Chapter 70
Aquila was at the southern city wall.
And yet, of all places, the cursed tool had appeared in the northeast, practically the opposite side.
Aquila clenched his blazing red hair in one hand, then irritably swept it back.
But there was no ti to indulge in frustration when only forty-eight minutes remained.
“…We have to move.”
“Yes? Where to?”
[Move, you say?]
“Northeast!”
Answering Shen and Ianpel curtly, Aquila imdiately turned and broke into a run.
“W, wait! Young master!”
As he sprinted toward where the horses had been left, Shen and Cahena hurriedly chased after him in confusion.
“I will contact you again later.”
[What? Just a mont—!]
Ignoring whatever Ianpel was trying to say, Aquila cut off the communication without hesitation.
Then, the mont he accepted the other incoming call that had been ringing for a while, he shouted,
“Lady rien! May I use wyvern transport?”
[I handled it already! When you did not answer, I thought sothing had gone wrong—what? What did you say?]
Aquila’s words and rien’s overlapped loudly at the sa ti.
Aquila imdiately shouted again,
“I need to go to the northeast right away, but I do not think riding horses will get us there in ti.”
[…What? Are you saying you are going to ride one? Do you have business in the northeast as well?]
Portplum’s layout was nearly circular, without any particularly protruding areas.
To the east stood the Temple of the Sun, the second largest on the continent, while toward the west, shops and crowds grew especially dense.
The northeast was an area filled with inns and residences.
It was also where Aquila was staying.
“Yes. There should be a palm-sized black crystal orb buried sowhere there. I need to destroy it.”
[W, wait a mont! That is not the end once it is destroyed?]
“No. Not yet. And I might be late, so—!”
“Lord Aquila, pardon again!”
Before Aquila could even mount the horse, Cahena abruptly lifted him up and climbed onto the saddle with him.
She seized the reins just as she had before and imdiately urged the horse forward.
She had clearly understood that this was not the end while chasing after him.
Whether Aquila turned his head in surprise or not, Cahena frowned and spoke,
“So we go by wyvern transport? Which direction?”
“I know where it is, Vice-Captain Cahena! I will lead the way!”
“I will follow!”
Shen turned his horse’s head toward the west and galloped off at once.
Not to be outdone, Cahena likewise turned her horse and spurred it forward after him.
Everything proceeded smoothly without Aquila needing to give further instructions or opinions.
[…Lord Aquila?]
Aquila, who had been montarily frozen as he watched them, finally snapped back to his senses at the voice coming through the bracelet.
Things were moving so frantically that he had been planning to abandon everyone and move on his own.
That was how he had always done things, and it had been easier that way.
‘…No. I am already receiving help from others in this quest, yet this feels unfamiliar. I am not sure why.’
Suppressing the strange emotion, Aquila took a brief, steadying breath.
His excitent seed to settle, and he continued in a calr voice than before.
“…I am sorry for cutting you off. I may be delayed, so please send the personnel in the north toward the northeast. It will be better to have more people searching for a hidden object.”
He explained while tensing his body to avoid falling from the horse.
For a mont, there was no reply from rien on the other end.
But it was only brief. Her clear voice soon returned, as if she had cald herself after hearing Aquila.
“Understood. I will arrange for wyvern use. Do you know the exact location?”
“Yes. Southwest. We are already heading there.”
“All right. I will order the northern team to move to the northeast imdiately. Then I will see you there!”
“I appreciate it.”
With Aquila’s flat reply, the communication ended.
There were still roughly forty-five minutes left.
‘If we cross the city by wyvern, it will be quick. There is no way we will fail.’
Still, more was better than less, and one always had to prepare for the worst.
The northeast was an area where many buildings were packed together.
In past cycles, there had been cases where it was hidden inside a building.
After confirming Shen’s back as he rode ahead, Aquila turned his gaze to his Communication Bracelet.
He then contacted Heinen, who would be waiting at the Grand Temple of Portplum.
***
The wyverns took flight.
They were normally used to transport supplies to other cities or move people, but this ti they soared over Portplum itself.
A trained rider and three wyverns.
On their backs rode Aquila, Shen, and Cahena respectively.
With wings fully spread, the wyverns headed toward the northeast of Portplum.
A distance that would have taken a full forty minutes on horseback was reduced to just ten.
However, the problem was that there was nowhere suitable to land.
It was an area crowded with lodgings, nobles, and civilians alike, making it impossible to descend nearby.
The wyverns circled overhead in search of a spot.
Eventually, they descended a little farther up, away from the dense buildings.
Even then, landing on a small walking trail designed for pedestrians consud additional ti.
“Aquila Reschenhardt.”
Heinen had climbed the hill ahead of ti and greeted them as he saw them arrive.
Silver armor engraved with Raspalara’s emblem and a helt pulled low.
It had only been two days, but he looked no different from when they had parted.
“Sir!”
Beside him, Yujelia, who had followed Heinen, raised her hand high and greeted them.
For the first ti in a while, she was dressed properly as a priestess, wearing a pure white robe, her brown hair tightly tied up.
The person who should have welcod that sight the most was—
“U, ugh…”
—currently dismounting from the wyvern with a voice that sounded half-dead.
Shen clutched his head as he wobbled.
