"We've arrived."
The dungeon entrance spread out before my eyes.
It was a different entrance from last time. One of several entrances discovered during exploration. I'd heard the archaeologists had barely managed to revive it by supplying power.
"Seven adventurers went in to activate one entrance. Three died."
The archaeologist spoke matter-of-factly.
"Compensation?"
"Already paid."
His voice continued as he bowed his head.
"Including the cost of supplying power, there were quite substantial expenses, but they'll be covered if we excavate even one proper magic item."
It was both a confession that there were no results yet and an excuse offered to the investor.
I didn't bother pointing it out. The budget increase was just the other day—what could I expect?
The complaint erupted from an unexpected source.
"Come to think of it, the hired adventurers must have already swept away all the monsters."
It was Sir Karl.
"I keep forgetting. I'm a count and he's a duke, and now we're not hired adventurers but the ones who hire them."
Though he was taciturn and contemplative, earning Father's complete trust, his essence wasn't much different from Father's. After calling me "Little Duke," he often revealed that personality even in front of me.
Of course, if he hadn't been like that, he wouldn't have earned that trust in the first place.
"Still, we haven't explored the really deep parts yet. We've only skimmed the surface."
"Hehe, I know. I'll finally get to stretch properly. I haven't been moving lately and my muscles are all stiff."
Haven't been moving?
My whole body ached from training with him until yesterday.
When I raised my arms, my shoulders throbbed, and when I moved my legs, my thighs pulled.
Well, whatever... So we just need to go through that door, right?
Large enough for ten adults to enter side by side. It wasn't just a door.
A magical door with bluish light rippling like waves.
First Age text covered the walls around the door.
I'd brought about fifteen scholars.
Each holding torches, they approached the walls.
Some pulled out parchment, others attempted decoding while chanting magic spells.
First Age text was fundamentally hieroglyphic.
Even for experts, decoding wasn't easy.
Lise scanned the wall once and opened her mouth.
"O ye who enter, are you prepared to pay the price? Only those who bring a heart shall obtain a heart."
An awkward silence flowed among the scholars who hadn't even read the first character yet.
"A heart..."
"Is it demanding a sacrifice?"
Lise tilted her head.
She had decoded it, but that didn't mean she understood the meaning.
"I don't know. It could be metaphorical, or it could be a real heart. The First Age 'heart' was used in various meanings. Core, essence, magic stone... It changes depending on context."
In other words, she didn't know.
"I'll go first. Little Duke, follow behind me."
Sir Karl tapped his sword hilt.
Sir Karl stepped toward the magical door. The blue light swallowed his body.
In an instant, his form disappeared.
I let out a deep sigh and told the rest of the party.
"We're going in too. Sir Karl has already gone, and since the entrance area has already been 'cleaned,' there's no need to be too tense. Still, knights go in first. Then mages. Scholars last."
To prepare for the worst, it was right to deploy those with combat power first.
Though the scholars also doubled as mages, their combat ability was hard to expect.
The average scholar would gasp for breath with their mana drained after casting one Energy Bolt.
The power of Energy Bolt? Probably a bit weaker than a knight's strong punch. A punch, not a sword.
I stood before the magical door.
The blue light caressed my face. Neither cold nor hot. Just light.
I took one step forward.
The world flipped. No, it felt like it flipped.
A dizziness as if up and down were switching swept past.
My vision went white, then dark again.
And.
"This is..."
I lost my words at the scene spread before my eyes.
It was a massive hall.
The ceiling wasn't visible. No, was there even a ceiling? Even looking up, there was only endless darkness.
The walls were covered with murals. Vivid murals whose colors hadn't faded. As vivid as if painted yesterday.
"That's..."
Lise, who had appeared beside me at some point, was looking at the murals.
"It's a dragon."
There was a dragon in the mural.
And beneath the dragon, something was written.
This too was First Age text, but I also knew the character at the very top.
"Krustein."
That name which became the origin of our family name. Originally the name of a massive dragon.
A dragon, an existence thousands of times superior to humans.
Among them, the silver dragon that stood at the pinnacle.
That dragon was said to have perished together with the First Empire.
Lise read the text below.
"Be cursed, abominable beast... We shall not be defeated by you..."
If these ruins were from the First Age, it would still be before that dragon fell.
"Come to think of it, I have a question."
