Chapter 54 : Chapter 54
Chapter 54. A Message from the Past (2)
A blue gate that looked like seawater spread out. There were three people standing before it.
"Are you afraid?"
Ulrich Tiedemann asked Blanc Scar, who was unable to hide his tension before the gate.
"Honestly, I am afraid."
He was a mercenary who had lived roughly all his life, but at this moment, he honestly pulled out his innermost feelings. Because the mage before him was someone with a vessel large enough to receive his anxiety.
"There is a probability of failure, but I have calculated it by mobilizing all the capabilities of the Liberation Front. So, do not worry and..."
"I am not afraid of failing the regression."
Blanc Scar spoke while looking into the distance.
"... Will I be able to do it? There are many people better than me, so why did you choose me?"
Blanc's anxiety was not about Ulrich. It was about his own uncertainty. Ulrich smiled at the 40-year-old mercenary who had been engraving scars on his body as much as the years he had lived.
"You can do it."
The mage of the Illusion School told the mercenary who was trembling in anxiety.
"I respect you for having survived more fiercely than any other heroes."
Blanc looked at Ulrich. There was no shaking in his eyes.
"You can do it. Please trust my discernment."
***
As soon as Perlman came out of the Bank Manager's office, he shouted in a loud voice.
"Customers! The vibration that just occurred was simply a temporary phenomenon! The Iron Bank is safe!"
"But Bank Manager, it was no ordinary vibration."
Someone among the customers raised a question, but Perlman calmly explained the situation.
"I have just confirmed it. There will be no more vibrations, and there are no facilities damaged by this vibration."
I stood behind Perlman and watched him quickly calming people down. He calmed the customers by using the charisma he possessed, and at the same time, he was quickly handling the situation by moving the employees by activating the manual corresponding to an emergency.
Impressive. His appearance in resolving the people's shock in an instant was truly worthy of the head of the Iron Bank, and it was an action I could sufficiently admire and learn from. The employees quickly found stability as soon as Perlman appeared, and that stabilized air quickly spread throughout the Iron Bank.
"Let us go. Baron Blanc."
"Do you not need to watch a bit more?"
"From now on, they just need to move according to the manual. The Iron Bank has manuals to effectively protect customers' assets from various risk situations and threats."
As Perlman said, even though he did not give orders, the employees were busily moving to find what they had to do.
"This way."
Perlman was waiting for me with a few guards in tow.
"Baron Blanc?"
I was contemplating. Although it was a short time, I organized my thoughts through deep reflection. Then, having finally made a decision, I lifted my head and looked at Perlman.
"Bank Manager, please call my knights."
***
Hansen, Simon, and Rakshar were currently trapped inside iron bars. They were detained by the guards of the Iron Bank at the same time as I was called to the Bank Manager's office where Perlman was. Since there were not many spaces to keep them, it did not look like a prison, but in any case, they were currently under great pressure being trapped away from the lord they had to protect.
It was Hansen's decision that they followed quietly to this place. Because Hansen saw that I moved out of the counter following the guard's guidance. At that time, he thought I was moving to another place to handle business, but when the guards approached them as well, he could tell that an unusual situation had occurred.
Since they were holding swords, they could have tried to resist, but since he had seen with his own eyes that my safety was in the hands of the Iron Bank, Hansen decided to watch the situation calmly for now.
"Explain why you are locking us up!"
Despite Simon's strong protest, the guards only looked at them without even blinking. When Simon grabbed the bars and shouted at the guards while Rakshar was flustered, not knowing what to do. Only Hansen was sharply judging the situation while hiding his fierce eyes.
"Sir Simon, you must calm down. A wolf quietly hides in the grass and waits for the moment he must step forward. Barking while revealing emotional agitation like now is an act only cowards do."
Simon shut his mouth at Hansen's words. The few words Hansen threw occasionally were golden advice that filled the lacking points of the inexperienced Simon. Simon respected the old knight as much as he was loyal to me. Hansen was waiting for an opportunity, just like the words he just said.
