VOLUME 13: CHAPTER 15

After outright rejecting Lady Alice, an awkward atmosphere enveloped the group for a while.

It seemed that the leader of the witches never expected Lark to be so upfront regarding such things. She could hardly meet his gaze right now.

The awkward silence was broken only after Fleur, who'd been knocked unconscious by Lady Alice's punch, woke up.

"Ugh… Eh? What? Why am I lying on the ground?"

The other witches palmed their faces in frustration and embarrassment.

"What happened?"

The other witches didn't even bother helping her stand up. Out of fear of Lady Alice, they all just stood there and waited for her to regain consciousness on her own.

"Lady Alice… Fleur has woken up."

Lady Alice said in a displeased voice, "I can see that."

The witches looked at each other. Some of them took a few steps back, afraid that they would meet the same fate as Fleur. Everyone could already surmise the next words that would come out of Lady Alice's mouth.

How could they not know? 

Behind that pretty face was a martinet that would make even the strictest military instructor cry.

Aside from being known as the leader of the witches and the most powerful necromancer in the Empire, she was also known as the 'Witch with the Iron Fist'. 

Her body, which had stopped aging at the age of thirty, was capable of ripping steel as though they were made of parchment.

Five years ago, there was even an incident when she burst open a desert troll's head with a single punch. 

It was terrifying just thinking of it.

Her necromancy aside, the leader of the witches was practically a moving, breathing weapon of carnage.

"Fleur."

Hearing their leader's monotone voice, Fleur shuddered and immediately stood up. She always used that tone whenever something had displeased her.

"Lady Alice!"

"Be prepared to enter the disciplining chamber once we return to Atarus."

"!"

Hearing this, Fleur's pupils shook. She looked around, particularly at her fellow witches. Seeing them avert their gazes, she felt betrayed.

"N-No!"

They had completely washed their hands off this incident.

"B-But why? What did I do to warrant such punishment? It's not like I did anything that would tarnish Aravark's reputation!"

Lady Alice clicked her tongue.

"You still don't understand, huh?"

Afraid that Fleur's remarks would aggravate their leader's mood further, the witches immediately moved as one to shut Fleur's mouth.

"Lady Alice! Plea— mmph! Traitors!—mmph!"

"Shut up, Fleur!"

"Just take it easy for now."

"We'll help you plead later, okay?" 

It took some convincing and a little bit of force, but the witches eventually managed to convince Fleur to calm down.

After the commotion subsided, Fleur's face was drained of all color. She looked as though she'd been given a sentence worse than death. She looked as though she would cry at any moment. 

The soldiers whispered to each other, wondering what usually went on inside the disciplining chamber for her to look like that.

Aster laughed, "Hahaha! Those witches are funny, temporary Boss!" 

Ludwig and the other explorers shuddered. The kid really had a knack for commenting during critical moments.

 "H-Hey!"

 "Stop it, kid! Didn't you see her reaction! Do you wanna die before we could even reach the temple?!"

 Aster shrugged. "Why are you panicking? We've made it this far, and we're under King Lark's protection. They won't kill us, you know?"

 "That's not the point!"

 Ludwig awkwardly laughed. He changed the topic, "Haha… let's go to the temple, shall we?"

 At the mention of the temple, Lady Alice looked at the soldiers from the Republic.

 Although they said they came here to escort King Lark, they were probably given the orders to scout the city and search for any useful artifacts.

 "Everyone here must have seen the temple before," said Lady Alice

 Several soldiers nodded.

 Everyone had seen the temple from a far before they sealed the Elementals before.

 "Plated in gold, it must have looked majestic and grandiose," she continued. "But let me tell you this in advance. That temple is nothing but a tomb, and the altar inside is nothing but a shrine made hundreds of years ago. There are no treasures inside. No artifacts, no precious gemstones."

 One of the Inspectors, who'd received a personal mission from Senator Sima to search for precious items in the underground city, frowned.

 "What do you mean?" said the Inspector.

