I Am the Monarch – Chapter 52: Mana technique (2)

The cave was pitch black but it wasn’t a big problem because he had Kalian’s tear.
Roan kicked and pushed the rocks but they didn’t even flinch.

‘My memories about the aftershock were wrong?’

He sat in the entrance and shook his head while picking up some pebbles.

‘No. The aftershock certainly happens tomorrow.’

Then only one case remained.
That a landslide or the collapse of the mountain he didn’t know of had happened.

‘If my assumption is true, then the aftershock will happen tomorrow and the rocks at the entrance will get cleared. But……..’

By then, soldiers of Viscount Potter would be located at every place on the mountain.

‘They wouldn’t just send out a person that came out of a cave like that.’

If he was unfortunate, not even losing the books would be enough, he would even have his neck cut off to prevent rumours spreading.

“Damn.”

Roan threw away a pebble that he was holding.
He wouldn’t be able to clear the rocks from the entrance like this.

‘I have to find a method to get out.’

That was the way to live.
Roan stood up and moved towards the opposite side of the entrance, to the deeper parts of the cave.
But as it got more narrow, a completely different space appeared.

“It was completely blocked off.”

Roan then returned to the entrance.
He saw the worn cloth that had wrapped Reid’s skeleton.

‘This is all because of you sir. Why are you here from all the many plac……’

Roan, that was grumbling, frowned and tilted his head.

‘Now that I think of it, what’s the reason for the fire monarch to have come all the way here?’

Reid was a duke of the defeated kingdom of Estia and the head of the strong powerhouse ‘Flame’ 50 years ago.
But what could be the reason that that kind of person came to die in the southern region of Rinse kingdom and in a small and secluded cave that was on a mountain like Maiel mountain?
Roan slowly looked through his memories.
He was searching for Reid’s whereabouts from his countless memories.
And the most convincing rumour of them.

‘He battled against the goddess of water Biate and the both of them ended up wounded without gaining anything.’

Biate was also one of the strongest that could be counted on one hand who shook the continent.
Especially because she was the first human, and the strongest messenger, who made a contract with the water spirit king Elaim.
Reid, who used the force of fire, didn’t like Biate who used the force of water at all.

‘Fire and water. They wanted to see who was stronger through the battle.’

But Biate, who distanced herself from battles and wars kept declining the duel request countless times and hid herself.

‘But if the rumours are true…..’

Roan looked at the cave slowly.

‘This cave may somehow be related to miss Biate.’

But there was nothing worth anything here to be called a trace in this small cave.

‘Maybe…..?’

Then, Roan pulled out his bag and took out the three books Reid had left.

‘Wouldn’t he have left something when he died here?’

He carefully spread the first volume of the Flamdor mana book and cautiously checked if there was anything related to Reid’s death.

The sound of pages being flipped through filled the cave.
And when he passed the last one, Roan’s two eyes turned big.

“Ah……”

A low exclamation.
There was something.
The content that Roan was looking for was on the last page.
His eyes moved sideways quickly.

<Reid Flamdor. I’m leaving a short word before dying.>

He started by announcing that he didn’t have much to live.

<I came over here after finding out that the water goddess Biate Ellon’s dwelling place was inside Maiel mountain. I requested for a duel but she served me some tea and declined indirectly. In the end I grabbed her, who was trying to wash off her hands first and flee, forcefully and battled her. We fought for four days and four nights inside her dwelling place. We were really angry at each other. I believed that I was the strongest among humans. However while fighting, I have never overwhelmed her even once. In the end I, who was blind because of the competitiveness, used my final weapon which shouldn’t have been used. At that moment, the duel that was looking for who was superior ended up being a life and death one.>

His heart beat quickly.

‘The rumours were true!’

The reason the fire monarch Reid and the water Godess Biate who disappeared approximately at the same time 50 years ago was because of their duel, no, because of the life and death battle.
Roan hurriedly checked the following content.

