Chapter 396: Eternal Night
TLN: Please read my translations at , I have not given permission to any site to host my translations.
Editor: Tseirp
In the morning, when the road had become busy with traffic, the four from Room 10 entered the Holy Capital.
Before returning to the delegation quarters, they had breakfast and sorted out the information they currently had.
“We got the Holy Swords back, but we couldn’t find the four magicians. Moreover, we have no clues to go on whatsoever.”
“Yeah. It’s frustrating when you have nothing to go on.”
“But being the ones who were supplying the Pope with magic power yesterday, logically speaking, it would make the most sense to think that they would be held captive in the Holy Capital or somewhere nearby to siphon their magic power.”
Niels said, Etho agreed, and Ryo gave his input.
Ryo’s reasoning was sound, so Niels and Amon nodded their heads, as did Etho.
However, there was too little information to go further.
“Speaking of which, I wonder why the Pope showed up at such a time.”
None of them there could answer Niels’ reasonably simple question…
After breakfast, the four of them headed to the Kingdom delegation quarters.
There, as usual, they found Commander Hugh McGrath in the lobby.
“Oh. You’re back.”
Saying that, Hugh invited the four of them into the lounge.
“First, let’s begin with your report.”
In response to that, Niels and Etho reported to Hugh.
From the underground space of the Holy Capital to the entire story on Count Padawan and the Pope’s attack.
Hugh was a little surprised but listened without interrupting.
“So, we recovered four of what we believe to be Holy Swords.”
And Niels concluded with that.
Then Niels, Amon, and Ryo each put the holy swords they were holding out on the table.
“Holy smokes… in this short time. You guys are outstanding.”
Hugh praised them unreservedly.
He then took one of the swords.
“Good.”
He muttered softly.
He repeated the process four times.
“Great job. All four of them are definitely Holy Swords. Not sure what their special attributes is though.”
“Ooohh!”
Hugh’s words made Niels, Etho, and Amon rejoice.
“Hugh-san, you can tell if a sword is a holy sword just by holding it in your hand?”
“I sure can. And it’s not just me, if you’ve been the master of a holy sword for a certain length of time, you’ll be able to tell. Although you won’t be able to figure out its special attribute, you can tell if it is a holy sword or not.”
Hugh nodded and answered Ryo’s question.
“Um… could it be that it’s impossible to break or melt a holy sword?”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’m surprised you even know about that.”
Hugh nodded and replied to Ryo’s reasoning.
“No, I was just wondering why they bothered to keep them in the vaults. When it would have been best to just melt them.”
“Holy swords are unbreakable. So there are holy swords that are said to be hundreds, and thousands, of years old. Oh, my holy sword Galahad is one that’s been around for quite a while too, as I recall.”
Ryo replied, and Hugh said as he remembered.
“Grandmaster, actually…”
Niels cut in, honestly reporting that the leads to the search for the four magicians had dried up.
Of course, Hugh did not yell at them for that.
He wouldn’t be upset by something so absurd.
He had led the organization and adventurers for a long time.
He understands what it means to be a boss who is easily briefed by his subordinates.
Building a relationship of trust with them regularly is the most important thing.
As long as that is in place, subordinates will report even things that are otherwise difficult for them to share.
Even if you’re big, and look scary.
“About that, I actually received some information yesterday. And was just going through the information until just now.”
Hugh produced an envelope from his pocket and continued.
“It arrived yesterday from Graham, through Scout Maurice.”
Saying so, he handed it to Niels.
Niels pulled out a piece of paper from the envelope.
Etho peeked from the side.
Amon and Ryo quickly stepped behind Niels and peeked too.
“The four of them are in the Land of Eternal Night.”
Niels read the words as they were written.
And tilted his head.
Etho and Amon also tilted their heads.
Ryo also tilted his head, but… in a slightly different manner from the other three.
“What do you mean by Land of Eternal Night?”
Question marks hung over their heads.
Ryo, however, was familiar with the term ‘Land of Eternal Night’.
It sounded familiar, but he couldn’t remember when and where he came across it….
(Eternal Night… always night… nocturnals, vampires…Twilight Land…)
“Ah!”
Ryo remembered and involuntarily raised his voice.
