Ch.71 We Found the Seal. Brothers!
Selena spoke with an offhand tone.
“While you were unconscious, I tried lting it with the staff you dropped—it lted incredibly fast! If you’ve got such a great artifact, you should’ve told .”
Her eyes sparkled as she pulled Altarion’s staff out of the tent.
“How about giving this to ?”
Holding the black wooden staff, Selena asked hopefully.
I gave her an awkward smile.
“It’s… probably hard to give away. Because…”
This was where acting truly mattered.
I’d lied as easily as breathing my whole life—but never had I been in such dire straits as now.
Summoning every ounce of sincerity, I gazed heavenward with eyes brimming with sorrow.
“It’s my grandfather’s keepsake.”
Sorry, Grandfather… You’re still perfectly healthy, right?
Altarion’s staff obviously wasn’t my grandfather’s heirloom—but if I said it was, she’d probably drop it.
A quick glance at Selena’s face, however, revealed anything but warmth.
How should I describe it? Cold, perhaps?
Especially today, her sharp gaze seed even keener than usual.
“Hah? Really? Your grandfather’s keepsake?”
Why was she smiling while her eyes looked murderous?
Baffled by her unpredictable behavior, I scratched my cheek with an uneasy expression.
“Yeah… so I can’t really give it away.”
“Then is what’s in that lake also your grandfather’s keepsake?”
I shook my head at her question.
“No, that’s more like… my great-grandfather’s dream.”
Selena pressed her lips together tightly.
Wearing an unmistakable ‘I’m mad’ expression, she soon sighed.
“Hans, don’t lie so shalessly. Ugh. Fine, fine. I’ll let this slide—just this once. Co on, let’s go eat dinner.”
“Huh…?”
She grabbed my arm and pulled
toward the tent.
“It’s already late! The sun’s setting—you won’t find anything in the lake now. Let’s eat first and search again tomorrow.”
Helplessly dragged along by her strength, I stumbled into the tent.
You really are an angel…
Her thoughtfulness and understanding filled
with gratitude.
Could I finally consider us close?
***
The next morning.
“Well… I’ll go and co right back.”
The Arctic wind felt like it was slicing through my skin.
“Okay, hurry back.”
Nodding at Selena’s farewell, I stripped down to my underwear.
“Ugh… seriously, it’s fucking freezing…”
Shivering violently from the cold, I was urged on by her.
“Get in the water already! It’ll be warr than the air.”
I nodded, tightened my goggles, and plunged into the lake.
—Splash.
Warr? It was just as freezing!
No lie—it felt like I could freeze solid any second.
I had to find the Trident of the Sea God quickly.
As I descended toward the lakebed, darkness enveloped
from all sides.
It’s too dark! Lightball!
I cast a spell to illuminate the area and continued my search.
Endless stretches of sand lay before .
Where is it? In the ga, it appeared instantly!
Unable to hold my breath any longer, I surfaced.
“Phew… damn it. This is seriously tough.”
My magic could only light up a limited area, yet the lake was vast—finding the artifact today seed hopeless.
“Hans! Did you find it?!”
From afar, Selena waved and shouted. I responded with a large ‘X’ gesture and dove back in.
After several more dives…
A long tallic object caught my eye.
Found it—the Trident of the Sea God!
I stretched out with all my might, grabbed the trident, and surfaced.
“Haah… haah… I thought I was gonna die.”
The mont I broke the surface, a murderous chill assaulted
again.
Selena draped a towel over my shivering shoulders.
“Hans, you must be freezing! Hurry into the tent.”
“Yeah… I will. Haah… haah…”
And so, I obtained the Trident of the Sea God.
And…
“Achoo!”
I caught a cold as a bonus.
Back in the tent, I hurriedly dried off with a towel, changed clothes, and dove under the blankets to warm up.
“You’re really cold, aren’t you? Should I make you so soup?”
“Ugh… please. I’m freezing to death.”
No exaggeration—I genuinely felt like I was dying from the cold.
Honestly, if the artifact hadn’t been inside my stomach, I’d never have done sothing this insane.
Of all things, it just had to slip out. Nothing’s going right lately.
Co to think of it, things went smoothly when I first arrived here—but ever since, everything’s been going downhill.
Crazy won keep chasing after , claiming they like , and soone went ahead and captured the Demon King on a whim.
Even worse, those lunatics followed
all the way to the New Continent.
But once I secretly slip back to the Old Continent—where the real ‘King of the Dead’ DLC storyline begins—this streak of bad luck should finally end.
—Shiver…
When my trembling wouldn’t stop, Selena handed
a wooden cup filled with warm broth.
“Hans? Drink this for now.”
“Huh? Thanks.”
—Slurp…
The warm broth brought heat back to my body.
Compared to those insane won, Selena was an absolute angel—even sensing my lies but choosing not to expose them out of kindness.
