Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (LN) - Volume 10 - Chapter SS6

Vandre-san’s Secret Room 

“Nagumooooooooo! Can you come over here for a sec?” Ryutarou’s voice echoed through Vandre’s palace. Hajime, who’d been reclining in the living room, turned around. 
“What is it?” 
Ryutarou, who still had boundless amounts of energy, had been exploring the palace along with Kouki and Suzu. It had been ten minutes since he’d set off, and judging by his panicked voice, it seemed like he’d gotten himself into some kind of mess. Hajime exchanged glances with Yue and the others, and they all gave him rueful smiles. 
“Nagumo-kuuuuuuuuun!” 
Suzu started calling for Hajime as well, but her voice seemed more full of curiosity than panicked. 
“Good grief. Ryutarou and Suzu both have far too much energy,” Shizuku muttered to herself. 
See, this is why everyone calls you their mom... 
“Nagumo-kun?” 
Shizuku smiled darkly at Hajime. It was as if she could read his thoughts. 
“Seems they found something. Let’s go see what it is.” 
It looked like Shizuku was about to awaken to her own stand, and that was the last thing Hajime wanted to have to deal with. And so, he quickly changed the subject and got to his feet. They found Ryutarou and the others standing around inside a small room in a corner of the first floor. 
When Ryutarou spotted Hajime, he excitedly pointed to a spot on the wall and said, “Look! Look!” 
He was pointing to a small passage that contained a staircase leading downward. 
“The hell’s this?” 
“So I was looking through this room, and when I crouched down to examine something, I accidentally smacked my head against this part of the wall.” 
“Oh, and then it caved in to reveal this?” 
Ryutarou scratched his head awkwardly and nodded. Apparently, he’d managed to hit a hidden switch with his head entirely by accident. And that switch had revealed this underground passage. 
“A hidden room inside one of the Liberators’ houses... That does seem pretty interesting.” 
“I know, right!?” 
Ryutarou looked like an excited puppy. Suzu seemed just as eager to explore the hidden depths of Vandre’s palace. Kouki, on the other hand, looked like he was trying to restrain himself, but even he seemed curious. Yue and the others were interested in this hidden passage as well, so there seemed little reason not to explore. 
“Maybe he hid some artifacts here like Oscar did with his Treasure Trove. We might as well swipe whatever we... I mean, make use of whatever’s available.” 
“Mmm... There’s no point in trying to sound like we’re not stealing, Hajime.” 
Shea and the others nodded in agreement with Yue’s assessment. Hajime ignored them and stepped into the passage. After they got going down the staircase, they found something in the landing below. There was a display case stuck inside the ice wall at the end of the passage, and sitting inside that display case was— 
“Why glasses!?” 
A pair of glasses. They were black-rimmed, and placed very delicately in the display case, as if they were extremely important. As Hajime approached, the bottom of the display case lit up, causing the lenses to glimmer with reflected light. The whole scene was obviously scripted, and it kind of annoyed Hajime that Vandre was trying to make it look like these glasses had been waiting for a worthy bearer for thousands of years. 
“Oh, Hajime-san! Look, there’s an inscription on the ice!” 
“Oh? Let’s see what it says... ‘Here sleeps my best friend.’” 
“I-Is it just me, or is he making it sound like the glasses themselves are his friend?” Shizuku said as her expression stiffened, and everyone else nodded in agreement. 
However, Hajime muttered, “No, that’s not it. These... These glasses are Oscar Orcus.” 
“Hajime-kun, I think you might still be exhausted from making the key. Here, I’ll cast restoration magic on you.” 
Everyone shot worried looks at Hajime as silver light rained down on him. 
“Hang on, guys. You’re misunderstanding me. Oscar wrote about this in his journal. He said all his friends thought he loved his glasses so much that his soul secretly resided inside them.” 
“Oh? So the Liberators were pranksters?” 
Suzu’s guess was right on the money, though she had no way of knowing it. Even so, she could just imagine Vandre saying something like, “Since you’re actually just your glasses, I’ll leave you here to show you off to future generations!” 

