Volume 1 Chapter 26: The Mysterious Cave

  "What a letdown!" Francis, who had been looking forward to a good fight, reluctantly withdrew his fist.

  "Is that why those below the Sacred Realm aren't allowed to enter? It seems like they're afraid their own descendants won't be strong enough and will get blown away!" Dis said as he walked forward.

  "No, I'm afraid it's not that simple. With this number of magical beasts, we indeed need a power above the Holy Rank to force our way through. However, with just one flying magical beast or a high-ranking wind magic user, we can easily avoid them. The stone tablet said 'strictly forbidden for those below the Holy Rank to enter', I reckon it's because they're afraid that those who come after us won't have enough power, even if they obtain the treasure, they won't be able to reclaim their country! And besides, we haven't reached the place where the treasure is hidden yet! There must be a test to see whether the people who came to take the treasure have the power of the Holy Rank!" Francis stroked his chin as he said this, it was a habit of his when he was deep in thought.

  "Really? That makes sense!" Dick thought for a moment and also agreed with Francis' opinion "That means there will be a battle later! I like that! Hehe!"

  "I bet you won't like it!" Francis said again "This is just a battle of the Holy Steps, and you're already at the Seventh Sense, equivalent to the Divine Step! This battle doesn't make sense for you, Saber has just consumed a lot of energy again, so let me do it!" Francis excitedly clenched his fists "You guys are not allowed to rob me!"

  "Forgive me for being unable to comply!" Saber gazed calmly at Francis. "My mission is to protect the young master, how can I let him take risks?!"

  "Really? I thought Master and Servant fought together?" Francis looked at Saber with curiosity.

  "No... it's not the same!" Saber said stubbornly, staring at Francis.

  "Ah! Is Lila concerned about me?" Francis looked at Saber with a look of sudden realization, smiling mischievously.

  "Just... no, this is just a servant's...". Saber's face turned bright red as she hastily explained.

  "It's alright!" Francis patted Saber's shoulder, flashing a brilliant smile "Didn't I say so? Don't always stand in front of me, I'm quite strong you know!"

  Looking at Francis' smiling face, Saber felt that this face matched with golden hair was like the sun in the sky, warm and gentle. Saber nodded "I understand!"

  "That's right!" Francis turned his head and continued walking forward, saber only reacting afterwards "Wait a minute, young master! I... didn't mean it that way!"

  "That won't do! As a knight, one must keep their promises!" Francis said with a serious face.

  "But..." still can't help but worry.

  Francis placed his hand on Saber's head and rubbed it "You're really disobedient! Remember, your young master is very strong!"

  "I... got it!"

  "Speaking of which, this hair," Francis pressed his hand down "always sticks up!"...

  "Peng!" Francis lay on the ground, staring expressionlessly at the blue sky above the canyon. "What's going on?! Weren't you just obedient a moment ago?!"

  "I'm extremely sorry, young master!" Saber rushed over to help Francis up from the ground, "I lost control for a moment! It's a conditioned reflex!"

  Francis stood up and asked in a depressed tone: "Was that just done by Saber?"

  "Is that so! You're being thrown out directly, what are you doing, Young Master, flirting?"

  Sabre's face turned red and he didn't say a word. Francis' mouth twisted to one side as he glared at Dice, "Shut up."

  "Got angry out of embarrassment!" Diess said with a shrug of his hands.

  Francis automatically ignored Dee's words "Liyah, it's just a perm, why are you so worked up!"

  "I'm terribly sorry, just... well, it's a long story, but my curls are a symbol of my honor and can't be touched!" Saber hastily explained.

  "Honor! Stupid hair! Francis really can't imagine what connection there is between the two. 'Is there something hidden going on?!'"

  "Hmm! Actually, it was... " Saber recalled, "At that time, I had just become the king and led my people in battle. There were eleven kings who opposed me, all of whom surrendered to another powerful country's king, whose name was Ryans. One day, he sent an envoy to my kingdom, demanding that I surrender. He plucked off the beards of the eleven kings who had sworn allegiance to him and used them to adorn his cloak, and also demanded that I shave off my own beard..."

  Francis was speechless, that guy would never succeed forever.

  "Because I have no beard and refused to submit to Ryans, he launched a war against my country! And boasted that he would shave the curls on my head and use them as a substitute for his beard, inlaying them on his cloak!"

  "......" Francis.

