Chapter 4: The Fallen Black Hero | Part 1
That was a place that he had never seen before.
It was an extremely wide, dark room.
In the centre, there was a huge throne that could have come out of a child’s tale, and then there,
“…… Unh…… Ah~, eh, where is this?”
Ryner Lute awoke.
He opened his eyes slightly, and looked around.
However, the room was still very dark, if he did not give his eyes a while to get accustomed to the darkness, he would not be able to see a thing.
Not to mention the fact that he had absolutely no idea why he was even here,
“Ah, why am I here?”
He twisted his face.
If he wasn’t wrong, he had seen a document in the military headquarters of the country Vois had built.
“Where exactly is this place?”
He opened his eyes a bit more, looking around.
But the moment he opened his eyes, his head hurt.
“Ah…. painful.”
He touched his head as he said.
Just like when he had a cold or when he slept for too long, he still could not open his eyes,
“If things are like this, does it mean that I had been lulled to sleep with magic? Ah, does that mean that, I had been kidnapped? The situation now is really bad?”
As he muttered, he squinted his eyes to prevent the pain in his head. He continued like this, until he could open his eyes and had gotten used to the darkness.
The room was very dark, but there seemed to be strong light leaking from the cracks between what seemed like 2 doors. Gradually, he started to assess his surroundings.
This was a place that felt a little comfortable, but it still seemed like a throne room.
A square shaped room.
There were elevated steps in the centre of the room.
A throne was placed at the top of the steps.
Taut strings, which were dyed red, connected the front of the throne to the doors where the light was leaking in.
Apart from those doors, there were no other exits.
In other words, those doors need to be bypassed should he consider exiting the room.
“…..If I am being held captive by someone, then it has to be it right? Without doubt, there has to be someone surveilling me right?”
Ryner muttered to himself and was about to let out a sigh.
But he gave up immediately.
Because if there was someone surveilling him, that person must be aware of the happenings here. If that was the case, Ryner would be exposing the fact that he had woken up if he suddenly sighed.
So he gave up sighing and remained sitting lethargically on the throne. Afterwards, he yawned with a loud ‘Uwah~”,
“…..well, maa, I’m better at maintaining this state of lethargy~”
Relaxing his sleepy eyes.
It looked like the effects of the magic of drowsiness still lingered; his entire body ached.
His head felt heavy.
The drowsiness made one very tempted to just have a nap again~
“Sleep…..But I can’t just continue sleeping like this.”
He reopened his eyes.
Using the power of his eyes.
Using the power of [The Solver of All Formulas ].
So he opened his eyes, and just before the cursed patterns appeared before his eyes.
“Pain.”
It was so painful he unintentionally let out a sound; the pain shot all the way up his head. Finally, he could no longer take it and closed his eyes.
The pain disappeared instantaneously. The moment his eyes closed, the pain disappeared.
So he gently opened his eyes again,
“Oh- this is bad. The headache was not because I overslept. It was enhanced with curses to prevent me from using my power.”
He moaned in pain, before he opened his eyes just a little again. As expected, it was excruciatingly painful. But of course, it still hurt a lot. When he had decided that he would no longer want to use the power of his eyes anymore, he could still open his eyes.
“Uwah~, what’s happening?”
He felt a little confused as he sat cross-legged on the throne. After that he placed his elbows on his legs, supporting his face with his hands.
In order to prevent the headache from recurring, he drowsily relaxed his eyes and assessed the situation again.
Despite this, under the situation of being held captive in this unknown room, there was no hope of obtaining new information.
“Maa, from the fact that no one came in even after I made such a stupid sound, there should be no surveillance then? Or could it be that it won’t matter even if I walk out from those doors?”
Anyway, he tried to stand up from the throne. As the ceiling was rather high up, Ryner could not reach the top even when he was standing on top of the throne. So he extended his arms without any resistance.
“Uwahh~”
He tried to let out a big yawn. And checked the state of his body. It looked like he was being cursed with the magic of drowsiness. But he was unsure of how long he had slept.
