As expected, when they surfaced, there was air to breathe.
Ian removed the scale from his mouth, swimming fully out of the water.
While shaking his wet hair, he waited for Edelmar. Before long, Edelmar also emerged from the water.
Spitting out the scale he had been biting, Edelmar asked,
“Was it because of the scale that we didn’t need to breathe?”
“Yes, it seems so,”
It turned out that biting the scale was indeed the solution.
After securing the scale, Ian began surveying their surroundings.
They had arrived in what appeared to be an underwater cave.
The water had receded, leaving behind dried seaweed and starfish scattered around.
Edelmar, who lightly shook the water from his hair like Ian, asked,
“Do we need to go further in?”
“Yes,”
He took out the corpse of a glow-in-the-dark insect from his inventory.
The interior of the cave was dark, unlike the entrance.
Using the faint glow as a guide, Ian and Edelmar moved deeper inside.
Suddenly, they stopped walking.
A faint but distinct tapping noise could be heard.
Ian glanced at Edelmar, who nodded in acknowledgment.
Ian retrieved a sword from his inventory, and Edelmar unsheathed the blade from his waist.
Both men muted their footsteps and began advancing cautiously.
The tapping sound grew louder as they moved further in.
Then, in the darkness ahead, a faint and flickering light became visible.
Standing closely behind Ian, Edelmar whispered,
“Let me go first.”
“Will you be alright?”
Edelmar snorted lightly and tensed his body.
The closer they got, the stronger both the light and the sound became.
Fortunately, the path ahead wasn’t straight but had turns.
At one of the bends, Ian stashed the glowing insect back into his inventory, plunging the area into sudden darkness.
Ian and Edelmar pressed themselves against the walls and approached cautiously.
Inside the passage, they spotted two figures wearing black robes along with a monster digging into the ground.
The monster, resembling the glow-in-the-dark insect, emitted a dim and intermittent light from its body.
The fact that the monster didn’t attack the black-robed figures indicated that they were likely its masters.
Ian and Edelmar exchanged a glance.
Edelmar gestured toward the black-robed figures, and Ian nodded in response.
At Edelmar’s signal, the two men simultaneously charged at the black-robed figures.
“An ambush!”
One of the figures shouted upon spotting Ian.
But before they could react, Ian’s sword slashed through one of their necks.
The same happened on Edelmar’s side.
“Th-”
The remaining black-robed figure attempted to cast a spell, clasping their hands together.
The blade pierced straight through his heart.
– Kuaaaak!
– Kuaaaak!
As the two black-robed figures collapsed, the monsters that had been digging suddenly started to emit a bright, pulsating light.
“Ian, step back!”
Coating his sword with aura, Edelmar quickly began attacking the monsters.
“It’s fine without aura,”
Ian said as he swung his sword at one of the monsters aiming for Edelmar.
When its claw-like leg was severed, green blood sprayed out like a fountain.
Ian quickly turned his body to avoid the splattering blood and then sliced off the monster’s antennae.
– Kuaaak!
The multiple legs attached to the monster squirmed in pain.
Ian ran along the monster’s body, raising his sword high.
With all his strength, he struck down at its head.
Crunch. Squish.
The sound of something breaking accompanied the blade slicing smoothly through the creature.
Gripping his sword tightly, Ian ran to the other end of the monster’s body.
The sharp edge of the sword split the monster apart.
When Ian’s sword reached the tail, the monster’s body was fully bisected, spilling its entrails and blood everywhere.
The monster collapsed to the side, unable to even struggle further.
Having defeated one of the monsters, Ian turned to Edelmar.
Edelmar had also dealt with his monster similarly, slicing it into two. He was now sheathing his sword back into its scabbard.
“So, this is what they meant by saying the balance has been disrupted?”
“It seems that way,”
Unlike their first dungeon experience, where they could obtain the sacred relic without incident, this time, they had encountered what appeared to be black mages and the monsters they controlled.
“They must be targeting the sacred relic,”
Edelmar said, pointing to the ground.
At the presumed entrance, there was a hole that had clearly been dug out.
Anyone could see that they had been trying to enter by digging, unable to open the door properly.
Ian furrowed his brows.
“How did they know about this?”
Information about the sacred relic had been directly embedded in Ian’s mind by the Apostle, and he had never mentioned its existence to anyone other than Edelmar.
Even Edelmar didn’t know the full details.
The High Priest?
Given that he had instructed Ian to take the scales, perhaps he knew, but the High Priest was a chosen servant of the deity.
He wouldn’t interfere with divine work.
The same applied to Bernaba.
While Bernaba knew the location of the sacred relic and was aware that Ian was searching for it, as one of God’s creations, he wouldn’t obstruct divine will.
So how did these black mages find this place and start digging?
“Ian?”
Edelmar tapped Ian on the shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts.
“What are you thinking about?”
“I was wondering how they knew about this place,”
Edelmar shook his head.
