Chapter 1379.1
Josiah looked around the quiet cavern, eyes twinkling.
“Oh! Is that a pernium gem? It's a super rare gem, that stuff is seriously expensive!” she said excitedly, still in her pajamas.
She hurried over to grab one from the mountain of gems, then hesitated. “Ah. Touching this most definitely one hundred percent won’t cause any problems, right? No booby-traps?”
Instead of answering, Davey silently looked around before taking a step. “There aren’t any traps, and the owner’s been gone for ages, so don't sweat it. You can just swipe ‘em all.”
He promptly opened his Pocket Plane and began to sweep up the treasures and high-end artifacts scattered around the space, giggling to himself like a loot goblin. “Hehehe...”
“Whooooa! This is so pretty! I gotta take this one for sure!”
While Josiah and Davey were busy looting with wide, greedy eyes, Aeria and Redimia could only stare at them. Aeria seemed to quickly grasp the situation, but Redimia looked bewildered to see her son-in-law was tomb raiding.
[Ummm. Davey? What are you doing?]
“Me? Tomb raiding, of course.”
[I see... Is that really something to be so proud of?]
“Given how many people died because of this tomb's owner, they can’t really complain about this much.”
Of course, whether the tomb owner had intended for their actions to have such consequences or not didn't matter.
It was completely expected and understandable for a tomb’s designer to install defense mechanisms that protect everything inside. Getting hurt while trying to raid a tomb? The blame would fall solely on the raider for not having enough skill.
However, it was a different matter getting killed just for setting foot in the canyon without any such disrespectful and covetous intent.
Just then, a white, mist-like substance that had covered the entire canyon began to seep out of a coffin next to Davey. Surprised, Aeria and Redimia tried to alert him, but he paid them no mind.
The white mist coiled around Davey’s legs, clinging to him as if begging him to stop the looting, but he completely ignored it. He simply kept sweeping the gold and jewels into his Pocket Plane with a wide grin on his face.
“Every single one of these has serious historical value.” He knew that pulling out even just one and putting it up for auction would fetch an absolute fortune.
Clink. Clink!!!
He wondered if this was what sweeping everything up meant.
Josiah, who’d always diligently learned from her respectable instructor Davey, had nerves of steel as well. “Ah! This is a good one! Teacher! Can I take this?”
“That? Yeah,” Davey confirmed with a quick glance.
“Sweet.”
The white mist then coiled around Josiah’s arms and legs as well, trying to stop her as she stuffed the treasures into a pouch she pulled out of nowhere. Alas, she too didn’t budge.
“Ugh, get outta here! So annoying!”
Boom!!
Annoyed, she unleashed her vampire power to push the mist away. It scattered for a moment, but soon regathered weakly at her feet and rushed back at her. Determined to expand her bank account’s horizons, she continued to ruthlessly scatter the mist and focus on her plundering.
The dwindling treasures that filled the tomb began to expose the floor with each disappearance. In fact, it didn't take long for the mountains of riches to vanish completely.
The white mist, desperate to stop the two, was truly frantic, but it had no means to stop them. If the two had only been reasonably strong beings, the mist might’ve been able to have an impact.
Yet, the mist found Davey to be nothing short of an unstoppable bulldozer.
“Teacher, what about this coffin?” Josiah curiously asked without turning.
Davey responded, “That’s probably the medium binding Redimia’s soul.”
Still not entirely satisfied after clearing out all the treasures, he slowly looked around and then approached the coffin.
Josiah chimed in, “So, the owner of this tomb is at least a vampire lord or higher, right?”
“Most likely.”
The tomb's owner was a being who had rebelled against a cruel truth and defied Goddess Freyja, resulting in a curse on their entire vampire race. The relatively low quality of the treasures they possessed, relative to what one would expect of an entire race’s stockpiles, suggested only one thing.
They likely had something more hidden elsewhere.
Yet, since Davey knew finding the additional secret space wouldn't be easy, he decided to prioritize the coffin for the time being.
“So, how do we free her soul?” He thought for a moment, then slowly pushed the coffin lid open.
Screech!!
The firmly sealed lid made a heavy sound as it slowly began to open.
The sight of its interior made Josiah’s eyes go wide. “Wooow... So pretty!”
The person revealed inside the coffin was breathtakingly beautiful. “Teacher. This person’s a man... right?”
“I assume so?”
As she pointed out, the body’s features suggested the owner of the coffin was male, but he was unnaturally beautiful.
“Doesn’t it feel like someone just put a pretty girl in here and insisted she's a guy?”
“If that were the case, then they would be even flatter than Rinne.”
It was impossible to tell how long the man had been asleep. Even after such a long time spent entombed, he looked as if he had just lain down moments before.
Aeria slowly approached, looked at the owner, and let out a soft gasp just like Josiah’s.“Wow... So pretty!”