It couldn’t be that he had slept for a few years right?
“Have I aged into an old man yet?’
He gave a light laugh. However, from the state of his muscles and tendons, he could tell that he did not sleep that long.
Afterwards, in order to ascertain his surroundings, he looked down where he was. Realising that he was wearing rather strange clothes. [note: took him long enough lol]
It was a costume interlaced with black and purple; resembling that of a clown’s. Different from that worn by [The Solver of All Formulas], which were the type of clothes that exuded exudes bad luck. Furthermore, the clothing was adorned with designs that resembled words.
“……This, must be the curse right? I’m wearing clothing laced with curses? Oh man~”
Ryner frowned.
And opened his eyes, and was able to unearth what those curses meant.
“…..Ah, I can’t use the power of my eyes now.”
He remembered the headache he had just now and immediately gave up using his eyes. Once again, he grabbed his clothes in confusion and gently pulled at it a few times,
“Can this be taken off? Of could this be the type which causes the curse to activate if I tried to take it off? If this was the case, taking off would be troublesome too……”
Furthermore, he had no way to confirm it. He touched the curses woven into the clothing, pondering what those curses were and how they were constructed.
“…… Crap, I’ve never seen these patterns before. Plus no matter how I think about it, these aren’t using modern magic? To think that they can seal these eyes of mine that no one has ever understood……”
He said with some confusion.
Thus, he gave up on trying to take off his clothes, and continued to survey his surroundings. He looked at the red strings stretching from the front of the throne to the doors.
Those strings were not merely lines dyed in red, they were made up of small words nearly too small to be seen.
“Oh–crap–”
Taking care not to brush against those red strings, Ryner slid off the throne. Lay on the floor. Inspected those red words.
Those were also words he had never seen before.
But they were probably not meaningless words.
Those were obviously designed to fulfil a specific purpose. Even without the power of his eyes, he could understand that. From the shape of the words, and the neat way they were arranged, even if he did not know the meaning of the words, he could guess roughly what they meant.
“…… These are, olden characters. Compared to the magic words used in the Kingdom of Eratul (Note: not sure? The chinese was ?????) when we were searching for artifacts related to the hero…… Seems similar, yet different……? But based on this, perhaps I can understand it with the power of the [eyes]?
Ryner traced the characters with a finger. Drawing out the parts that looked like he would understand,
“Eh, um, this is like this, this connects with that, uh, but is this a word trap? Then there, ah, it’s becoming complicated…… Ah, no, this won’t work. I don’t get it. I don’t get the meaning of this word. Dictionary. Can someone get me a dictionary, maybe someone actually will come bring me one, well then, if I start from there……”
He laboured on, trying to read the words drawn on the floor for a while,
“Nope. Don’t get it at all.”
In the end, he still gave up.
He lifted his weary head. Because he had been sprawled out to inspect the words on the floor, his waist was sore.
“Ah ouch”
Yelping, he stood up while holding his back like an old man. He rubbed the back of his waist. Going by the strength in his body,
“Right now, could it be that I slept for half a month or so?”
He changed his previous predictions. Making himself comfortable, he pondered carefully. Flexing his shoulders, twisting his waist, he turned his face, which had been following the words on the floor, towards the direction of the door beside.
Afterwards, he said.
“Eh, does the conclusion point to the fact that I won’t be able to obtain information about this room if I don’t open this door? Could I open it?”
As if there was someone outside the door, he said towards the door.
“I won’t die because the curse will activate once I open the door right? Can I open it?”
But no one answered his question.
“Oi~ my dear kidnapper~ I’m awake?”
“…..”
“I’m hungry too~?”]
“…..”
“Oi, is there really no one here?”
He said.
However, as expected, there was no reply. Ryner shrugged.
“So am I supposed to open it? But if we open it, the curse will start up. If this start to spread, things will go wrong? I have no idea why there’s so many things I want to do recently.”
“….”
But there was no one answering.
Ryner confirmed the situation,
“No ideas.”