She truly must be a heavenly being.
Whereas if those lunatics caught …
I’d end up as BBQ, stabbed through, or flayed alive.
“Huh… Selena. Thank you so much.”
Next to those dangerous won, Selena was no different from a benevolent goddess.
“Hans? Why are you suddenly crying? Does sothing hurt?”
I shook my head and wiped away my tears.
“No… I’m just… really grateful you’re here with .”
All I ever wanted was to et an ordinary, pretty girl and live out my days peacefully together.
Why did things get so twisted?
Just as I felt overwhelming gratitude toward her…
She stopped cooking and placed a hand on my forehead.
“Hans? Did the cold water ss with your head? Do you even recognize ?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just… felt a bit pitiful for a mont. But I’m okay now.”
I’d only tried my best to save the world—yet here I was, hunted by madwon and fearing for my life.
But maybe… just maybe… I could overco it all with Selena by my side.
After eating the consommé soup Selena prepared, I headed back to the lake to test the Trident of the Sea God.
“What are you up to now?”
“Oh, nothing much. Stay inside—it’s cold.”
Selena eyed
suspiciously.
“Are you really okay? You’ve been acting weird since you got out of that freezing water.”
“I’m perfectly fine, seriously! I’m just gonna scout the area. You never know—there might be monsters nearby.”
Leaving Selena in the tent, I stared out at the lake.
Surely the Trident of the Sea God didn’t have side effects like Altarion’s staff, right?
Even if it did, if it proved too powerful, it’d be too risky to use in actual combat.
Not to ntion the trouble it’d cause later when I needed to retrieve sunken artifacts—or money—from the sea…
I gave the trident a light swing.
Slowly, a whirlpool ford in the lake.
No adverse effects on my body.
Good. This should work out smoothly.
***
Late at night, under a new moon.
Cardinal Davinus and his followers gazed at a rural monastery.
“Brothers! His soul slumbers within that place. Slay those wretched servants of the false god and rescue Him at once!”
At Davinus’s command, his followers swiftly scaled the monastery walls.
And then…
—Aaargh!
—Who the hell are you?!
—Help ! Gahk!
Amid screams of terror…
—Creeeak.
The heavy monastery doors swung open, and Davinus stepped inside.
His steps carried a lightness and joy—for by slaughtering his enemies, he served his god.
This was the mont to awaken the deity who’d slumbered for ages.
Humming a cheerful tune as he walked past corpses and screams, his deanor was grotesque—downright unnatural.
—Save ! Aaagh!
Davinus strolled down the monastery cloister.
Beside him, a follower butchered a monk with a longsword—but Davinus only smiled, as if this bloodbath were a grand celebration.
Reaching the main hall at last, Davinus pushed open the double doors with both hands.
Candles in grand candelabras brightly illuminated the hall.
The flickering light reflected off vibrant, intricate mosaics—uncommonly lavish for such a humble monastery.
Displeased, Davinus snatched a candle from the altar and hurled it at the mosaic.
—Crash!
The beautiful, colorful mosaic shattered, scattering glass fragnts across the floor.
“To worship a hollow god… how pitiful and foolish.”
Davinus’s mood shifted abruptly.
He turned toward a divine symbol hanging on the wall behind the altar—
A massive tree, painstakingly carved by master craftsn into the blazing form of the sun.
“How repulsive.”
From his inner pocket, Davinus pulled out a cigar, savoring its pungent aroma with a blissful expression.
“Ah… what a fine scent. Truly exquisite.”
He bit the tip off.
—Ptooey!
—Whoosh…
After lighting the cigar, Davinus gazed mockingly at the divine symbol.
“Cardinal Davinus. Your orders have been fully carried out.”
He flicked his fingers, summoning a follower.
“You called, my lord?”
“Burn that accursed symbol.”
“Yes. At once.”
As his followers tore the symbol from the wall, Davinus felt a surge of euphoria—deeply satisfied at having defiled the arrogant, false god’s sacred image.
They dragged the wooden symbol outside, doused it in oil, and set it ablaze.
—Whoosh!
Watching it burn, Davinus smiled contentedly.
The symbol was consud by roaring flas,
its black smoke and fiery glow lighting up the night in all directions.
—Crackle!
Davinus and his followers stood guard, watching the wooden symbol burn fiercely—waiting until the last ember died out.
Once the bright flas faded, leaving only white and black ash, the followers carefully sifted through the remains with swords and spears.
—Clang!
A clear, resonant sound rang out.
They froze, then ticulously brushed away the ash to uncover its source.
Beneath the ashes erged a dark violet orb.
“We found it.”
Davinus, who’d been silently smoking his cigar, now took the violet orb in his hand, his face flushed with excitent.
“Ahh… at last, we’ve found the seal. Brothers! This day shall be rembered forever—the day our faith triumphed over the false god! Forevermore!”
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