The party continued onward, following the passage as it turned. Once they rounded the corner, they found something new. 
“I-It’s so cool!” the three guys all said simultaneously. It was rare for them to be in sync like that, but it made sense, considering what they were staring at. A blue, rose patterned sword made of ice. The inscription on the plinth the sword was thrust into read, “Blue Rose Frost Blade.” As the name suggested, the sword was made entirely out of ice. Furthermore, everything from the hilt to the blade had rose-patterned carvings engraved into it. It looked like a legendary sword waiting to be drawn by some chosen hero. Any man would have been excited to see something like this. 
“N-Nagumo! Can I try pulling it out!?” 
“What, but... No, you’re the one who found this place, Sakagami... Fine, you try first.” 
“I wanna try pulling it out too, Ryutarou...” 
“You already have a special sword, Kouki! You can’t cheat on it!” 
“Don’t phrase it like that! Wait, hang on! My Holy Sword’s flickering!” 
“See, Amanogawa? It’s telling you not to cheat.” 
“You’re the last person I want to hear that from, Nagumo!” 
The girls watched the boys fawn over the sword with exasperated looks. As far as they could tell, it was just a sword made out of ice. Sure, it was pretty, but Hajime’s missiles were way more powerful than it. Naturally, they didn’t understand the excitement boys felt upon seeing cool-looking anime swords. 
“Hurry up and pull it out already, Ryutarou,” Tio urged. 
“O-Okay, Tio-san.” 
Ryutarou was surprised to hear Tio sound so exasperated. She was normally extremely accommodating. He quickly grabbed the hilt, and Hajime and Kouki gulped. Yue and the others watched with bemused smiles. 
“Here I goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” 
Ryutarou’s muscles bulged, but the legendary ice sword didn’t even budge. 
“I’m next!” Hajime shouted. 
“Hang on, you’re a gunner, Nagumo! I’m the swordsman, so I should go next!” 
“Yeah, but you’ve already got a legendary sword! You can’t cheat on it!” 
“Stop calling it cheating! You don’t have the right to talk about cheating, anyway!” 
The two boys grappled for a few seconds, but then Suzu noticed something and walked over to the plinth. 
“Oh, there’s more written over here. Let’s see... Only those who wish to eliminate glasses from this world can draw this sword. If you are found worthy, it is your sacred duty to destroy all glasses!” 
Just how much did you hate Oscar, Vandre!? everyone thought simultaneously. 
“B-But didn’t he put those glasses up on display earlier? He must have gotten those from Oscar-san, right? Surely they were friends, right?” Kaori asked, desperately looking about for a reason to believe that the Liberators had all been close. 
Seeing her distress, Hajime muttered, “Come to think of it, Oscar mentioned in his diary that Vandre was half-demon, half-dragoman.” 
“Oho? Is that so? Judging by all the ice around here, he must have been an ice dragon, no?” 
“Yeah. And there was a sword similar to this one in Oscar’s workshop.” 
“Hang on a second, Nagumo-kun. I have a bad feeling about where you’re going with this.” 
“You guessed it. The sword was called Dragon Slayer.” 
Those two must have fought like cats and dogs... Yue and the others thought to themselves. 
“Hmm, but you know, when all’s said and done, it looks like they cared a lot about each other. I mean, they left behind these mementos of each other, didn’t they?” 
Smiling wryly after saying that, Shea turned to Kaori and Yue. Everyone else’s gazes shifted over to them as well, and they all smiled knowingly at the two girls. 
“I-It’s not the same situation! I really do hate Kaori!” 
“I-It’s not the same situation! I really do hate Yue!” 
The two of them responded in perfect sync. Then, they glared at each other, mad that the other had stolen their line. In retrospect, it was entirely possible Oscar and Vandre had shared an identical relationship...