He said as he extended his hand towards the door. Even then he remembered not to let his feet touch the string on the ground. Maa, this red string must be the resident cursed object in this room. So not touching it might not make a difference afterall.
But just to stay safe, it would be better to open the door without touching these red letters. The door opened immediately as if it was unlocked.
“Oh, it opened.”
Ryner said, but his words stopped again.
To say why, it would be because there was nothing outside the door.
It seemed that he was currently on the upper floors of an extremely tall tower.
And what the door opened to, was the outside of the tower.
No, perhaps it would be more accurately to say that the sky was stretching into the distance before his very eyes. Because from here he could see the world beneath for miles,
“Uwah, no way?”
Ryner surveyed the scene below.
The city at the base at the tower seemed to extend outwards infinitely with the tower at its center. Furthermore, he had absolutely no impression of the scenery in the city.
In essence,
“This, is a city I’ve never visited before. In other words, what’s the deal with the door opening onto the exterior of the tower? What’s with this construct and how did I get here? Isn’t it impossible for normal people to get here?”
He made up his mind to push his head out the door a little to investigate. Then suddenly, the red words that covered the room began to shine –
“Uwahhhh, this is bad, the curse is about to activate?”
To assuage his fears, he retreated into the room.
Took a ready stance.
However,
“……”
For some reason, nothing happened. The light that had just been emanating from the red words also disappeared.
“…… Ah, so it’s this kind of design? If I try to leave this place, the curse will activate?”
Ryner stretched his hand towards the door once more. Just as it reached the position that his head had been just now,
“They’re glowing again.”
He moved his hand back,
“The light is gone…… So it really is so, I see.”
He nodded.
He transferred his gaze to outside the door once more.
The streets of a country he had never seen before.
And a rainbow so close that it seemed he could simply reach out and touch it.
This was a room designed such that normal people could not enter or leave.
In addition, the curse that could bind Ryner’s eyes.
He took all this in,
“Well~, what on earth have I been caught up in?”
Saying this, he moved away from the door.
He turned in a circle in the center of the room.
But he still could not find an exit or anything like a hidden door.
After confirming this, he raised his head. Looking at the wall opposite the door,
“Oh well–, I really didn’t think that an opponent who could lay down such a comprehensive spell could make such a stupid mistake.”
Saying this, he raised both hands, moving his fingers through the air. Two magic circles formed in an instant.
“WHAT I SEEK IS IRIDESCENT DESTRUCTION >>> KUURI”
He used Roland magic.
Blocks of light formed in those magic circles, and turned into guns of light, which unleashed their fire.
Then those blocks of light fired in the direction of the wall and floor.
If those met their mark, it might be hard to damage the floor, but there would at least be some holes in the wall. To achieve this, he constructed the magic such that accuracy would be sacrificed for power.
Then these over-powered bullets of light struck the wall and ground - in the instant before collision, the words in the room began to glow again.
‘Kuuri’ vanished.
Of course, there was not a scuff on the wall and floor.
After affirming this with a gentle gaze,
“I knew it.”
He said, a little sulkily. Then he sighed lightly.
“But this really sucks. The defense is so tight.”
Saying this, he returned to the room. Climbed back onto the throne, putting his thigh up without any finesse at all. Maintaining this posture, he looked in the direction of the door.
The weather outside was extremely fine, but perhaps as a result of this altitude, the wind that blew in was chilly.
“Ah, it’s a little cold. Maybe I should close the door.”
Although he said this, he did not move a muscle to do so as it was too much of a hassle.
“Based on this, then what should I do here? Just stay here till I starve to death?”
He said as though addressing the question to someone.
Of course no answer was forthcoming.
But Ryner did not take notice, and continued to speak.
“How about this? If we’re really going to go with that, then I’ll jump out that door? If I used mafic I should be able to go down via the walls of the tower, furthermore if I leave this room, will it lose its effect? WIll the curse sealing the power of my ‘eyes’ also lose effect?”
“……”
“If that really works, even if the curse preventing me from leaving is activated, I think at that time I will be able to lift the curse.”
