Inheriting the Novel Chapter 50 : Fairy Forest (3)

Fairy Forest (3)

From the very mont I entered the dungeon, I could tell—this place didn't feel like an ordinary dungeon, but evoked the feeling of an ancient ruin.

A location ford as that ruin collapsed and was buried beneath the ground over the course of many long years.

That was exactly where I found myself.

'If I hadn't brought a torch, this would've been pretty tough.'

If I hadn't borrowed the torch that Vince had packed, it would have been almost impossible to walk through the long stretch of pitch-black corridors.

After we walked for quite so ti with nothing in particular happening, Grancesia spoke up, seemingly bored of the endless passage.

[But is this Damian guy really that strong?]

Though Damian and Grancesia had lived in the sa era, Damian had only started to earn his renown after Grancesia's death, so she didn't know much about him.

"Of course. The entire concept of the Seven Heroes started with Damian Viet."

The Sword God, Damian Viet.

There were countless tales about him, but if I had to ntion a representative one, it would be how he journeyed across the entire continent, dueling strong opponents wherever he went.

[There was actually soone who went around doing such a hassle of a thing?]

"He even travelled beyond the western continent to the East, seeking out stronger opponents. And the remarkable thing is, despite all those fights, he wasn't defeated even once."

Looking at the stories connected to Damian, he seed to be soone who was never satisfied.

It was said that after every victory, regardless of how strong his opponent, he would always say:

"It's not enough. I can't reach it with this."

[Can't reach it?]

"I don't know what exactly he ant by that. In the end, Damian eventually settled in the Asktalin Empire for a ti, after his long journey."

Naturally, people showed great interest in Damian, who had fought so many strong opponents, and they asked him:

Who was the strongest among those you faced?

To that question, Damian answered:

"I can't single out the strongest, but there are six who stand as my worthy rivals."

[So, adding those six to Damian, they beca the Seven Heroes?]

"That's right. People wanted to celebrate Damian and those six, so they were called the Seven Heroes."

A title referring to the continent's seven strongest individuals.

That was the Seven Heroes of the continent.

The title continued to be passed down and was still an object of admiration for people even now.

"To ascend to that position, you have to defeat and be acknowledged by one of the current Seven Heroes holding that spot. It's not sothing easily attained."

There was only a single exception to this necessity.

The Asktalin royalty had always claid one spot among the Seven Heroes throughout the generations.

[Well, they do have the blood of dragons, after all. But Damian... even before, I always felt kind of familiar with that na.]

It was a vague reaction, but it seed there was nothing in particular coming to mind for her right now.

'But just how far do we have to go down here?'

The path that appeared after passing through the traps was longer than expected.

It felt like ages since we'd started walking through the pitch-black darkness, yet nothing special had happened.

'There's no trace of monsters, so just what is down here?'

Even the Synopsis didn't specify anything clear.

What was certain was that Fabian had learned swordsmanship from Damian in this place.

After that, whatever happened here was resolved not by Fabian, but by Damian—whose death ensued as a result.

[But Damian lived hundreds of years ago—how is he still alive?]

"When you're an ancient Seven Hero, aren't there supposed to be ways? I an, just look at you—your body hasn't aged a day."

Grancesia's body, a contemporary of Damian, had been preserved in the form of a young woman—neither decayed nor aged.

So, I figured Damian must also have had a way of preserving his life.

[... Well, we'll know if we check for ourselves.]

I agreed with Grancesia on that.

And so, I continued to descend through the dark corridor.

How much ti had passed?

When it felt like about an hour had gone by, I finally found myself in a massive cavern.

"This place..."

That place, shaped like a giant do, was truly strange. When our torchlight hit the walls, brilliantly bright reflections bounced off from all sides.

"No way, is all of this around us made of mithril?"

It was almost ridiculous. I knew there were supposed to be mithril veins here, but I'd never imagined they'd have been used in this way.

[Wow, what an insane waste of money.]

"It's not about wasting money. You'd need real skill to make sothing like this."

Mithril is hard and highly attuned to magic.

Of course, forging it requires exceptional craftsmanship.

And to produce enough to surround this whole chamber? That's not sothing that could be done with ordinary skill.

"There's no way they'd do this for no reason. There's definitely sothing..."

I stopped mid-sentence.

I'd noticed sothing moving in the darkness.

[Don't tell —that's the 'Damian' you were talking about?]

Grancesia sounded quite displeased.

No wonder.

What was coming toward

from the shadows was, by no stretch, a normal human being.

A suit of armor and helt covering its entire body.

And the body visible through the gaps was rotten and decayed.

"Who are you?"

A harsh voice like steel scraping sounded.

It wasn't even a human voice, more like the howl of wind echoing through the air.

"How did you manage to get all the way here?"

The fact that it spoke at all stunned

so much that I montarily forgot to answer.

And for good reason—this thing...

[It's a Death Knight.]

Just as Grancesia said.

A knight who'd abandoned his human dignity and reached this end—a being with great strength.

'I've never heard of a Death Knight that could talk...'

Usually, knights don't choose to beco Death Knights themselves.

But there were cases where a dark mage made a Death Knight from the corpse of a powerful knight, and each such case led to a major incident.

"Who are you, sir?"

Although I was already guessing the Death Knight's identity, I pretended not to know as I spoke.

"You're quite calm. Aren't you afraid of ?"

"I can stay calm because you aren't showing any hostility."

At my words, the chin visible beneath his helt rattled as it moved.

Was that—could it have been a laugh?

"I wondered what kind of human could make it all the way here. You're quite an interesting one."