“That’s not what’s important right now.”
When Ian looked at him with puzzled eyes, Edelmar continued,—
“What if they’re not the only ones who came here?”
Ian’s face turned grim.
“We need to find the sacred relic and leave quickly.”
“Agreed.”
Ian placed his hand on the door.
Like an automatic door, the massive door slid open to the right.
When Ian and Edelmar stepped inside, lights flickered on with a crackling sound.
At the far end of the room was a giant clam, large enough for Rose to sleep in.
The clam shimmered in multiple colors, reminiscent of mother-of-pearl.
As Ian approached the clam, its shell slowly opened.
Inside the clam, there was a single pearl, surprisingly small compared to the size of the clam.
“Is this the ‘Tears of God’?”
Ian nodded.
Sacred relics didn’t always take the form of ‘water.’ Sometimes, they appeared as gemstones, like this pearl.
When Ian picked up the pearl, it sparkled.
“Do you eat it?”
“Yes,”
As he placed the pearl in his mouth, it transformed into water.
Swallowing a gulp of what felt like a single sip, Ian immediately felt his body grow lighter.
The refreshing energy coursed through his entire body, just like the first time he consumed a sacred relic.
When Ian swallowed the pearl, the clam’s shell began to close.
It then started to dry up rapidly.
Ian extended his hand toward the dried-up clam.
“It’s still intact,”
Unlike other sacred relics that vanished without a trace, the dry shell remained solid in his grasp.
Delighted, Ian picked it up and placed it in his inventory.
“Why are you keeping that?”
“I want to make it into a bed for Rose.”
If he cleaned and dried it properly, then lined it with bedding, Rose would surely love it.
“Let’s go now.”
“Alright.”
As Ian left, the door automatically closed behind him.
Slowly, the door disappeared entirely.
It was the same phenomenon that occurred with the first sacred relic.
Now, only a hole remained, leaving behind an ordinary cave.
Ian exited through the passageway and bit down on the scale again as he re-entered the water.
While he had taken his time entering, to avoid getting lost, he moved quickly on the way out.
Ian swam back to the surface and emerged from the sea, quickly making his way to shore.
Edelmar, who followed Ian out of the water, stood on the shore, curiously examining the scale he had been biting.
“Do you know what this is?”
“It’s a dragon scale,”
“A dragon scale?”
As Ian retrieved the scale, he recounted what Bernaba had told him the previous night.
“I see,”
“Yes. Since we’ve found the sacred relic, I’m planning to return this to him,”
Edelmar nodded but asked,
“Don’t you want to keep it?”
“No,”
Ian said without hesitation.
It wasn’t money, nor anything special, except for the fact that it allowed them to breathe underwater. Whether he kept it or not didn’t matter, so it was better to return it to Bernaba, who seemed displeased about it.
“I need a wash.”
“Yes, me too.”
Both soaking wet, they headed back to the inn.
When the Duke returned drenched, the knights murmured among themselves, but Ian paid no attention to them.
After a thorough bath, Ian leaned back against the bed, only to have the door suddenly open without a knock.
Edelmar entered, casually dressed and drying his hair with a towel.
“This is my room,”
“Where’s Rose?”
Edelmar asked, throwing the towel into the laundry basket.
“She hasn’t returned yet,”
Nodding, Edelmar sat down on the bed, staring at Ian.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“What secret are you hiding?”
Ian felt a chill run down his spine.
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t play dumb. I’ve been suspicious for a while. You were a fool who couldn’t even wield a sword properly, locked away in your room. Then, suddenly, you’ve changed. You’ve started taking care of that child you call your niece.”
“………”
“You, who couldn’t even pass the academy’s entrance exam, are suddenly talking about independence, controlling financial power, and even drawing intricate designs like the ones on that clock.”
Ian swallowed hard.
“Couldn’t it just be that I didn’t want to reveal those things before?”
Edelmar smirked.
“Is that so? Then how do you explain this?”
“Explain what?”
“A sword only its master can wield and your ability to suddenly pull objects out of thin air.”
‘Damn it,’
Ian cursed internally.
Using his inventory had always felt natural to him, and no one had ever questioned it before. He hadn’t thought twice about using it in front of Edelmar, but now it was coming back to haunt him.
“That’s…”
As Ian trailed off, an idea struck him.
‘I’ll say it’s an relic passed down through the Loenbaum family. With the music box of breath as proof, it should work.’
“Don’t tell me you’re going to claim it’s an relic passed down through your family,”
Ian clamped his mouth shut.
‘This is why I hate sharp-witted people,’
Edelmar let out a low chuckle.
Ian asked seriously,
“Have you been pretending not to notice all this time?”
Edelmar smiled and replied,
“That’s right. It’s fun to figure things out.”
“Then why are you bringing it up now?”
“Because I think your secret is tied to your life.”
Ian’s pupils trembled.
‘My secret… tied to my life?’