<In the end she and I ended up gaining nothing but injuries.
We realized that we didn’t have any possibility in surviving because of the severe wounds.
I wanted to die under the hot sun if I were going to die.
I came out of the dwelling place and came to the cave, but I didn’t have the strength to move anymore.
When I was leaving my last words while looking at the sunlight that shone at the entrance, the water spirit king Ellaim came to look at me.
He may have wanted to take revenge because I made her die.
However Biate forgave me.
She left to Poskein lake along with water spirit king Ellaim.
I didn’t know the exact reason, but it couldn’t have been the same as me…..
The moment I was dying I longed for a hot place, and she would be longing for a deep and wide body of water.>

The handwriting became dimmer and shook.

<I’m leaving the Flamdor mana technique and Reid battling skills to the one fated to me.
Don’t even think about returning it back to Estia kingdom or to the Flamdor family. Only, if it gets taken by them that is also unavoidable. Because the strength of the fire can only be obtained by the strong ones.>

The letter was finally showing its end.

<Also, the fated one will be able to get near Biate. But only the fated one.>

Roan moved his sight away with the last sentence.

<I die after realizing that fire and water aren’t non compatible but, a coexistence.>

These were words that he didn’t know the meaning of.
However, the important thing wasn’t the last sentence.

‘This place is the entrance to get inside miss Biate’s dwelling place.’

His sight moved inside.

‘But it means that the tight space is the entrance…….’

Roan bit his lower lip.

‘He said that only the fated one would be able to get in.’

But he didn’t have any relationships with Biate.
But even so, he couldn’t just stand still and waste time.

‘Anyways, there’s a place beyond that wall for me to hide.’

Roan put the book away and held his bag.
And he carefully embraced the cloth with the skeleton.

Step. Step.

Footsteps was heard inside the cave.
Roan stood in front of the wall once more.

‘There has to be some kind of secret device.’

He kept checking the wall up and down, and to the sides.
However he couldn’t see any special traces even after having checked everywhere.

‘Then, next………’

Roan extended his right arm and put it on the top right.
The tips of his fingers moved to the end of the walls.

He wasn’t hurried.
He carefully checked the wall while putting all of his concentration at the tip of his fingers.
Then, Roan’s finger reached in a middle part.

“Ah!”

A surprised voice and expression came out.
Roan moved his hand away from the wall and looked at his finger.

‘I suddenly feel an incredible chill………’

A familiar feeling.

‘Ah! The silver semi-circular object that was on the floo…….’

When he was thinking like that.
A small change occurred on the stone wall.
A silver water drop appeared in the place where he took his fingers off.

“Huh?”

His eyes turned big.

‘This is the same as the silver object from before?’

Roan fixed his sight on the wall.

Pat.

Then, the water drop that surged out took the shape of a wheel.
And after that it started to spin.

Guguguguk.

At the same time, the sound of rock and sand grinding was heard.

“Ah……..”

A low exclamation came out of Roan’s mouth.
The stone wall that was blocked without even having a bit of space, started to open to the sides little by little.

Boom.

An entrance appeared along with a heavy sound.
Roan didn’t hesitate.
He moved inside the door.

Guguguguk.

The stone wall turned to its original place once again and perfectly blocked the cave.
The silver wheel that was spinning once more hid itself in the wall.
A perfect darkness and silence.
Nothing could be felt inside the cave anymore.

******

Roan was half absent-minded.
He couldn’t believe the scene that was spread out in front of him.
A huge space that was spread out in a small cave.

‘Is Maiel mountain completely empty inside?’

To the point he thought that.
However, seeing that mines were being developed in many places, this scene was difficult to understand.

‘Just piercing through a little bit seems like this region would appear.’

Roan tilted his head and then went down the stairs.

‘It certainly is miss Biate’s space, whoever sees it would think this.’

It was to the point he thought Biate? Even when he didn’t have previous information.
In the huge place, water streams were flowing from east to west and north to south, and in the place the two rivers met, there was quite a large pond.
The surprising thing was that on one side of the wall, a huge waterfall was falling.