The other three jumped in surprise.
“What is it, Ryo?”
“Oh nothing… I just remember Abel telling me about the Land of Eternal Night.”
“Whoa. Abel… His Majesty knew about the Land of Eternal Night?”
Hugh was impressed.
“He told me that he had heard about it before from Arthur Verasis, the advisor of the Court Magician Order.”
Ryo heard about that from Abel when he crossed the border as a delegate to the Twilight Lands.
When Ryo said to Abel, “We’re now in Twilight Land, but the sun is still up as usual”, Abel then replied, “Of course it is, it’s not the Land of Eternal Night in the legend”.
Right, Ryo was going to ask Arthur about it some time… it had completely slipped his mind….
“Isn’t the Land of Eternal Night something from a legend?”
Ryo asked Hugh.
“Yeah, that’s what we thought at first too, but after looking into it, it turns out that it wasn’t. In short, it’s a land once inhabited by vampires.”
“I see…”
Hugh’s answer was satisfactory to the four of them.
Vampires themselves can operate in the sun… just as they did in the Twilight Land… but their retainers, the Strigoi, are not very compatible with sunlight.
So, it would be convenient to have a land where it is always night.
However, if you were to ask people on Earth what comes to mind when they hear ‘Eternal Night’, they would probably answer ‘the polar regions’.
The Arctic Circle and the Antarctic Circle.
There is a period of ‘polar night’ when the sun does not rise throughout the day.
It might be called ‘Eternal Night’, as one might imagine.
But Hugh’s explanation was completely different.
“It is a vast space beneath the ground.”
(No way, an underground city!)
Ryo’s first thought was those words.
But another scene immediately came to mind.
Yup, the same underground space beneath the Holy Capital where they are now…
“No, it doesn’t seem to be the underground space you guys saw.”
Hugh, too, must have figured out what was going through the minds of the four.
And so put it to rest.
“It’s somewhere between Boreas, the city to the north of the Holy City, and Euros, the city to the east. Located underground. It is not as large as the Holy Capital, but incomparably larger than Boreas and Euros.”
“So, it used to be a city of vampires, what about now?”
“It seems that the general public isn’t informed of its existence, so it’s likely uninhabited, perhaps?”
Niels asked, and Hugh answered.
“Well, if it’s underground, an average person won’t even know it exists.”
“The old grudge of the vampires who were killed still lingers around there, and if any unlucky fellow were to stumble upon it, they will just use them as snacks…”
“Why does Ryo always try to drive things in that direction…?”
Amon said something decent, Ryo presented a novel-like development, and Niels repudiated it while shaking his head.
“If the four of them are really trapped in there, they must be under very strict surveillance. Even you guys would have a tough time. So, I want you to go and investigate it first. If it turns out we need more hands, I will ask Graham for more manpower. Listen, don’t overdo it. Coming back alive is one of the vital strengths of an adventurer.”
“Yes, sir!”
To Hugh’s words, the four of them responded emphatically.
Hugh returned to the lobby, leaving the four of them alone in the lounge.
First, they need to come up with a concrete plan.
While having cake and coffee of course….
“So, Scout Maurice passed along the information, but no mention of her exploring the place herself, correct?”
“Yeah. So I guess our first course of action is to find out if they’re really there or not…”
“Will we even get that far?”
“If it’s a normal prison, I can simply use sonar, but if it’s some kind of special room, it might prove difficult.”
Niels confirmed, Etho agreed, Amon questioned, and Ryo chatted while eating cake.
“The entrance is at the Boreas Government Office…”
“Well, we’ll eventually find out when we get there, won’t we?”
“Eventually, we may have to force our way in, even if we have to occupy the Boreas Government Office!”
“Not a chance… we can’t afford to do anything that conspicuous, okay?”
Amon muttered, Etho voiced, Ryo anticipated a possible turn of events, and Niels immediately denied it.
If they start causing a ruckus even before they get into the underground space, who knows what will be lying in wait for them…
Of course, Ryo, too, didn’t really mean it.
Truly, he didn’t.
He was just stating a possibility.
Of course… if it did happen, he wouldn’t feel bad.
Later that day, the four members of ‘Room 10’ moved to the northern city of Boreas.
