on?!"

The adventurers waiting outside hurriedly ran over and asked.

"It seems a trap has been triggered."

"Did you touch something?"

"No. It looks like it's a trap that only activates when there's more than one person."

"What, a trap like that?"

"Damn it... Whatever it was, we should have been the ones to go in and check..."

"You probably wouldn't have been able to do anything about it either."

Even Ferda, who was sensitive to traps, had fallen for it helplessly.

"Is there no way out of here?"

There were two adventurers of Gold-rank or higher out there.

He was certain they would have an answer.

"From what we can see... there doesn't seem to be a way to open it from here."

No, he didn't believe them. As expected, they were nothing but all talk.

"We will go fetch Captain Eri. Could you please wait without touching anything in the meantime?"

"Understood."

He could hear the sound of them moving away.

Silence descended upon Ferda.

The kind of silence that brought distracting thoughts to the surface.

Ferda didn't say anything.

He decided to just endure it for now.

"Regent, are you there?"

A short while later, a familiar voice was heard.

He hadn't expected to be this glad to hear Erica's voice.

"Yes, I am here."

"How is it? Are you having trouble breathing or anything like that?"

To forcefully maintain his composure, Ferda answered with the information he had gathered.

"It doesn't seem to be anything like that. It's a well-ventilated room."

"It seems it wasn't designed with the intent of suffocating anyone to death. Are there any buttons or switches in there? Usually, with an isolated room like that, they would have prepared some kind of backup mechanism..."

Ferda looked around again.

All that was there was a bed, a few books, and the armor knight.

"There aren't any mechanisms around."

"That can't be right... Try looking around one more time for now. We will try to find the secret to this room in the meantime. Got it?"

"Understood."

In the end, she didn't have any bright ideas either.

To think they had no choice but to stay here during that time.

Ferda sat down on the edge of the bed.

The armor knight stood awkwardly in front of Ferda.

His entire body seemed to be saying that he didn't know what to do in this situation.

"You should sit down, too."

A gesture indicating he wasn't sure if that was allowed.

"Didn't they say we could get buried alive if we waste our strength needlessly in a place like this? When there is even a sliver of possibility, we just have to wait."

... Nod.

The armor knight laid out a spot and sat straight down.

The inside of the room was far too quiet.

As even the clattering sound of the armor died away, Ferda's sense of hearing amplified his other senses.

'Damn it.'

The Shadow Circle began to spin.

That pitch-black thing placed right below Ferda's circle was tirelessly tempting him.

He even closed his eyes and tried to calm his mind.

Crimson hair and two pairs of horns.

That beautiful face clearly revealed itself once more.

And then it distorted.

She offered her heart.

'This is driving me crazy.'

He was captivated by the illusion shown by his trauma.

Even knowing that magic was no longer there, his mind refused to cooperate.

This was akin to thirst and hunger.

Just as one could not continue to suppress it forever, it would inevitably erupt into a problem someday.

And Ferda also knew the form in which it would erupt.

"It's okay."

Soon, the voice that tormented Ferda could be heard.

'What about this is okay?'

"You're thinking of the person you love, aren't you?"

That voice, the one that made Ferda feel regret, clearly tempted him.

"You nurture that feeling and let it make you stronger."

"Just like a forge."

"Heating, hammering, quenching, and carving away."

"That's how you forge a sword."

"A sword meant to protect that person."

"Kill, and keep killing."

"Until all of that person's enemies are gone, and you create a paradise for them."

"Because conquest is the only true form of security."

'Shut up.'

Hearing those words, Ferda was able to regain his senses a little.

Killing and killing to ensure there were no enemies left was something he had done long ago, back when he was insane.

"It only requires a small sacrifice."

"No, there might be a few more sacrifices."

"Perhaps she might even end up hating you."

"But don't you want to ease the pain of the person you love?"

"You made that choice back then in order to ease that pain, didn't you?"

'Piss off.'

"No."

As it spoke, it unhesitatingly shoved its finger into Ferda's chest.

"I told you. I'll always be by your side."

And then, like a sugar cube melting in black tea, it slowly toyed with Ferda.

"Right now, you just need to become stronger."

He could see the shadows moving on their own.

The circles battered Ferda's body like a swollen river during the midsummer monsoon season.

They were moving the Shadow Circle to willfully ascend to a new realm.

"Move according to your destiny."

"And reclaim the power you once possessed."

"Let's go together once more."

He couldn't resist.

Cold sweat poured down, and his consciousness faded far away.

"Haa... Haa..."

But he couldn't pass out like this.

These shadows were aiming for Ferda's body.

There was no telling what would happen.

And he didn't want to find out either.

Ferda thought to himself.

How could he escape from this agonizing regret?

'I must not listen to its words.'

To do that, he needed to divert his attention elsewhere.

He couldn't just simply divert it; he had to engineer it so that it wouldn't play into their intentions.

'To unload the burden on my mind.'

How could he do that?

Ferda suddenly remembered the confession of the Order of Altes.

It was the sight of a priest easing a believer's sins when the believer confessed them to the priest.

Ferda had heavily disliked that practice.

To commit a sin and then seek salvation from a god rather than the victim involved.

He hadn't understood it then, but he could understand it now.

If they didn't at least do that, they would go insane.

Humans were just that fragile of a creature.

Just like Ferda right now.

While he was groaning all alone, a soft touch enveloped Ferda.

That softness startled Ferda.

'Valdrova.'

Was she touching his cheek?

She was not.

The armor knight was wiping away the sweat forming on Ferda's face.

He didn't freak out and shout.

Instead, he took the handkerchief and wiped his face himself.

The armor knight carefully returned to his spot.

Ferda's gaze quietly observed him.

That man's actions were clumsy, yet resolute at the same time.

He was as reliable as a fortress that would not yield to any situation.

Because of that, Ferda, who was on the verge of collapsing, needed him.

"Are you..."

Ferda struggled to open his mouth and asked a question.

"Good at keeping secrets?"