Lise's fingertips were trembling slightly.
Even though she'd gained confidence from several successes, she still had a timid side in situations like this.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Like a child right before getting a shot.
Then she applied force.
Or rather, tried to apply force.
It lifted.
Too easily. Much lighter than when I'd lifted it. Like picking up an empty cup.
It was the picture I'd expected. But she apparently hadn't expected it.
"Hoe..."
A dumb sound leaked from Lise's mouth.
Opening her eyes, she stared blankly down at the stone in her hand.
The knights' mouths hung half-open. The mages and scholars were the same.
All eyes turned to me at once.
The knights. The mages. The scholars. Celine. Duke Sylvester.
All of them together.
"How did you know she would be able to lift that?"
It was Sir Karl.
"Well, that's..."
The principle wasn't particularly difficult.
But explaining this was a bit...
What exactly should I say?
Before I could prepare an answer, murmuring erupted.
"We couldn't do it?"
"That little maid?"
"What the hell?"
"Even Count Excellency couldn't lift it."
"We tried our hardest and couldn't."
"But she just lifted it."
"Without even straining?"
Questions poured in from all directions. But all the questions led to one destination.
How did I know?
"How did you know she could lift the stone?"
Even Duke Sylvester asked.
I couldn't deflect anymore.
Yeah, whose attention am I worried about? I'm the commander here!
"Do you know the Gong Gondramiya Ruins?"
"I do."
"What about the Lekopan Ruins?"
"Those as well..."
His eyes widened.
"Ah!"
That was enough. The old man had realized it too.
But the others were different.
"Don't just talk amongst yourselves—explain it properly!"
It was Sir Karl. Irritation dripped from his voice.
Well, I understood. A young maid had easily picked up a stone he couldn't lift, yet instead of explaining, we were acting like only we knew what was going on.
I glanced at Duke Sylvester, but he too seemed reluctant to say this out loud.
No choice. I decided to give up and just say it.
"I read in a book about ruins that test a person's intelligence, so I thought this might be similar and experimented."
"Intelligence?"
"Yes. The mages didn't try to lift it directly, the scholars didn't even attempt it, and the knights, while certainly brave and powerful... ahem... ahem..."
I trailed off.
To be honest, it was like this:
You guys are dumb.
This is a stone dumb people can't lift.
That's why you couldn't lift it.
I worried the knights might get offended or demoralized.
Just as I was about to say something to soothe their feelings—
"So that's what it was."
"Nothing special then."
...What?
The knights' reaction was the complete opposite of my expectation.
No disappointment, no anger. Rather, they seemed relieved.
"So we just couldn't lift it because we're dumb."
"Of course. If it was about strength, Count Excellency would've lifted it."
"Right. Even Count Excellency couldn't."
"It was a different kind of test from the start."
The knights nodded.
These guys...
Well, whatever.
Yeah, as long as knights fight well, what else matters?
They were Krustein's knights.
Not people who'd dwell on intellectual inferiority.
A simple, clear value system: being good with a sword is all that matters.
I'd inherited Walther Von Krustein's genes, but others had inherited his life philosophy.
Of course, there was one exception.
"I was called the brains of our mercenary company, but I guess that was my limit."
A slightly disappointed voice.
But only for a moment.
"Well, as long as the hand holding the sword is faster than the hand turning pages."
He shrugged and laughed.
Right. If a mere mercenary received a count title with that, that was good enough.
"An interesting hypothesis, but I think differently. The items from the ruins the Regent mentioned were honestly trivial things. That's why such methods could work."
"You're saying this stone is different."
"It's a treasure with at least a High Spirit sealed within. Actually, at this level, I suspect something other than a High Spirit might be sealed inside."
Something else...
He didn't specify. Probably because it was too powerful an existence.
It would be embarrassing if it turned out to be premature excitement.
But even that was enough to understand what he meant.
"Then you think there's a different reason the Regent and Lise could lift the stone?"
"I'm merely raising a question. Unlike the Regent who has a hypothesis, I don't even have one."