In the center of Boreas lies the Boreas Church.
On the church grounds is the huge first vault.
And on the other side of the main street of the church, is the Boreas government office.
“It’s huge.”
“It’s definitely got to have a courtyard.”
“And looks like the entrance to the basement will be in that courtyard.”
“What’s with all the fancy architecture…?”
Amon gave his honest opinion, Niels guessed, Etho affirmed, and Ryo tilted his head.
The entrance to the underground in the courtyard…?
Is it usually in such a place?
Rather strange, isn’t it?
Ryo looked very unconvinced but explored the area with .
Even if it was in the courtyard, with Ryo’s sonar, it would be a piece of cake to trespass without being spotted.
In fact, the four of them arrived at the entrance without being seen.
There were no traces of people entering or leaving.
It was even unlocked and opened.
Inside, there was only what appeared to be a staircase leading down.
“Well, I guess we can only go down.”
Niels said, and the other three nodded.
And so, after descending the spiral staircase, they walked a long, long way downhill….
After walking quite a ways downhill, occasionally coming across the ‘lamp post’ alchemy tools.
They arrived at a rather large door, about three meters high.
“It’s also unlocked.”
Etho checked.
“Since we don’t know what’s going on here, we’re going to open it very carefully.”
Niels said, slowly opening the door.
Behind the door, far from a pitch-black darkness… it was very bright.
And they could hear a lot of voices.
“Huh?”
Amon exclaimed hysterically.
Amon wasn’t the only one surprised.
Etho, Niels, and of course, Ryo were too.
The underground space was crawling with people.
There were ‘lamp post’ alchemy tools everywhere, brightening up the whole place like an outdoor cityscape in the daytime.
Far from being a ‘polar night’, it was more like a ‘white night’…
With people coming and going… and quite a few horse-drawn carriages passing by.
It was in effect, a fully functioning city.
“What the hell, is this…?”
None of them could answer Niels’ question.
The people there were, of course, not vampires, but human beings.
After asking around, they found out that it had been open to the public for about a year now….
It is not entirely known to the general public, and it seems that most of them have been introduced to the place by people close to the church or the government.
However, some had heard rumors and arrived on their own, making the situation quite chaotic….
Moreover, it seems that the entrance that the four used is basically abandoned, and that there are several larger, more usable spiral staircases and spiral ramps, from which most of them entered and exited.
“This is rather unexpected…”
“Yeah. To think there are inns and even restaurants as well…”
Ryo muttered, and Niels nodded in agreement.
The four in the underground space… which by the way many call ‘Underground City’ since it literally is an underground city, were currently in one of the inns in the underground city, inside the cafeteria.
“It’s great that as long as you pay, you don’t have to show any identification at all.”
“That tells you the kinds of people that come here.”
Amon was impressed by the weirdness of it all, and Etho nodded with a wry smile.
“The good news is we’ll be hard to find… the bad news is, so will the magicians.”
“We can’t help it.”
Niels let out a small sigh and Etho nodded.
“I’m not getting any feedback from either or . But there are places where the ‘reflections’ are kinda strange…”
Ryo said, looking in a certain direction of the city.
“It’s probably to the northeast…”
“How can you tell the direction when it’s underground?”
Etho was astonished.
“Nowadays, water-attribute magicians can easily make out their bearings, even if they are underground.”
“Like hell they do!”
Niels was right on the mark with his quip on Ryo.
“I see you’ve improved, Niels.”
“Please quit saying that, it’s embarrassing!”
Ryo complimented him, but Niels face turned red and he turned away.
Seeing this, Etho and Amon chuckled.
“Anyway, there’s a particular place in the northeast direction where the reflection of steam is a little strange, and it’s bothering me.”
“Okay, let’s go there after eating and resting.”
“This place… I wonder if they keep the street lights on all the time?”
“I asked about that earlier too, and apparently they do. That’s why the people can work around the clock.”
“What a toxic environment…” (TN: lit. ‘Black environment’. Japanese refer to companies that exploit their workers to work overtime as ‘Black companies’.)
Ryo’s muttering wasn’t heard by anyone.
Even though it’s this bright, it’s so toxic…
How ironic!
(Whoever created this environment must be an ironist! )
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