 "What I'm saying is lower your expectations," said Lady Alice. "The Tower of Records still exists inside the temple, but that's it."

 "Tower of Records?" said Lark.

 "Yes. Tower of Records. Although we call it a tower, it's actually a series of stone tablets arranged in a spiraling formation. They're historical records left behind by someone from the White Stream Oasis. A recount of what happened after she went on her separate ways from the other disciples and built that paradise."

 Lark didn't come here in the first place to gather treasures from Ist' Tamat. Hearing that there were records left behind related to his youngest disciple in the shrine was enough.

 For Lark, such things were worth more than any treasure in this city combined.

 "That's more than I could ask for," said Lark, smiling.

 Lady Alice noticed that Lark's smile carried a hint of sadness in it.

 "The artifacts don't matter. I didn't come here for them in the first place."

 Lady Alice sighed, "Haah… I see, of course. How regrettable. If only the Wandering Sage didn't come here and take everything in the temple fifty years ago…."

 "…?!"

 "…What?"

 "The Wandering Sage came here?!"

 The soldiers from the Republic couldn't believe this revelation.

 The Wandering Sage was a legendary figure known to be the absolute strongest existence in this continent.

Like a ghost, they would appear in different countries throughout the continent, solving problems ordinary people couldn't handle by themselves.

Stopping droughts, preventing wars, killing calamity-class monsters, preventing famines by killing insect swarms. There was even a story of how the Wandering Sage single-handedly prevented a massive tsunami from wiping out a seaside village. There was also a story of how the Wandering Sage shielded a town from the eruptions of a volcano, protecting even the nearby forest.

That person's feats were so ridiculous that most people believed they were nothing but myths.

 The only thing proving the Wandering Sage's existence were vague records and the assurance of the Council of Scholars that the entity does exist.

 The soldiers from the Republic – even the explorers from Zenith – never expected to hear the name of that person here.

 They never expected that such a legendary figure had visited this place long before it was even discovered by the Republic of Everfrost.

 "The Wandering Sage is the one who took all of the artifacts in the temple?" said Lark.

 He'd also heard of that person's existence.

 The current number one in the rankings of the Council of Scholars.

 A person said to be even stronger than Dwarven King Lerenon 'Blood Mithril' Rugard, Beast King 'The White Lion' Gaorux, and the Voiceless One of the Principality.

 Honestly speaking, a part of Lark wished to meet all of these famous individuals someday.

 The Beast King was an interesting and formidable individual. Lark wondered what the others would be like.

 "Yes," said Lady Alice. "The Wandering Sage took nearly everything that time before disappearing."

 "Lady Alice," said General Marduk excitedly. "It's rare for me to come across someone who'd met that legendary figure. The Wandering Sage – is he a man, a woman? Young, old? How does the Wandering Sage look like?"

 Everyone eagerly awaited the answer to this question.

 They also wished to know more about the so-called strongest person in the continent.

 Lady Alice wryly smiled. "I don't know."

 "…?"

 General Marduk looked at her quizzically.

 "There was nothing covering the Wandering Sage's face back then, but for some reason, we can't see their face. Was it illusion magic? Or maybe it's a different spell entirely. I don't know. The only thing I could remember back then was the desire to run away, far away from that person. That person – if it's even human – is so powerful that even the strongest witch of that time couldn't stop it from ransacking the temple."

 "I see…."

General Marduk realized that this must be the reason why everyone who'd met the Wandering Sage couldn't give a proper description.

 Illusion magic capable of blocking even the senses of these witches. It must have been eight-tier at least.

"But it's strange," said General Marduk. "Why did the Wandering Sage take away all of the artifacts in the temple?"

 "It's also a question we've been asking ourselves," said Lady Alice. "As far as we remember, most of those artifacts were mementos of the Deity of the Desert. And some of them were items left behind by her master."

General Marduk worriedly said, "Lady Alice. If the temple had been ransacked of all its treasures… then, the Imperial Palace…."