The speed of crossing the sky atop a wyvern was no joke, and it seed to have left him dizzy.
“Ugh… is, is this motion sickness…?”
“Oh my goodness! Sir Shen!”
Yujelia hurried toward him in alarm.
In contrast, Aquila leapt lightly down from the wyvern with a perfectly composed expression.
Amazingly, he was completely fine.
He had gotten terribly motion-sick from carriage rides, yet now he felt almost refreshed.
“Have you found anything?”
“…No. You said you might be late, so I expected you to arrive much later. We have only just arrived ourselves.”
Heinen spoke in a voice more rigid than usual.
He seed deeply angered or troubled.
Of course, the reason was obvious.
The place he had searched was behind the Grand Temple, and the corpse lying there would have been either a priest or a holy knight.
“Then should we join up and search together like this?”
Cahena staggered over after thanking the rider.
She glanced at Shen and shook her head.
“Goodness, just look at your complexion. Hold onto . You are going to fall.”
She supported Shen with a grin, apparently amused by his wobbling.
Trying to regain his composure while speaking with Yujelia, Shen lightly smacked Cahena on the back.
‘…About twenty-seven minutes left. Thanks to the wyvern, it is not too tight.’
After surveying the area, Aquila rummaged through the inside pocket of his coat and took out the Eye That Sees the Hidden.
The magical tool he had won for sixteen million gold.
Now was the ti for it to prove its worth.
Heinen, who had not participated in the auction, looked at it with curiosity, as though wondering what it was.
“The tool we need most right now.”
Aquila answered simply, lifting the silver-frad monocle and bringing it to one eye.
The scene reflected in the lens looked entirely ordinary.
For now, there was nothing hidden, so nothing appeared—
【Spirit of the Tree】
‘Why is that there?’
Seeing a green-winged spirit, Aquila narrowed his eyes.
When their gazes were about to et, he quickly turned his head and lowered the monocle.
It was unexpected, but the sight of a spirit leisurely hiding itself proved the tool’s effectiveness.
This magical tool could discover anything that was hidden.
‘For sixteen million gold, this is practically a steal. It would have cost far more to pry it from Gusaf, who knows its value.’
The drawback was its use.
With only a single lens, it could not be worn properly.
That was why, unless he had a deeply sunken eye socket, he simply carried it around instead.
“We go down.”
Having finished checking the tool, Aquila gestured.
There was a lot of ground to cover.
***
Aquila was about to head down on foot, since they had left the horses to the southwest, but Heinen stopped him.
He lent Aquila the horse he had brought to get here.
Knowing there was a tool involved, he judged it better for Aquila to scan the area quickly.
Aquila, of course, did not refuse.
Leaving the visibly unsteady Shen in Yujelia’s care, Aquila hopped onto the horse.
Once again, Cahena took the reins.
“I will go a bit slower.”
Since it was impossible to ride while holding the monocle, Aquila simply nodded.
He resolved to pretend to learn horseback riding later and show that he could ride on his own.
In any case, the horse began to walk.
Aquila raised the monocle to his eye once more and scanned the surroundings.
Nothing had appeared in his field of view yet.
【Intrusion Prevention Barrier】
【Hidden Chest (Rachel’s Room)】
【Maslen’s Secret Passage】
Aside from things like that.
Since people lived here, there were often those who hid rooms or set up protective barriers for various reasons.
Those, too, were hidden things, and thus appeared to this magical tool.
‘I once opened the chest beneath the well. What was inside again? It was nothing special, I think.’
People were moving around nearby as well.
mbers of the Temple Knights and Raiesel’s private soldiers.
After greeting Aquila upon seeing his red hair, they continued searching diligently for the tool.
Roughly thirteen minutes remained.
It was while carefully checking every alley between buildings—
【Black Crystal (Active State)】
—that Aquila finally discovered the cursed tool hidden by a corrupted fanatic.
The location was… beneath a well.
‘How clichéd.’
Stopping the horse, Aquila approached the small, old well.
It was tucked away in a corner and looked long unused.
Cahena stepped forward and peered down into the well.
The bottom was pitch-black.
“It is here. I will go down and back up quickly. Light.”
After casting a light spell to illuminate the surroundings, Cahena leapt down into the well without hesitation.
The light descended farther and farther.
Thud.
Then there was only faintness.
It seed deeper than expected.
Aquila leaned forward, peering down to see more clearly.
“Is it there?”
“Hmm… ah. It is quite spacious down here—oh! Found it!”
Cahena’s voice echoed up from the well.
There was no sound of sothing shattering or breaking.
But—
Ding!
【Cursed Tool Destruction (1/1) complete!】
【CHAPTER 1. ‘The Mysterious Black Tragedy That Occurred in Portplum’ scenario has ended!】
【Quest Clear!】
【Calculating rewards!】
“There was so strange smoke, but I destroyed it! Is that all?”
Cahena shouted loudly, later than the system notification.
When Aquila hurriedly turned his gaze, the tir that had been counting down had stopped.
Eleven minutes remained.
Contrary to his worries, it had ended with ti to spare.
After confirming the system window once more, Aquila shouted down the well,
“Yes! It is all ove—!”
Before he could finish his reply, his vision spun.
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