Even though all weapons were taken away, the old wolf had hidden his fangs. Under the leather bracer wrapping his wrist, a small but sharp awl was hidden. He intended to look for an opportunity with the awl he possessed, aiming for the moment when the guards' surveillance became lax. In the situation he was drawing in his head, one of the guards was already spurting blood from a pierced carotid artery in the neck. He was old, but his fangs were still sharp, and he was also a cruel wolf.
"Knights of the Cadmus family."
However, before the old wolf could bite the guards' necks, the person who seemed to have the highest rank among the guards approached and opened the iron door that was trapping the group.
"Please forgive us for detaining you for a moment due to a misunderstanding."
The guard captain apologized to the group in a polite attitude, and Hansen, who could be called the leader of the knight corps now that I was gone, stepped forward as the representative and accepted his apology.
"Haha! We naturally believed the misunderstanding would be cleared."
The old wolf hid his teeth back into the leather bracer and had a pleasant smile full on his face. However, even if he had a pleasant smile, Hansen did not let down his guard. Their top priority was to protect and assist the lord.
Considering their detention along with the earthquake that just happened, they should not let down their guard until my safety was confirmed with their own eyes. Hansen walked along the path the guards were guiding, while being ready to draw his sword at any time. Simon and Rakshar, feeling that Hansen's atmosphere was unusual, followed quietly behind him and were equally tensed.
"Baron!"
However, contrary to Hansen's worry, I was standing in a perfectly fine state and waiting for them.
"You must have had a hard time."
"No. Are you alright, Baron? A huge earthquake just now..."
Hansen was checking my condition to see if there was anything wrong with me, but I was only staring at Hansen and the group silently.
"Baron?"
The knights felt that my atmosphere was strangely heavy and naturally stood in line before me.
"What is before us now is something called a magic elevator. According to the Bank Manager beside me, riding this will take us near the very bottom of the Iron Bank."
The Bank Manager standing beside me shook the bunch of golden keys he was holding.
"I will be blunt."
I spoke while looking at my knights.
"The moment you board this magic elevator, you will ride the flow of fate that is enveloping me. I guarantee that it is a massive thing that cannot be refused and will be equally harsh as it is massive."
I was giving a roundabout warning to the knights who had to stand against the Void with me.
"Those who are not confident, please step back even now. Return to where you originally were."
At the same time, I was making a demand of the knights.
"If you decide to board this elevator."
At the intense pressure I gave off, Simon and Rakshar swallowed their saliva without realizing it.
"You must keep in mind that you will stand on a battlefield from which you cannot escape together with me."
I was demanding sincere loyalty from them. Simon and Rakshar hesitated for a moment at the momentum I emitted. It was not that they hesitated about swearing loyalty to me. Their bodies just stiffened as they were naturally overwhelmed by my momentum.
"The path of a knight is a path of keeping an oath and a path of enhancing honor. Baron."
Hansen drew his sword and handed the hilt to me after grabbing the blade.
"I have already sworn to become your knight and will stake my all on my remaining life to keep that."
Hansen knelt on one knee and faced me.
"If a giant flow of fate is waiting on your path ahead, I will also experience it. Since only ordeals can enhance honor, following you who challenges the flow of fate is no different from walking the path of a knight."
I stared at the hilt of the sword Hansen was offering. I also knew. I knew that Hansen was a gift Bartomyu was sending and like a shackle of Tolome he was trying to put on Cadmus. However, I also knew well that the knight Hansen himself was a person who genuinely decided to become the sword of Cadmus.
Hansen was that kind of knight. A knight who became the specimen of the existence called a knight. It would be enough if I removed the shadow of Tolome that would naturally take root due to his existence. Therefore, I grabbed the hilt of Hansen's sword.
"I genuinely welcome you. My knight, Hansen."
When I grabbed Hansen's sword, Simon and Rakshar began to show flustered expressions. Simon began to contemplate whether he should offer his sword even now, and Rakshar was flustered, wondering if he should do that even though he was not a knight. However, it was an unfortunate thing, but these two had no choice.
I had no intention of letting go of Simon Diez, who was destined to become a knight of the Void, from the start, and Rakshar, who had escaped death because of me, was already mine.
"Get on the elevator, you half-finished things."