‘I certainly can’t hear a thing when this much water is splashing.’

It was a feeling that his eyesight and hearing senses turned bad.
Roan evaded the many small and big ponds that were at various places and went to the place where many books were piled up.
A huge table.
And the books that were spread everywhere.

‘So this is the place where miss Biate battled against sir Reid.’

Taking that into account, the place was too neat.
The two of them were the strongest in the continent.
They wouldn’t have fought like normal soldiers.

‘There should also be some secret in here.’

Roan started to thoroughly check the books that were spread around in a sloppy way.

‘Sir Reid also left a letter while dying. Miss Biate wouldn’t have left something like that.’

They were historical figures even when they were alive.
He thought that there would be no way those kind of people left the world without even leaving a last mark.
Especially if it was the beautiful and ladylike Biate that was beautiful to the point she was called as a goddess.
His hand, that was moving on the table, stopped.
A shallow book reached his fingers.

<……..Leave it to you.>

Because of the many books covering it he could only see the last words.

As Roan pulled that book, the other books tumbled down.

‘Certainly!’

Roan put on a faint smile after checking the contents of the book.
It seemed that he had found what he wanted.

<Biate Ellon leaves you her last words.>

The following content was just like what Reid had left behind.
But the only difference was that it wasn’t Reid, but Biate.
However at the end, a completely different story was written.

<The reason I chose this huge empty cave as my dwelling place is because it was the lair of blue dragon Berr. All the space is filled with water energy. Because of that, it also isn’t bad to choose this as my last one.
But even so, I like Poskein lake even more.
There are children that follow me over there.
That’s why i’m thinking of living my last days over there.
To the one who fate has connected us.
For you to have entered here and be reading this means that you realized the essence of water or you absorbed it.>

‘Huh? The essence of the water?’

Roan frowned.
He remembered the silver waterdrop that was absorbed by his fingers.

‘That’s the essence of the water? But why was it on the floor?’

He didn’t know.
Roan continued to read through the letter.

<I will entrust you the lair of sir Berr. It’s fine to use what’s here however you like. Even so, it would only be useless books and some objects.
If perhaps you really want to climb to the top of the water, come to Poskein lake to find me.
I will leave my last piece over there.
The one that finds that piece will be able to obtain the strength of water and my children.>

These were difficult words to understand.
Different than Reid’s words, that were frank and concise, Biate’s words were entirely gentle and significative.
Even so, the last word was quite frank.

<Goodbye.>

“Whew.”

Roan let out a long sigh and covered the book.
He sat in the chair and fell into his thoughts.

‘For now I can understand why this place is unbelievably big and strange………’

It has already been 200 years since dragons disappeared.
But the stories about them kept being passed along without missing anything.
And the dragon lair was the same.
A lair was a place humans couldn’t get in as they wished or make a dent with their strength.
Roan took in a deep breath.

‘Duke Voisa, who took away the Flamdor mana technique from Viscount Potter couldn’t have not seen the words sir Reid left.’

He slowly started to remember.

“Ah……..”

A low exclamation came out.

“So that’s what happened. I wondered why Duke Voisa was interested in developing Poskein lake………”

A feeling the puzzles in his head fell into place.

‘Duke Voisa would have done everything to try to enter this place. But as he couldn’t enter at all, he must have turned his attention to the lake.’

He thought that Biate would also have left something like Reid while dying.
But even so, if he moved that openly then flies could gather.

‘That’s why he suddenly came out with developing the lake.’

But even so, he wouldn’t have received the results that he wanted.
Rather, because of Duke Voisa’s movements, the other three countries jumped in on the development of the lake competitively.

‘And on that process, the pirate king Beck app……’

When he thought up to that.

Bang.

Roan abruptly stood up.
The chair fell and rolled on the ground but he didn’t care.
He yelled in a loud voice as if he was possessed.
“Beck! So that bastard found the piece of miss Biate!”

< Mana technique (2) > End