NOVEL WEB Chapter 17: Wonder
“What… is this? It doesn’t even look like a key.”
I had focused magic into my horn and split the earth, but as Myungho had said, what emerged from the ground didn’t resemble a key at all.
It looked more like a… chest to me. It was slightly larger than my palm, and no matter how I looked at it, there was no way to open it. It was completely sealed.
Just like the identification tag I wore, it didn’t react to my magic, as if it had been refined to the point of rejecting even a speck of dust.
But I could feel a faint vibration. Something was interlocking, making a sound. A clear, yet somehow forlorn sound.
A song… Yes. It was faint, but it was definitely a song. A sound so soft that I could barely hear it even when I pressed my ear close to it.
“…This is the key? It’s just a lump of metal. I’ve never heard of a civilization that uses something like this as a key.”
“I know, right? It looks more like an ingot. Altera, is this thing really moving? It looks completely… still to me.”
But they couldn’t hear this sound. It was understandable since even I could barely hear it. To them, it probably just looked like a strangely smooth ingot.
“…Put your ear close to it. Very close. You’ll hear a song. I’m going to… wash up a bit.”
“Uh… What? Wash up? Wait a minute, Altera. At least do it where we can’t see… Huh.”
I handed the music box to Myungho, then focused magic into my horn to lift some soil and wash the blood off my body.
Dirt, dust, and sand don’t stick to this body. When I get covered in blood, I clean it off with soil or animal hide.
The reason I don’t wash with water is that it creeps me out just looking at it. It’s not like touching it will kill me, but I just feel uneasy about it, so I don’t want to douse myself in it.
Myungho looked at me with an expression even more exhausted than after the battle, then soon brought the music box close to his ear.
“Um… Well. It does seem to vibrate very slightly as if something is moving inside… Altera. I don’t hear the song you mentioned.”
“Wait a minute. Did you just say a song? Wait. Surely… a song, ancient civilization, probably metal craft… then surely… Hey, Yuna. Give me that arrow.”
“Yes? Is there a reason? Are you going to… get blood on it? If so, I will give it to you, but… is that right?”
After washing off even the blood that soaked my hair with soil, I turned around to see Akash cutting his hand with Yuna’s arrow.
What is he doing? I didn’t know anything about magic, so I stayed still, but he didn’t seem to be in his right mind. Why would he make a wound on a perfectly fine body?
As I watched him tightly clench his fist, dripping blood onto the music box, something unexpected happened.
The music box, which had no opening, suddenly opened, emitting a deep blue light.
And the song. This time, everyone seemed to hear it, as both Yuna and Myungho stood there with their mouths agape.
I, too, was momentarily speechless, staring blankly at the sight that resembled the night sky. The swarm of lights, like fireflies, circled the sky, pointed in one direction, and then entered the box.
That was it. As soon as the swarm of lights returned, the box reverted to its flawless ingot state as if nothing had happened.
“It’s true. I was half guessing but… Hey, Myungho. Congratulations. You’ve just found a map and key to an ancient dwarven ruin. A half dragon and an ancient dwarven ruin. Heh. I didn’t see much of this even during the demon king’s army days. Humans really have to live long, I guess.”
“What was that just now? The light and the song… No, more importantly, ancient dwarves…? What is that…? No, I can tell it seems impressive from your attitude but…”
Right. It didn’t look like an ordinary object, at least. I didn’t know about ancient dwarves or whatever. I had never seen anything that glowed like that except for the night sky and the sun.
“Wait a minute. Ancient dwarves…? Then, is it related to dwarves?”
“Huh? No. Why do you think they are called ancient dwarves? Didn’t your adoptive father teach you history? Ah, right. He probably did. Since they forgot everything themselves. Still… yeah. The dwarves might be able to help a bit. Great. Yuna. We have one more reason to go to the dwarven village.”
“…First, let’s go back to the villagers. We drove off the orcs. We can listen to this… later, while we rest. It seems like it’s going to be a long story.”
Myungho was the first to regain his composure. It was the right thing to say since we had achieved our initial goal of expelling the orcs and obtaining the mysterious key.
The only thing wrong was that it turned out to be slaughter instead of expulsion, but to humans, it was probably the same.
Before leaving, Myungho insisted that we should at least bury all of these, and while I grumbled about why we had to, I pushed all the corpses into the pit and filled it with my ability.
After finishing the cleanup, we returned to where they were waiting. The humans huddled together, murmuring anxiously, but as soon as they saw us, they came running like chicks waiting for their mother’s return.