  "Although the war was brutal, I ultimately led the nation to victory, and from then on my afro became a symbol of honor for the kingdom. For knights, honor is very important, so I had to protect it for the sake of the kingdom. Although these are things of the past, even now I still care about it!" Saber said with a serious face.

  "Although I can imagine how gruesome the war is, for some reason, I just can't get serious!" Lila's curly hair really... Is this what King Arthur's honor looks like? Francis couldn't accept it, it was too absurd.

  "Hey, I don't want to interrupt you guys, but it seems like we've reached a dead end! There's no road ahead!"

  "Ah!" Francis and Saber looked ahead, a few hundred meters in front of them the road had disappeared, and the rushing river water was gushing out from underground. Francis observed all around "Is it an underground river? It's really strange, how did this place form a canyon, or rather, there is no canyon here, just a big crack in the ground!"

  "Never mind how this place was formed! Let's see if there are any mechanisms around!" Dais said, running to the rock wall and feeling around everywhere.

  Francis also curiously walked to the stone wall and knocked on it, "Completely can't see any carving marks, did we go in the wrong direction? This place seems to be naturally formed."

  "Knock knock on the stone wall. 'It can't be, although it's strange, but it should be here! Young master, take out the map and see! Is there any hint now?'"

  Francis quietly exerted his spiritual power and took the stone tablet out of the ring. As soon as the stone tablet appeared on the ground, something unexpected happened. The stone tablet suddenly flew up from the ground and flew straight to the wall on the left side, making a loud noise as it stuck firmly to the surface. Francis and the other two people saw this scene but did not stop it, they retreated to a distance and quietly watched the changes in front of them.

  The characters on the surface of the stone tablet slowly disappeared, replaced by intricate purple magic patterns. These patterns gradually extended and eventually spread to the outside of the stone tablet, starting to extend along the wall. The patterns continued to twist and split, forming characters and magic patterns that ultimately formed two huge magic arrays. The two arrays overlapped each other, one turning left and the other right, slowly rotating, and even emitted a sound like gears turning.

  "Ding!" The magic array rotated for more than half a circle, finally recombining into one and stopping its rotation. It slowly disappeared in front of Francis and the other two, replaced by a cave made of beast bones and magic crystals that stretched out endlessly into the darkness...

  "Wow! I've never heard of this kind of magic circle before!" Francis exclaimed. "Is this the level of magic back then? So many have already been lost, haven't they?"

  "Wow, that's amazing! I just sensed it with my ki and this place was clearly empty before, but now...!" Dis opened his eyes to look at the cave "Magic really is mysterious!"

  "I didn't feel anything either!" Saber said, staring at the large door in front of her. "But this thing doesn't seem like magic!"

  Francis asked curiously "Did Leah see something? This thing...?"

  "Saber shook her head 'I'm not very sure either, but this thing is more like alchemy!'"

  "It seems that's true! At least this door wasn't made by a magician!" Francis walked forward and examined the skull on the door, which seemed to be from some kind of magical beast. "Let's go in and take a look, there might be treasure waiting for us inside!" After saying that, he took big strides and stepped right in. As soon as Francis took his first step inside, the torches on both sides of the cave automatically lit up one by one.

  "Master, at least... let's go ahead!" Dais and Saber hastily walked up from behind, looking seriously at Francis.

  "Ah ah! Be careful next time, be careful next time!" Francis said with a smile.

  With the illumination of the flames, the three people could easily see the surroundings. On both sides of the entrance were rows and rows of human skeletons, densely packed with at least over a hundred of them.

  "What is this?" Francis gazed at the skeletons in surprise, several of which were quite short but had unusually thick bones. Dis nodded down to take a closer look "The bones have weathered very badly, there are no wounds on the bones, they may have died from magic!"

  "Is that so?" Francis stroked his chin "It should be the people who built this cave, and were silenced after completion! Those shorter ones should be dwarf skeletons, it seems that king was a ruthless man too! To be able to enter from outside the forest, he must have been a high-ranking official! And these people are probably his trusted aides!"

  "Bastard!" Saber shouted in anger. "To treat one's subordinates like this!" Saber used to be a king and was very kind to his subordinates, so he was furious at such behavior.

  "Lia, don't be so agitated! That king has long been dead, it's useless to get angry like this!" Francis immediately advised "There's no need to be so angry, besides his treasure is going to be taken away by us, isn't that revenge?"

  "Right, his country isn't destroyed or anything? Let's keep moving forward! I feel like there's still something interesting waiting for us up ahead!"