He said this and slowly removed his helt.

The half-rotted face beneath ca into view. Hideous, but his features from life were still clear.

"I am Damian Viet. What is your na?"

[... Huh?]

Grancesia seed surprisingly shocked by his calm introduction.

I was curious about the reason, but introducing myself to Damian ca first.

No matter that he was now a Death Knight—the fact that he had been one of the Seven Heroes didn't change.

"My na is Clay Vanhart. I never expected to et the Sword God, one of the Seven Heroes, in a place like this."

"The Seven Heroes... To think such a useless na is still rembered."

"Not only is it rembered, but people today honor the heroes of the past, and the seats of the Seven Heroes are still passed on."

"How laughable."

He snorted and put his helt back on.

"So, what brings you here? You didn't co all this way for no reason."

"I ca at the request of the Fairy Queen, Beatrice."

"Beatrice? Ah, yes—I rember there used to be a fairy forest nearby."

"Not nearby—the dungeon is actually inside the fairy forest."

"... So the forest's grown over ti? I guess that could happen."

It seed he hadn't left the dungeon in a very long ti.

'Just what has Damian been doing in here all this ti?'

There were a thousand questions racing through my mind, but for now, I needed to explain the situation to Damian.

After all, I had to resolve Beatrice's request.

"According to Beatrice, an evil miasma has been emanating from this place at regular intervals. But this ti, even though the interval should have arrived, nothing has happened."

"So you've co to investigate the reason why, then?"

"Yes."

He slowly nodded at my reply.

"I see. But it will be a long story, if I'm to explain."

He turned away as he spoke.

"Follow . I'll tell you the reason."

Relieved at how smoothly this was going, I let out a silent sigh.

'I thought things could go bad the mont I saw he was a Death Knight...'

If this had been a mindless Death Knight, even thinking about what might have happened was terrifying. No matter how effective I was against undead monsters, there were limits.

[So that's it—I thought I'd heard that na sowhere before...]

Just then, Grancesia murmured softly, as if drained of strength.

'Were you two acquainted?'

[Yeah. But the Damian I knew would never have beco anything like a Death Knight... There must be a reason.]

Her words carried a note of longing and sadness.

It seed that for Grancesia, the shock of Damian becoming a Death Knight was far greater than that he had been one of the Seven Heroes.

I wasn't particularly affected, but for her, as his priestess, it might have felt much more significant.

'At any rate, we'll know once we hear his story.'

[Yeah, you're right.]

Hearing Grancesia readily agree, so unlike her usual self, gave

a strange, fresh feeling.

At the sa ti, it beca clear to

just how deeply Damian was connected to her.

* * *

"Sorry, but there's nothing to offer you here—it's a place where only corpses reside, after all. I hope you'll understand."

"That's perfectly fine."

Following him, we arrived at a room of reasonable size.

Apparently, he'd been living here all this ti—ordinary furniture was arranged about.

'All mithril.'

As I stared intently at it all, Damian spoke up.

"Mithril simply proved the most suitable material—not rotting or rusting, even after so many years. I wasn't going for luxury or anything."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize. Anyway, I imagine you have a lot of questions for ."

He sat down facing , even resting the sword at his waist against the wall.

"First—the evil miasma hasn't been coming out lately because that one is gathering strength for a longer period down here."

"That one?"

"Lugal Necris. A master of dark magic, now turned into a lich—a monster that revives endlessly."

The Underworld King, Lugal Necris.

As I'd expected, the reason Damian was here had sothing to do with him.

It was shocking enough that Damian beca a Death Knight—yet now Lugal had beco a lich as well? I never saw this coming.

And as the story continued, a question ca to mind.

"... Could it be that Underworld King Lugal turned you, sir Damian, into a Death Knight?"

"Him, turn ? Haha, now that's a joke. You think I'd lose to him?"

"I didn't an that, but..."

"Well, I'll admit—unless one's at his level, turning

into a Death Knight would be impossible. I understand the question."

He nodded with his arms folded, then made a shocking revelation.

"I beca a Death Knight of my own free will."

He beca a Death Knight—by choice?

I was so stunned I couldn't speak for a long mont, finally managing to stamr a response.

"So, you remained here to restrain Lugal, then, sir Damian?"

"Impressive—you catch on quickly."

"I don't think it takes particular quickness. Anyone would guess as much after hearing your story."

I couldn't know the precise details, but anyone could deduce as much from the circumstances.

'Honestly, the reason this happened isn't even important to .'

Beatrice's worry was that sothing terrible might happen.

But if Lugal was the cause of everything and Damian was keeping him in check, there was no need for concern.

No matter how many tis Lugal revived, in the end Damian would be the one ending him.

'As far as the request goes, it's practically resolved already.'

All that remained was to receive Damian's instruction in swordsmanship.

Yes, that was how it should have gone...

'You've got to be kidding .'

I checked the plausibility requirents for the swordsmanship skill "Moon Severing Divine Sword" listed in Setting Addition and couldn't stop myself from swearing.

==

〈Moon Severing Divine Sword (斷月神劍)〉

Plausibility Requirents

1. Spar with Damian Viet 50 tis

2. Master at least one technique of the Moon Severing Divine Sword

3. Deliver the finishing blow to Lugal Necris

==

The first two, well, I could accept.

The first was going to be a grind, but doable with repetition.

The second, I could take my ti and get there eventually.

But the last one... What? I have to land the finishing blow on Dark King Lugal?

'I'm screwed.'

That thought echoed through my mind like a curse.