The imperial palace was located north of the temple. Although it wasn't as large as the palace where Emperor Sylvius lived, it was still a structure that existed back in the Era of Magic.

The soldiers from the Republic had high expectations of it.

Senator Sima and the High Magistrate planned on taking all valuable artifacts in the Imperial Palace of Ist' Tamat. And using those items, they would elevate the fighting force of the Republic and enforce their right to their surrounding countries.

 There were even ambitious plans of taking over nearby territories once they'd gotten their hands on powerful ancient weapons.

 "The Imperial Palace is untouched," said Lady Alice.

 Hearing this, General Marduk inwardly sighed in relief. He was worried that the Wandering Sage also looted that place, leaving nothing for the Republic.

 "I don't know why the Wandering Sage didn't take any interest in it," said Lady Alice. "That person went straight to the temple after discovering the tunnels connected to this city."

 It was truly a mystery, and no one among the group had an answer to it.

 General Marduk mumbled, "The Wander Sage, huh…."

 After that discussion, they went into the heart of the city, eventually arriving at the temple.

 Lark stopped in front of the statue near the entrance. It was nearly five meters in size and cut from a single, massive gemstone.

 Lark couldn't recognize the statue's model, but he was certain that the gemstone was oriliazara, a mineral as hard as corundum. A mineral abundant in the Frost Mountains of Yleonor.

 "We're here," said Lady Alice. "Fleur, open the door."

 "Ah, yes!"

 Just like before, Fleur used brute strength to open the massive steel double door of the temple. Like a toddler pushing a carriage, she displayed strength disproportional to her size, opening the door with ease.

 Lady Alice touched a nearby apparatus, channeling her mana to the luminous stones in the temple.

 One after another, the luminous stones lit up, illuminating the temple's interior.

 The soldiers and the explorers gasped at the sight before them.

 "Holy… damn!"

 "Woah…."

 "So, this is what a temple in the ancient era is like…."

 Just like its exterior, the walls inside the temple were also plated in gold. Banners, paintings, and statues were seen here and there. Massive chandeliers made from steel and luminous stones hang from the ceiling. Near the walls, they saw a line of ornamental full plate armors. A velvet carpet filled with golden embroideries adorned the entrance all the way to the center of the temple.

 This place looked like a throne room rather than a temple.

 The soldiers murmured:

 "Wow, that sword over there! The one next to that plate armor! It's made of cold steel, isn't it!"

 "That statue! It's made entirely of jade!"

 "Even those paintings should sell for hundreds of gold!"

 "I thought this place was empty? There are still treasures here!"

 Lady Alice couldn't help but frown at the soldiers. They were pathetic for gawking at these things. 

Although these antiques were worth a lot of money, they were mere dregs compared to the items the Wandering Sage took away when he came here.

 Their group continued walking, and soon, they arrived at a five-meter large sarcophagus. It was the tomb of Leanne, the Deity of the Desert.

 Unlike the antiques adorning the temple, the sarcophagus was made only of stone. It had a simple rectangular design, without even a single gemstone embedded on its body.

 Surrounding the sarcophagus were stone tablets interconnected with each other, arranged in a spiraling formation.

 The tablets spiraled upward, nearly reaching the temple's ceiling. It was amazing that these stone tablets hadn't broken down yet despite their unstable arrangement.

 Lark approached the tomb and read the inscriptions on its body.

 Born from sand, here lies the woman who created the desert paradise.

There was only a single line written there, and Lark immediately understood what it meant.

According to history, after Evander Alaester's death, Leanne founded the White Stream Oasis, a desert paradise where water and food never ran out.

Until this day, that place existed southeast of the Empire.

"This is the tomb of Leanne," said Lark in a soft voice.

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Lady Alice.

 Lark felt a squeezing sensation in his heart. Although a long time had passed since his youngest disciple's death, it felt as though it was only yesterday when she was by his side, crying on his deathbed.

