Chapter 67
At first, Aquila thought he had misheard.
The scream had co not from inside the theater where the Old Items Auction was being held, but from outside, beyond the closed doors.
Part of the reason was that he had been caught up in the heated competition to obtain the Eye That Sees the Hidden, and many voices had been overlapping at once.
However, Cahena, who had been absentmindedly picking up a piece of bread from a plate that neither Ianpel nor Aquila had touched and putting it into her mouth, suddenly sprang to her feet.
The mont she turned around—
Bang!
The doors flew open as soone from outside stumbled noisily inside.
Everyone participating in the auction turned their gaze backward at the sound.
The auctioneer on the stage and the staff behind him did not even have ti to scold anyone.
The staff mber who had burst in crossed the seating area with a deathly pale face, then leapt straight up to the auctioneer on the stage.
He whispered sothing into his ear.
“Wh, wh, what did you say…?”
The auctioneer exclaid in shock, his voice hoarse.
His words echoed loudly through the theater via the voice amplification device he had not yet removed.
Although no one knew exactly what had happened, it was clear that sothing serious was wrong.
Without realizing it, Cahena let the bread she had been chewing fall to the floor.
She had heard every word of the whisper exchanged on the stage just now.
Scanning her surroundings with a rigid expression, Cahena lowered her body and whispered softly, just loud enough for them to hear.
“They say a body has been found.”
“…What?”
“Pardon? What did you say?”
At her words, everyone turned their heads in unison, startled.
“Wh, where on earth? Who?”
“On the stairs in front. It seems one of the guards on watch nearby was… attacked.”
Listening to the exchange on the stage, where the voice amplifier had now been turned off, Cahena spoke with a frighteningly stiff face.
A body, in a place with security this tight?
rien stared in disbelief, her mouth agape, then clenched her jaw in determination and bolted outside first.
After all, she was Raiesel.
“, M-rien!”
Shen hastily changed direction and called out her alias after nearly shouting her real na, but she did not stop.
‘…A body? What does it an that a body was found right now?’
Aquila sprang to his feet.
It was his first ti arriving in this period, Delvion Year 713, but even so, he knew most major incidents thoroughly.
Yet this was the first ti he had ever heard of a body being discovered during the Old Items Auction.
Even in the past, he had never heard of any such incident.
A sinister premonition crept over him.
“It would be better if we went as well.”
When Ianpel looked at Aquila, the two exchanged a brief glance, then hurried after her without another word.
Cahena followed with her hand gripping her sword, and Shen, his face equally stiff, chased after his young master.
“Ah…! W-Wait, please! If you leave—!”
The auctioneer shouted in confusion at the sight of Aquila’s group suddenly rushing out, but they did not stop.
Those left behind in the theater, ignorant of what was happening, were the ones left flustered.
Still, it did not take long before others who sensed that sothing was amiss began to move as well.
***
People had gathered on the stairway that only theater staff were allowed to use.
They all murmured with faces that said they could not believe it, their voices loud enough to carry far.
“Did no one see anything while passing through? You were assigned to this area, were you not?”
“I swear I did not see a single person. I can state that with certainty.”
When one of the sword-bearing guards answered with a rigid face, confusion spread.
That was only natural.
This was the venue currently hosting the Old Items Auction.
Would a place frequented by wealthy rchants and nobles truly be guarded so poorly?
All those tasked with watching over the surroundings during the auction were highly skilled, many of them renowned.
Above all, the nobles attending the Old Items Auction had entered with their own escorts, so calling this place a fortress would not have been an exaggeration.
If soone had tried anything foolish, they would have been stabbed from all sides until they resembled a pincushion.
That was how many people were present.
On top of that, magical defenses ensured that no one could intrude recklessly from the outside.
And yet, a body had been found here.
Whether it was appropriate to even call it a body was debatable, but the fact that it was not moving and not breathing was the sa.
“This is truly strange…”
The one found on the stairs was one of the swordsn who had been guarding the western entrance just monts ago.
He had seed to disappear at so point, only to suddenly be discovered on the staff-only stairway.
The crucial point was that no one had noticed anything happening.
That was despite the presence of patrols in the corridors and many individuals with keen senses.
“He should have been alive until an hour ago. And that condition… what on earth is it?”
Those who saw the body murmured among themselves.
He had been alive only a few hours earlier, so if he had died, it must have been right here inside the auction hall.
If so, then what exactly was that state?
“Could it be Black Ma—”
Soone was about to mutter in confusion when—
“Move aside!”
It was a woman who appeared to be a servant, with mottled dark blond hair braided on both sides.
She ran forward, her stiffly tailored skirt flaring, and shoved aside the staff crowding the stairway as she barked out orders.
Startled by her peculiar forcefulness, people instinctively stepped back, then hurriedly shouted.
“Hey! No matter whose maid you are, this is no place for you to interfere—!”
“…ien!”
The na ca out oddly as it was hastily changed midway, but regardless, Aquila followed right behind her.
“R, Reschenhardt….”
Those who saw the blazing red hair gasped in surprise.
When they then recognized the Saint with water-colored hair, they inhaled sharply, their eyes widening even more.
“Where is the body?”
