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Chapter 496: Empyrean’s Message

After nearly ten minutes of walking down the stairs, we still could not see the bottom. It was insane just how long this staircase was, and by this point, I was starting to have doubts about whether or not we had fallen into an infinite loop trap. But upon closer inspection. I noticed that the cracks on the walls were different, so this wasn’t a loop at all and just a legitimately extremely long stairway.

“… Is whatever power down there really worth walking all the way down this stairway?” I joked to lighten the mood, but really, all of us were too tired to even respond. But then, suddenly-

“… Master, Lorelei senses something.”

Hm…? Really?

“Yes. You are getting closer. But the presence appears to be quite powerful, so be careful.”

I see…

And if the Archpriest is truly who I think it is, then…

Without any further ado, the girls and I picked up our pace. Now that we had a clear goal and realized that this wasn’t just an infinite loop with no end, we were more motivated to push forward.

Soon, we reached at the bottom of stairs. What we hadn’t been expecting to find, however, was a door that blockaded our way. On it were seven circular blue lights, arranged in a way that resembled the large and classic asterism known as the Big Dipper. All seven lights were dimmed, signaling that they were off.

“… The hell is this?” I narrowed my eyes.

“Hm… it would seem we need to light up all seven of these lights to pass,” Amane said. “But… how do we do that?”

“… I noticed several buttons in the walls while we were descending,” Mei Gui interjected. “Perhaps those have to do with the lights. However, since I did not know what they might do, I did not activate any. It would seem we need to go back…”

“Oh, to hell with that,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. I’ll be damned if I have to go all the way up this staircase and down again searching for those buttons. So, instead…

“Step back,” I said, and prepared my frontal assault.

“Er… are you certain that will wor-” Amane began, but it was already too late.

Level One Metal Magic — Arm of Steel.

I reared my fist back as it was enclosed in an additional layer of metal skin, then charged up my strength and slammed my fist into the door.

BOOM!

The rock was blasted away in an instant, and I let out a breath as my metal skin faded away on my arm.

“… I normally don’t brute force things like that, but this is an exception,” I muttered, then stepped through the collapsed debris. Amane and Mei Gui looked at each other, shrugged, then followed after me.

Inside the rectangular room that lay beyond the destroyed door, there were three ways we could go not counting backwards. Left, right, and directly forward.

Now, according to Lorelei’s soul reading, the presence we were searching for was directly ahead. But before going there, I wanted to check out the left and right first as well. And so, silently, the girls and I agreed to head for the left room, with me casting a Conceal Presence spell on all three of us. Of course, before I broke the door earlier, I had already erected a Sound Barrier to prevent anyone from hearing what happened, and now that we were in here, I didn’t want to alert the person we were searching for just yet.

The corridor to the left led to quite the interesting room. It was completely empty apart from the walls, which were in fact made up of murals. Going clock-wise, the painting appeared to depict how the planet of Xenith was created. There was also some kind of writing on top, but I couldn’t read it since it was in some ancient language.

“This is… old Demihuman tongue,” Amane suddenly said, walking closer to the murals. “I can’t quite understand everything down to the letter, but… I can generalize the basic meaning of it.”

“Oho… so this is old Demihuman tongue,” I muttered. “Well? What does it say?”

“Hm…” Amane walked up to the leftmost painting and began from there. It showed a circle in the center of it that was completely empty, probably symbolizing the planet, and Amane began reciting the words.

“Empty was the planet, with nothing but open space.

Four gods rested beneath the surface, awaiting the time to awaken.

Timeless beings of nature’s embrace,

When they rise, the world shall be shaken.

Ignis, devourer of fire, brought forth creations.

Aquira, maiden of water, wept vast oceans.

Aerim, messenger of winds, created the sky,

And Terrarim, shield of the earth, made the land in reply.”

“Huh… what a fascinating little poem,” I murmured, but Amane shook her head.

“This… it’s not finished yet. And I don’t believe what is written here is registered in any books…”

Furrowing her brows, she continued.

“All was fine. All was well.

Life sparked like flames, and storms were quelled.

But one Empyrean was forgotten, one was lost.

One was not praised, one no longer has a tale to tell.

Neglected, annoyed, the gods turned away.

What was once their creation now no longer had a place for them to stay.

But before leaving, they each left one final gift.

For the worthy, for the gentle, for the clever, and for the thrift.”

“A gift…” I narrowed my eyes. “So, each one of the four Empyreans left behind a gift for mankind, as their farewell present?”

“Not exactly,” Amane replied. “The way I interpret it, it would seem they each have their own standards for someone to accept their gift. I would assume whoever it is that finally claims their gift, would give new life to the Empyreans. If they are really gods, then that would mean they live off believers—and what better way to ‘believe’ than to acknowledge and use their power?”

“Based on what is written in the poem, it would seem each Empyrean was forgotten in their own way. And because each has their own personality, the qualities they are searching for in the chosen one to receive their gift are also different,” Mei Gui stated calmly. “Ignis searches for someone worthy, Aquira searches for someone gentle, Aerim searches for someone clever, and Terrarim searches for someone with thrift.”

“How did you know the order?” Amane asked.

“The order by which they are introduced,” I replied in Mei Gui’s stead. “Given that this is a poem, I think that makes sense. And since this place is one for Terrarim… that would mean the gift in here could only be used by someone with thrift.”

Amane tilted her head. “What does thrift mean, anyway?”

“Basically, it means to not be wasteful with what you have, be it money or resources,” I explained. “Makes sense the Empyrean of Earth would look for someone like that, considering how much of nature, food, crops, and whatnot is wasted everyday…”

“Oh, that makes sense indeed…” Amane agreed, nodding her head. “Is that what that ghost girl earlier meant too? I mean, if someone came here simply searching for that power, they would have had to waste many resources destroying the village, the shrine, and such to find and enter this place.”

“That could be it,” I replied. “But then that leaves the question… who is that ghost girl, anyway?”

None of us had answers for that one, so we decided to just check out the other room for now. Inside, instead of murals, we found a map of the world—or rather, what the world was like when this place was constructed.

“Wait, this is…” Amane began, tracing her finger over the map.

“Don’t tell me…” I narrowed my eyes. “… A treasure map?”

“It would seem that is the case,” Mei Gui replied, folding her arms. “Given the colors of the four markers on the map… it would be wise to assume this yellow one represents the Earth Empyrean Terrarim’s lair—in other words, where we are right now. If we use that as a base, we can figure out the modern-day locations of the other three lairs even though the map here is outdated.”

“… Lorelei, can you make a copy of this map once we get back?” I asked aloud, to which the fox on my shoulders nodded. 

“Lorelei has already memorized the map to heart, Master.”

I nodded in satisfaction and prepared to leave, but Amane stopped me.

“Wait… there’s more writing here, also in Old Demihuman tongue,” she said, pointing at a tiny string of text above the map. It was a bit worn out so I didn’t notice it before, but now that she was explicitly pointing it out, it was quite clear.

“What does it say?” I asked, and Amane furrowed her brows a bit.

“Hm… When the Four Emypreans come together once more, will be when the world is saved from ruination.”