However, I expressed a slight disappointment in my half-finished swords who did not know how to act according to the atmosphere.
"..."
"..."
The two, who had nothing to say even if they had mouths, had no choice but to quietly board the elevator.
***
Despite the massive vibration that rang through the Neyanpalgar Mountain Range, the magic elevator that pierced through the center of the Iron Bank was not significantly affected.
"It is a structure we paid special attention to. If it weren't for this, we would have to walk down, and if that happened, we would have to break through the passages like a maze that our ancestors made."
He said that even if one did not lose their way even once, it would take more than a week to reach the deepest part. Hearing Perlman's explanation, I could not help but be surprised again at the scale of the Iron Bank. Thus, descending for a few minutes. The group was feeling a hot energy from below and was wondering about it.
"It feels like it's getting hotter..."
"... There has never been such a thing."
Perlman had visited the deepest part occasionally to manage old accounts, although not often. The deepest part he knew at that time was before my vault was opened, but in any case, he had never felt heat like this.
THUD.
The elevator carrying the group stopped while making a heavy landing sound. Perlman personally opened the sliding iron door of the elevator and guided the group.
"Since the elevator is not installed up to your warehouse, you will have to walk from here."
"Walking is not a problem, but."
As soon as I stepped out, I could tell that the ground was heated through the hot energy I felt.
"It seems there is some problem with my vault."
" I am of the same thought."
Perlman and I turned our heads and faced each other.
"Follow me. I have grasped the path leading to your warehouse."
Although it was a newly emerged very first account that had not been recognized in the meantime, Perlman had grasped the path leading to my warehouse by looking at the structure map of the Iron Bank composed of magic. Following Perlman's guidance, I and my knights, and the dwarf guards escorting Perlman, moved their feet.
17, 16, 15... I was looking at the place known as the deepest part of the Iron Bank until now while moving.
"This is the space that has been known as the deepest part in the meantime. Even the vault of Account Number 3 is kept here."
Perlman was expressing it as a vault, but to my eyes, it seemed more correct to express it as a massive warehouse. The massive doors blocking each vault were all emitting an extraordinary atmosphere. If only the size of those doors was proportional to the size of the vault inside, it would be an extraordinary width and height.
"It is here."
When the group passed the vault marked with the number 3, a deep and dark passage with stones scattered messily appeared before it. It was the passage leading to the hidden very first vault.
"It was hidden here."
Perlman had never imagined there would be such a secret passage in the deepest part he had frequently visited. The very first vault, which was hidden even from the central control device. From this point forward, it was uncharted territory even for Perlman, the manager of the Iron Bank.
"Let's go."
From now on, it was my turn to step forward and lead the group instead of Perlman. Because from this passage onward, it was a space that belonged to me, not the Iron Bank. I entered the passage after wiping away the sweat that was incessantly flowing due to the heat. Simon and Rakshar followed beside me.
"It is really hot."
Simon was also wiping away the sweat that was continuously flowing like me. At least I and Simon were in a decent situation.
"Puff... Puff..."
Rakshar, whose body was entirely covered in grey fur, was even sticking out his tongue long and panting. I thought that appearance was more like a dog raised at home rather than a werewolf.
"It feels like there's lava inside."
"... It seems it's not just a feeling."
At the end of the passage, I could see a red energy overflowing. It felt as if a red snake were coiled up.
"Rakshar."
"Yes."
Rakshar, the most agile and with the best vision among the group, first went ahead to scout the situation.
"It's this hot. There's definitely something here."
"Does Mr. Perlman have anything in mind?"
"Well... Since I also know nothing about the very first vault... I think it could really be lava."
"Lava?"
"There was a record that a volcano erupted in the Neyanpalgar Mountain Range long ago."
While I and Perlman were sharing opinions about the heat surrounding the group, Rakshar, who had gone to scout, was running back in a hurry.
"Young mas... no, Baron!"
"Yes, did you see what's ahead?"
I just learned that even an animal-like creature could sufficiently show a surprised expression.
"It's lava! Lava is flowing like a river!"
This is... I lamented that nothing in my life was easily resolved.