Following behind, Empress Redimia spoke with a bewildered voice.
[Wait, isn’t that a man?]
Davey noticed the surprise in her tone. “Is there a problem?”
[Truth is, I saw the owner of this tomb when my soul was bound here. I could have been sure she was a woman...]
Perhaps that was why she had referred to them as a she.
Empress Redimia, now a spirit body, slowly placed her hand on the figure’s chest.
[The only thing I felt when I was connected to her—or him, I guess—was a mourning sorrow at losing someone.]
It seemed like the tomb owner’s emotions had influenced her over time.
“So then, have you been connected to his emotions ever since?”
[No, I’ve been completely alone since then. In fact, this is my first time coming inside the tomb.]
It seemed some power there had completely blocked her access, to the extent that even her spiritual form couldn't enter.
Davey stared silently at the corpse as he contemplated.
He had found the Primordial True Ancestor. That being, a primordial vampire, had died long ago. Yet, the power he left behind still affected their surroundings.
Whether it was intentional or not didn't really matter. From what Davey could tell, it seemed like he had a strong will to leave something behind.
“What are you looking at, Teacher?”
“Nothing, just thinking that I might be able to cut this connection.”
In fact, cutting the connection itself didn’t seem like it would be too difficult. He had seen the connecting string visibly thin as soon as he activated his divine power.
The divine power left in the owner was only exceptional for its special nature. Its raw strength wasn’t that high. He figured that was probably due to weathering and exhaustion over a long period.
Still, even if he felt sure of what he should do, just experimenting without preparations carried a huge risk.
Davey turned to Redimia. “If I cut the connecting string tied to this corpse, your soul will be free. I can’t give you back the time you’ve already lost, but if you want, I can send you to the River of Souls right now.”
[Ah... But Vashas...]
‘Oh, right.’
What she truly wanted was to talk with her son who had changed, even if she only got just a moment.
“What will you do? If you want, I can free you right now.”
Yet, there was still a catch.
[Will there truly be no problems?]
“A problem? Well, there is one.” Davey pulled the tight soul string back and forth before coming to a conclusion. He suddenly remarked, “Rubber band.”
“A rubber band?” Josiah responded, clearly confused just like everyone else.
[What does a rubber band have to do with this?]
“Well... to be precise, the owner of this corpse is pulling your soul tight using what is essentially a rubber band. So, if I cut it here...”
Cutting it was easy, but once cut, the delicate balance between the pull from the River of Souls and the string’s resistance would immediately break.
Once that happened, her soul would be left with no power to resist, only to be instantly dragged into the River of Souls.
“I could try to block it, but if I use that method, your soul might end up being subservient to me. Whereas if I just leave it alone, there’s a chance you won’t be able to do what you want.”
Frankly, it was highly likely that she wouldn’t.
In the end, regardless of the method, her wish to see her son once more had become an impossible dream.
Unable to hide her disappointment, she retreated nervously, finally collapsing onto the floor with a hollow laugh.
[Aah...]
Aeria was heartbroken to see her so despondent. “Oh, Mother...”
[I-I’m fine. I’m fine...]
Despite saying she was fine, her expression clearly showed she was anything but.
She covered her mouth with a hand and quickly departed somewhere in the distance.
“Josiah, go after her with Aeria,” Davey said.
“What about you?”
“I need to spend time here figuring out a solution. In the meantime, you should go and comfort her a bit. I’m not the best at that kind of stuff,” he admitted with a wry smile.
“It’s funny hearing that from someone who unknowingly charmed so many women,” Aeria teased.
All Redimia wanted was to talk with her son once more. While that alone was close to the realm of miracles, since her soul hadn't yet entered the River of Souls, it was certainly possible.
After Josiah and Aeria left to follow Redimia, Davey slowly placed his hand on the corpse. It was pale and cold. Even so, he could still feel divine power that lay within it.
Outwardly, it looked like the corpse’s soul had perished, leaving only remnants of divine power in the body.
However, Davey could tell that wasn’t the case. Even after death, the power must have remained for a reason.
Of course, the power itself was very faint. It was only enough to affect a small part of the canyon. It was certainly too small a power to influence the world, and yet too deliberate to be just a specter.
In that case, he needed to do something about it.
“Should I make his divine power a little stronger?”
After thinking it over, he recalled the corpse was highly receptive to divine power and so chose to go through divine manifestation. Divine power occupied most of his physical form, and a massive power spread outward.
At the same time, a change began to occur in the corpse, just as he’d expected. The structure wasn't complicated. Especially as a divinity, Davey didn't find it hard to figure out at all.
The Primordial True Ancestor likely didn’t have a habit of pointlessly leaving riddles for tomb raiders.
Soon, the divine power within the body began to slowly awaken.