“Over here, over here. But…”
Aquila asked those gathered around, but the reply ca from rien, who had already pushed through them and gone inside.
She managed not to scream despite seeing the body.
However, as if she had noticed sothing strange, her face turned pale and she stepped back slightly.
“I will take a look. Would you all step aside for a mont?”
Ianpel spoke to the crowd in a gentle yet firm voice.
Those who had been hesitating, unsure of what to do, slowly moved aside.
Even without wearing his priestly robes, Ianpel was a priest of the Sun God, and there was no one better suited to assess the condition.
Once people moved away, the scene inside the stairway beca clearly visible.
Shen hurriedly tugged at Aquila, but of course, Aquila did not retreat.
Contrary to his expectations, the body was intact, with no signs of being crushed or cut.
‘…Black veins.’
That was, if not for the veins that had sprouted across the face like tangled roots.
Aquila froze on the spot as he looked at the corpse’s face.
“…This is the first ti I have ever seen sothing like this.”
Ianpel tilted his head in puzzlent and stepped closer.
It looked as though black vines were covering the face.
Just as the Saint was about to place his hand over the corpse’s face to examine it more closely—
“Do not touch it!”
At the sharp shout that pierced his ear, Ianpel flinched and drew his hand back.
Before he could even turn his head, soone stepped close.
The one who had shouted was, of course, Aquila.
His eyes were wide open, as though he were staring at sothing he should never have seen, filled with disbelief.
Then, suddenly, he grabbed the corpse’s clothing and began stripping it away.
“Y, young master!”
Shen rushed closer, startled by Aquila’s sudden movent.
But Aquila did not stop, tugging at the leather and armor that encased the corpse’s body.
When it did not co off easily and he struggled, a hand shot out to help, despite not knowing exactly what he was doing.
It was Cahena.
Using brute strength, she yanked the armor free without much difficulty.
The corpse’s chest was laid bare.
“…Hh!”
“Wh, what in the world is that…?”
Screams of shock and confusion rippled through the crowd.
Embedded in the corpse’s chest was sothing red, writhing, and tightly condensed.
Of course, it did not look like a gemstone.
It squird incessantly as if alive, with branch-like veins spreading from it throughout the entire body.
“…That is impossible.”
Aquila’s eyes, usually so calm and cold that it seed nothing could ever surprise him, widened to their absolute limit.
When he had only seen the black, vine-like veins covering the corpse, he had still harbored doubts.
But this writhing crystal embedded in the chest—
‘Black Tragedy.’
There was only one thing it could indicate.
‘The main scenario has started?’
Ding!
【CHAPTER 1. The Mysterious Black Tragedy That Occurred in Portplum
A corpse covered in black veins is discovered inside the Portplum amphitheater!
■ discovers the writhing crystal embedded in the corpse’s chest and realizes that these signs are far from ordinary!
The total number of corpses embedded with the “Black Tragedy” is five!
Will ■ be able to find all the corpses, shatter the crystals, and destroy the cursed tool buried sowhere, thereby saving Portplum?
This quest includes a ti attack.
On success: Rewards
On failure: Monsters will be summoned in Portplum by a black magic circle ford from the corpses, and people will lose their lives!】
【The main scenario of “Ark Chronicle: The Never-Ending Utopia” has begun!】
【Failing the main quest will result in a severe penalty or cause the fate of the story to be drastically twisted!】
【Please clear all quests and save this world!】
【Good luck!】
“…Damn it!”
After seeing the successive windows, Aquila shouted and sprang to his feet.
He had no ti to dwell on why the main scenario, which should not have begun for another two years, was starting now.
【Ti remaining until monsters are summoned in Portplum
01:59:53:32】
A single window that appeared in the corner of his vision stole all of Aquila’s attention.
Ti was already ticking down.
“Damn it!”
“Y, young master, what on earth is wrong?”
When Aquila cursed again, Shen jumped in alarm.
“…It seems you know sothing about this.”
Ianpel frowned slightly, a rare expression for him, but Aquila had no ti to explain anything.
He snapped his head around.
“Cahena! Break the crystal in this bastard’s chest!”
“…Yes, sir!”
Though the command ca without explanation, Cahena hesitated only for a mont before drawing the sword at her waist.
Shing!
A sharp gleam burst forth.
“Will it break if I just use force?”
“Yes!”
Cahena gripped the hilt with both hands and precisely aid the tip of her blade at the crystal embedded in the corpse.
Then she thrust it in with all her strength.
Crack! Clang!
A clear sound rang out as the writhing crystal split into several pieces at the tip of Cahena’s blade.
Black smoke rose faintly from the spot, and the corpse soon lted down, shriveling into a blackened mass.
“Ugh!”
rien shuddered.
But Aquila turned away from the corpse without a shred of hesitation.
This was only the first one. There were still four more Black Tragedies that had to be destroyed.
The good news was that Aquila knew exactly where all four remaining corpses were.
The bad news was that Aquila alone could not deal with them all within the ti limit.
Nor did he have ti to convince or persuade them.
So Aquila spun around and said this:
“I rember the words spoken to by a great being. A great calamity will co to Portplum.”
It was the only cheat key he could use.
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