He paused before adding:
"However, becoming too fixated on a particular hypothesis often leads to great embarrassment. Haha, my occupational hazard as a scholar is showing."
Well, there were many such cases.
Falling in love with a hypothesis or theory is dangerous.
Scholars who fell in love with theories they championed... or theories they followed, ignoring clear evidence. They ended up becoming laughingstocks for future generations.
The knights seemed to have already lost interest.
They'd been pestering one scholar about what meaning such exploration had, and when he said they might uncover lost mana cultivation methods, they'd stuck to him.
Even Sir Karl.
Well, it wasn't complete nonsense.
But doubt remained in my mind.
The commonality between Lise and me.
Silver hair?
No, surely not that.
If not that...
Could Lise also be a reincarnator?
My gaze naturally turned to her. The silver-haired girl was still looking down at the stone in her hand with fascination.
"Young Master, why are you looking at me like that?"
"No, it's nothing."
I answered, but the question remained unresolved. I couldn't be certain of anything yet.
But that wasn't what mattered now.
Reincarnator or not, I'd have a chance to ask later.
There was a problem to solve right now.
"More importantly, do these stones have healing abilities?"
I approached Duke Sylvester and asked.
This was the main point. The reason we'd come here in the first place.
"Precisely, it's not the stone itself but the ability of the sealed spirit. You must break the seal and form a proper contract to use that power. This one likely has healing attributes, but..."
His gaze moved from the stone in my hand to Lise's stone.
"Actually, with this much power, it might be able to manifest abilities outside its specialty."
"Then how do we break the seal?"
"You need someone with mana as powerful as the sealed spirit's power."
Mana powerful enough to overwhelm the sealed spirit.
As far as I knew, there was only one such human in the Hardenberg Empire.
Technically there had been a few. Two or three until a few years ago.
But I understood they'd all been killed by him.
"I'll need to take it to Father."
"Indeed."
Duke Sylvester nodded.
Sir Karl approached. He looked satisfied.
"I'll collect the stones. We need to store them safely after returning."
Lise looked slightly disappointed but obediently handed over the stone. I did the same.
We couldn't use them right now anyway.
At least we'd achieved the primary objective of the dungeon exploration. Secured two stones. Identified the unsealing method.
**
We ate heartily.
When we'd first started exploring the dungeon, we'd conserved food not knowing how far it would go. But now we just had to retrace our steps.
Of course, in my case, I'd eaten heartily even on the way in.
The reason was simple. I was the virtually acknowledged heir.
Especially Sir Karl paid attention to my meals inside as he had outside.
Very fortunately, his food philosophy didn't differ much from mine.
"Meat! You must eat lots of meat!"
Incidentally, he didn't count things like jerky as meat.
Only fresh meat was meat he acknowledged, which was why he'd brought preservation-spelled fresh meat in already limited luggage.
That meat was a special meal permitted only to me, but now it was allowed to others too.
Knights, mages, and archaeologists sat around the cooking fire.
At first they'd been awkward with each other.
Sword-wielders and book-readers. An unlikely combination.
But after going deep into the dungeon and coming back out, the atmosphere had changed.
"So what that mural means is this. First Era emperors believed they'd unite with spirits when they died. That's why they sealed spirits in their tombs."
"So there's a spirit inside that stone?"
"Exactly!"
It was thanks to the archaeologists' pitch that "lost sword manuals might emerge from these ruins."
The mood was harmonious.
Everything seemed fine.
We'd excavated an item with the potential to cure disabilities—or rather, with even greater potential—and there was possibility for additional excavation.
But that harmony stopped the moment we emerged above ground.
**
The dungeon entrance.
Several retainers of the family were waiting at the entrance.
"You're here!"
"You've returned!"
They'd apparently been waiting for us.
"What's the matter?"
At my question, one retainer opened his mouth then stopped. He seemed to have difficulty speaking.
"The Little Duke has asked you—how can you not speak!"
It was Sir Karl. Frost mixed with his voice. His hand moved toward his sword hilt.
Only then did the retainer speak. Head bowed. Voice trembling.
"Our forces were routed by rebels in the South."