“……”
“So I’ll wait a little longer, if no one comes, I’ll do that. If someone’s watching me right now, I’ve made up my mind to do that, yeah?”
“……”
“…… Hey, is there really no one out there?”
“……”
“Hey–”
He stretched his syllables, but there was still no reply.
So Ryner hummed to himself for a while, and then began to daydream again.
He pondered the reason why he was here.
The last thing he remembered was being on his bed. In the dorms of the military headquarters of the People’s Republic of Sphelliyet, on his own bed, reading some material–
“…… That, after that someone came into the room?”
He muttered as he tried to remembered.
“Uhhh~ I keep feeling, I can’t remember, I seem to have been called by someone……”
Just then,
“That memory was correct. Furthermore, the person who called you is me”
A voice sounded.
From the centre of the room.
Near the ceiling.
There was clearly no one there when he looked just now. However, he could sense the obvious presence of something there now.
Ryner looked up.
A quaint creature appeared there.
Although it had a humanoid shape, there were innumerable eyes shuddering on its spherical head, and 8 arms grew out of its body. Besides the regular 2 arms at its shoulders, 2 arms grew out of its waist and the last 4 arms emerged from its chest - such a disturbing monster dangled from the ceiling, staring down at him. That was why Ryner,
“Uwah, no wonder I got the feeling that an infuriatingly arrogant bastard had appeared.”
After he said this, the monster laughed.
“Haha, what a reaction? Especially coming from that guy in the south.” (Note: I think there might have been an error in the source material here. In the south?)
“Who told you to have such a unique appearance?”
“Ahahahahahahahaha, is that so. Although I always thought I was maintaining a humble attitude….. But, you’re not scared even after seeing me. Don’t monsters scare everyone?”
“Monster-” (Note: Ryner is pretending to be scared here)
“Too late~”
Then Ryner chuckled.
“How else do I say it. Well, just by looking at this room I had the feeling that a monster would appear.”
“Were your suspicious right?”
“Pretty much. Plus, you’re not the only monster.”
He looked up with a slightly sad expression.
The eight-armed monster met his gaze, and replied,
“Monster–”
“Don’t copy me.”
“Ahaha”
“Well then, can you come down? My neck hurts from looking up.”
“Ah, really? Sorry about that.”
With a crash, the monster fell from the ceiling to the group.
It stood atop those curse-filled red words, looking at Ryner. One pair of arms was at ease, while another pair remained in the ready position. Yet another pair of arms still rested on its hips.
“Yaah, it’s nice to meet you for the first time.”
“You look as weird as ever.”
“Eh, when did I say you were weird just now?”
“Your arms.”
“Ah, my arms, huh.”
The monster laughed again, but did not relax its arms. Then that monster with such an arrogant attitude spoke.
“Well, if it comes to debating about attitudes, at least you haven’t lost to me yet.”
Ryner looked at himself. He had one leg up on the seat, using that leg as a resting point for his arm, on which his head was resting. After observing his own posture, he responded.
“In my country of birth, this is the right posture to express respect for another.”
“Ah, that’s a terrible habit.”
“Because I am expressing respect now.”
“I always think that a country like that would be better off destroyed.”
The monster laughed again.
Even though it did not have a mouth, it clearly emitted chuckles.
Ryner addressed that monster.
“Well then, who are you? What business do you have with me?”
The monster replied.
“Oh dear, actually, I’ve already told you my name quite a few times~”
“Huh?”
After that, the monster replied.
“Aiyah, actually, I have already announced my name several times~”
“Huh?”
“Maa, I think you have already forgotten. Because I couldn’t persuade you well, I had to clear your memories when you are asleep— therefore”
“Eh.. Oi oi oi, just now you, were blabbering about something rather frightening…”
Before he could finish, the monster continued.
“Ah no, despite my extremely detailed and cautious preparations for the spell, I still could not successfully brainwash you. You are indeed a monster. No wonder the “Priests “ are so scared.”
He said these confusing words.
-Part 1 End-
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