Duke Sylvester said.
"Ask anything."
"Why is the family name Krustein? When I asked Duke Walther before, he evaded the question. Something about hearing from scholars and using a good word? But Krustein is fundamentally an evil dragon, isn't it?"
That was certainly strange. But I didn't know the answer.
Instead of me, it was my martial arts teacher who answered my academic teacher's question.
"His Excellency said since it was the strongest one, it would be good to take that one's name."
...
...
"That's just like our father."
Celine let out a deep sigh.
I raised my mana sensitivity to the maximum.
There was something inside.
It definitely had mana. But I didn't feel the aura characteristic of living things.
Neither alive nor completely dead.
Undead?
Or a golem?
"How is it?"
"There's something inside. I don't know what it is, but something with mana."
"How much mana?"
I debated whether to say this or not, then decided to.
"If we're just talking about quantity, it's probably above Master's level."
The response to that was...
"That's good. Those mercenary nobodies seem to have left the tastiest part. When we were mercenaries, we never would have left it behind."
Sir Karl gave a speech in front of the knights.
"Now, there are powerful enemies before you! Fight them! Be victorious! And seize it! The great heir of Krustein is watching your valor, so this is your chance to prove it!"
Strong enemies meant valuable spoils of war, apparently.
Well, he wasn't wrong.
It was also true that I was watching.
Half the knights cheered. Really.
The other half also cheered. Fakely. Their mana was trembling.
I could feel their heartbeats quickening.
Should I tell them?
No, never mind. That level is normal. Rather, if everyone had been happy, that would have been stranger.
The mages' reactions weren't much different.
The scholars... Hmm. Let's just pretend I didn't see.
The passage continued.
Duke Sylvester's light sphere illuminated ahead. Shadows on the walls flickered.
No one spoke. Only footsteps and breathing echoed in the passage.
How long had we walked?
Something caught on my mana sensitivity. Not just one. Several.
They were moving.
"Stop."
At my words, everyone stopped.
"Something's coming."
It burst out from the wall.
No, it would be more accurate to say what had been the wall moved.
It was a doll made of stone.
A golem. Not just one. Two, three, four. Four forms separated from both walls of the passage.
"Formation!"
Sir Karl shouted.
The knights moved instinctively. Three in front raised shields to form a wall, and the rest drew swords behind them.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The golems' footsteps shook the passage. Slow. But heavy. Each step cracked the floor.
"Mages, ready!"
The mage commander's order fell.
The mages began chanting spells from the rear. I felt mana gathering. Several light spheres rose into the air.
The first golem crashed into the shield wall.
Bang.
One knight was pushed back. Sparks flew as his feet scraped the floor.
"Fire!"
Three fireballs flew.
The first hit the golem's shoulder. Explosion. Stone fragments scattered. But the golem didn't stop.
The second and third hit consecutively.
Only then did the first golem kneel. Not only fire magic but blade magic also struck directly, destroying one of the golem's arms. Still, it struck down at a knight with its other arm.
"Urgh!"
The shield crumpled. The knight fell backward.
The second golem rushed into that gap.
In that moment, Sir Karl moved.
"You idiots! And you call yourselves knights of Krustein!"
The golem's head flew off.
I wondered if cutting off the head would stop it, but with this type of golem, the power source or control device was often in the head.
The headless golem stopped in place. Its knees buckled and it fell forward.
Sir Karl didn't stop.
Taking one more step forward, he cut down another golem. A strike piercing through the chest.
"Behind!"
Someone shouted.
Without turning his head, Sir Karl thrust his sword backward.
The sword embedded in the golem's chest. Precisely in the center.
"I knew."
A calm voice.
When he twisted the sword, the golem split in two.
It didn't take long for all the golems to fall.
But.
"Wounded!"
A cry was heard.
Two knights who had held the shield wall were down.
"Healing!"
One mage rushed over.
I looked at the fallen golems.
While maintaining mana sensitivity.
These golems' mana was minimal. The level of ordinary magical devices. Not strong.
Yet two knights were injured.
The thing inside.
Its mana was incomparable to these.
"How is it?"
Sir Karl asked, brushing stone dust off his sword.
"Small fry. Compared to what's inside, that is."
A brief silence flowed.
Sir Karl laughed.
"That's good."
That madness somehow felt reassuring.