Chapter 58

12 COVERT OPERATORS The ruins were located beyond the Ress Snowfield, beyond the mountain where the dragon lived. Made of smooth stone, they’d begun to wear down over the years but still retained their shape. These ruins had no name. Perhaps the ruins had once carried the name of some shoer back in the days before they fell into disrepair. Now the place was just a heap of stones that no one visited. Only a few people even knew of its existence. A woman was about to enter such ruins. She climbed the ice wall of the cliff with ease, pushed open the frozen stone door of the ruins, and slid herself inside. She kicked the stone door closed with her back legs, then silence enveloped her all around. Contrary to its dilapidated appearance, the inside of the ruins was in perfect order. A large magic circle hung in the air in the large open room, and countless rays of light spilled into the smaller rooms. Perhaps it was the effect of the magic circle, but although the place was old and dusty, there was no sign of wear and tear inside. Each small room was filled with things that at first glance had no clear purpose. However, in one room there were some items that were easy to identify. Books. Not only were large numbers of books crammed onto the bookshelves, but they were also piled high on the floor. The woman stepped into the room. Among the piles of books was another woman. The woman had an emaciated body, sunken eyes, and frizzy hair. Her name was Popratika. The Shadow Vortex. The genius mage of the demon race and the daughter of the famous Dark General Sequence. She was perched casually atop a tower of books, leafing through one of them. The bags under her eyes were darker than usual. She looked tired out. She likely hadn’t been sleeping much. Despite the presence of an intruder, she did not look up from her book. She might not have noticed them. She was engrossed in what she was reading. With a demonic expression on her face, she spoke aloud the words from the page. “I’m back. I got it.” When the woman called out to her, Popratika looked up in surprise. Then, looking at the woman at the bottom of the tower of books, she smiled faintly. “Welcome back, Princess. You’re quite late.” “The griffin has been vanquished. And will you please stop calling me Princess?” “Would you prefer Prince?” “There’s already a prince, so no.” “How annoying. Before you discard your name, at least come up with something else to call you by.” The nameless woman shrugged and took out a rainbow-colored stone from the bag she was carrying on her back. Then she casually tossed it to Popratika. “Be careful—it’s valuable.” “An object with that much power isn’t going to break just from being thrown.” Popratika caught the stone with ease and examined it. “I thought as much when I saw the Sacred Tree seeds, but…this really is beautiful.” “The shell it came in was also beautiful. What you’d expect from such a great creature, right?” “Long ago, creatures with such great powers roamed the land… Yes, we’ve all heard the tales, but it’s hard to really visualize it.” Popratika rapped her fingernails on the spine of her book. Most of the books in this library were history books. The book she was reading was a record of the long, long history of this continent. From the time when people first appeared there, to when they started fighting one another…the whole history was recorded in its pages. “How long have you been reading that?” “For quite a while now.” Popratika replied, slamming the book shut. Yes, the book contained the entire history of Vastonia. But the further back in time she read, the more archaic the language became, and it took longer and longer to decipher what it was saying. Though she’d been able to go back to before the beginning of the war more easily. Back in primitive times, written letters were basically symbols that didn’t even seem to resemble anything. By herself, Popratika wouldn’t have been able to read even a tenth of what this library contained. She only knew what these books contained because of one who’d come before her. Yes, someone in the past had entered this archive, deciphered some of its complex texts, and translated them into modern language. There were many books that this person had translated and summarized, even partially. Thanks to that, Popratika was able to learn much about this continent. Once upon a time, this continent was roamed by ancients beyond people’s comprehension. The rulers of this continent were not the same as modern people. It’s not clear, though, why these beings went extinct. Thanks to the translations left by the unknown person, Popratika now knew that the people of the bygone era speculated that the ancients must have fought one another to the death. Still, this was mere conjecture. The only thing that could be confidently stated was that the ancients were dead, but traces of their power remained across the continent. The beastkin’s Sacred Tree. The Sacred Place of the succubi. The tombs of the elves. The great mandible of the ogres, the gold of the dwarves, and the holy book of the humans. It was not stated anywhere that these were indeed left behind by the ancients. Still, you could make that mental leap. “All that’s left is the humans’ holy book. “Oh? So Aldria failed?” “Yeah. Sadly, it seems so.” The artifacts left behind by the ancients were sometimes to be found just lying about. The elven tombs had been reduced to piles of rubble after a long war, and the dwarven gold lay abandoned on a pile of scrap iron. There were many other nameless ruins such as these. But it’s obvious upon first sight that these objects held great power. These objects sometimes became sacred relics. For example, the Sacred Tree of the beastkin, or the Sacred Place of the succubi. If Popratika’s team was too hasty in trying to procure them, their plan would certainly be exposed. Even if not, it would be obvious that something was brewing behind the scenes. So they split up and went to the beastkin’s Sacred Tree, the Sacred Place of the Succubi, and to get the holy book of the humans at almost the same time… The only failure, it seemed, had been in procuring the humans’ holy book. “Two more to go…” “No. Only one.” “Hmm? One? Weren’t there plans to go all out to get the last one after everyone returned?” “Unless we could come up with an alternative.” “So you’ve got an idea?” Popratika shook her head. “No. But it’s gone.” “Gone? What do you mean?” “I don’t know, but I heard rumors that my sister put together a hunting party… Maybe they were able to kill it.” “I highly doubt the demons would be able to defeat a dragon in their current state, though…” “Well, whatever. Carrot’s gone to retrieve it now.” As the woman frowned, the door creaked open. The woman looked around as someone slipped into the room. “Oh? You’re quite late, aren’t you, Princess?” There was a succubus walking over, her beautiful body swaying as she walked. This was Carrot, the general who was once said to be the most powerful warrior in the succubus army. “Oh, I was worried about you. I thought something had happened.” Carrot grabbed the nameless woman by the chin and shook her face slightly. This action could be taken as hostile, but no, she really was simply concerned. It was a normal succubus gesture that would have greatly offended a human or an elf. Of course, the woman understood, so she didn’t show any annoyance. “Ah, and I heard the griffin was taken out, wasn’t it?” “Huh? You make it sound so simple. It didn’t just expire on its own, you know. So who did it? Why don’t you tell your big sister?” “An orc. And not just any orc. The Orc Hero you’ve all been talking about.” “What?! You met Bash?! You’re lucky to still be alive!” “Yes, if I wasn’t a woman, I might have been killed.” “Oh no…! Did Bash defeat you? And then did he have his way with you? Oh, you lucky thing!” “Oh, please. All I did was flash my boobs to distract him. Oh, he did propose to me, though.” In an instant, the temperature dropped several degrees. “…You lucky thing, indeed.” Jealousy. The nameless woman had to have noticed, but she pretended like she didn’t. She wasn’t worried about having evoked the wrath of a succubus. After all, this story was going to have a very happy ending for this particular succubus.