“So… what happened…? Did you drive off the orcs?”
“Yes. Your village is safe. All the buildings in the village are intact, just as you said. There might be a smell of rotting corpses for a while, but… that was unavoidable.”
“No, why are you apologizing, our savior! Thank you, thank you! Thank you for restoring peace to our village without asking for anything in return…!”
“…Because I’m not an adventurer, but a hero.”
Myungho scratched his head awkwardly and then uttered words that even I found embarrassing to hear. How could he say such things so easily?
“Oh, you were a hero! No wonder, you looked so different from those greedy adventurers! If it’s not too much trouble, would you like to stay in our village for a day?!”
“Huh? Ah, well… Guys. The village chief is asking if we’d like to stay in the village, what do you think?”
Stay over? Among humans we just met?
“I’m in. My legs are starting to hurt, and I’d like to get some free food.”
“I’m in favor, too. We don’t know where the next village is, and it’s always nice to be able to replenish our supplies.”
“I’m against it. They’re definitely up to something.”
That bald guy or the kid. They might pretend to be innocent and then poison the food or something. No matter how innocent they pretend to be, I don’t trust them.
“Everyone except… Altera is okay with it? Hmm. This is awkward… Altera. These people can be trusted. I guarantee it.”
How can you trust people you just met? No matter how much Myungho says it, this one was not credible.
“Then just go without me. I can sleep alone.”
“That’s not an option. We’re a party now. Besides, even we can’t guarantee your safety if you’re alone. Altera, please. Can you trust these people a little?”
“Is something wrong…? Do you not like the witch’s child over there…?”
Myungho cunningly used the excuse that he couldn’t guarantee my safety and that we were no longer alone to somehow get me to be with those humans.
“…Fine. But tell them not to come near me except when bringing food.”
“Does that mean… you’ll come with us for now? Thank you for changing your mind. Chief, she is not a witch’s child, but our companion, Altera. She played the biggest role in retaking the village, so please don’t call her that.”
As expected. That old man. I didn’t like him from the moment I saw him. He must have been calling me a witch’s child.
I can tolerate being called names, but I can’t stand my mother being called a witch.
…But, if I throw a fit now.
I would be fine, but Myungho would be in trouble. We’re together now, as he said.
Myungho was conveying my demands to the village chief. I tapped him on the shoulder and stated my last demand.
“…And, tell him to apologize… for calling me a witch’s child.”
“Altera, it’s in the past, can you let it go?”
“Absolutely not. I can’t forgive anyone calling my mother a witch.”
When Myungho said something to the old man, he quickly bowed repeatedly in front of me. Not to me, but to my mother, I suppose.
It’s so cumbersome, being in a group.
We retraced our steps back to the humans’ village.
Although I had already confirmed that there was nothing on the way to the pit, I still focused my senses to check for any unusual vibrations around us, just to be safe.
The party members, without a trace of tension, had relaxed faces and were chatting amongst themselves or with the villagers.
I found it strange how they had so much to talk about. The villagers, who had somber faces until recently, now looked overjoyed, which seemed odd to me.
“It’s humble, but you can rest in this old man’s house. It might be a bit cramped for the four of you… but I hope you have a comfortable night.”
The old man mumbled something and left the room.
Compared to the houses in the villages I usually visited, this one was certainly crude. Still, it was the best house in this village.
Yuna and Akash left their luggage and went outside, leaving only Myungho and me in the house.
“…Um. Altera. I heard about what you’ve been through. Still, could you try to trust humans a bit more?”
He heard about what I went through and still asked me to trust humans? I let out a hollow laugh, looked him straight in the eye, and made my intentions clear.
“No.”
“Well, I’m not asking you to trust them right away. Just sometime in the future.”
Myungho seemed to be searching for words, looking away, but I didn’t have much to say.
“…Um. Right. I promised to teach you the language. Altera, if you’re not doing anything right now, do you want to learn a bit?”
Language.
Right. We made that promise. Because of what that village chief had said earlier, I felt the need to learn the language.
If I meet someone who talks arrogantly, I need to deal with them personally, and for that, I need to understand what they are saying.
“Okay.”
So, this was it. I pulled out the book, which I had wrapped in an extra layer of leather to prevent damage, from my pile of belongings.
I removed the leather, brushed off any debris, and handed it to Myungho.
“Alright, then… Here. This letter means ‘sun.’ The pronunciation is… ‘hae.’ You pronounce it like this. Repeat after me. Hae.”
“…Hae.”