 He could still recall her voice and snot-filled face.

 Ignoring the whispers and murmurs from the soldiers and the explorers behind him, Lark stared at the sarcophagus for several minutes.

 'The Tower of Records'

 Lark's gaze moved toward the stone tablets arranged in a spiraling formation. Upon closer inspection, he realized each of them had been reinforced using pulverized oriliazara.

 Following Lark's gaze, Lady Alice said, "Do you want me to translate them for you, King Lark?"

 Lark shook his head. "It's fine. I can read them."

 "You're familiar with the language of Ist' Tamat?"

 The witches found it hard to believe. Even the first witches took decades before they fully decoded the ancient Empire's language.

 "A little bit," said Lark. He didn't elaborate further. 

 Lark read the tablet nearest the sarcophagus.

 'These tablets. They weren't written by Leanne herself.'

 Contrary to his expectations, it seemed that the records weren't written personally by his youngest disciple.

 It was a record left behind by the Chieftain of the White Stream Oasis, years after the Deity of the Desert had died.

 Mostly, they wrote about how Leanne wandered the vast desert and founded the White Stream Oasis.

 They wrote about how the Desert Deity accepted the nomadic desert people and incorporated them into her group, eventually granting them a home – a paradise – they could always return to.

 'Hm? god Gaia descended to this realm?'

 The most surprising fact written in the tablets was the meeting between the Deity of the Desert and the god of earth, Gaia. The same god worshipped by the elves.

 According to the records, Leanne summoned the god to this realm in order to create a massive oasis in the middle of the desert.

 Of course, this wasn't without a cost.

 After that day, the Deity of the Desert lost four of her five senses.

 She lost the sense of hearing, taste, sight, and touch.

 Additionally, for some strange reason, all of her children – and the children of her children – were all female.

 The author of the record surmised that this was the penalty imposed upon her by god Gaia in exchange of temporarily lending strength to a mere mortal.

 But how did a mere human summon a god to this realm in the first place?

 Even the Demon Lords shouldn't be capable of such a feat.

 Until the end of the records written in the tablet, this question remained unanswered.

 After he finished reading the records, Lark went to the shrine dedicated to him by his disciple. Due to being ransacked by the Wandering Sage, it was also empty except for the altar at the center.

 Written on the altar were hand-carved words left by Leanne herself.

 The handwriting was familiar. It was definitely written by that snotty brat. Lark was sure of it.

 To my beloved Master, if afterlife exists, may we meet again someday. Every day I miss you, Master Evander.

Reading this message, Lark almost broke down.

He thought he'd gotten used to partings by now, but it seemed he still held strong attachments to his past life's relationships.

"Leanne."

 Hundreds of years after Leanne's death, she successfully conveyed one last message to her master.

 Lark wished there was a way to reply back. He wished there was a way to converse with her once again.

 How nice would it be if he could spend even another day with her.

 Noticing Lark's expression, Lady Alice worriedly said, "King Lark?"

 Lark gazed at Lady Alice, and for a moment, her image overlapped with Leanne's.

 They really looked alike, he thought.

 "King Lark – eh?"

 Lady Alice's eyes widened when Lark suddenly pulled her into his embrace. She was about to protest and ask what this was about when she noticed Lark's quivering body.

 The man who commanded over the Coalition Army was close to crying, she realized.

 "Alice."

 For the first time, Lark called her without honorifics.

 Lady Alice tensed up upon hearing this.

 "Y-Your Majesty?"

 "Remember what I promised you before coming here?"

 Still in Lark's embrace, Lady Alice bobbed her head. She softly said, "Yes, I remember."

 "It's only right that I tell you. My identity… my relationship to Leanne, the Deity of Desert, the ancestor of all the witches."

 All of the witches in the temple felt a thread of mana connected to Lark touching their bodies.

 Through mental transmission, he spoke to them, "Please do not reject my mana. What I'm about to show all of you are memories related to Leanne, my youngest disciple."