**#185. The Ancient City (3)**
—
*Clunk.*
As expected, the door didn’t open.
‘Locking magic.’
The pattern wasn’t particularly complex, and while Ray infused mana to release it, a voice continued to call out from the top of the tower.
[Insolent beings! How dare you ignore My warning! I shall personally grant you one last mercy, so begone at once!]
There was no need to be in such a hurry—Ray was on his way up to meet him anyway.
The boy figured the other party was severely lacking in patience.
[For lawless rogues like you, death is the only fate that awaits—.]
*Click.*
*Eeeeeeeek—*
The moment the door opened, the voice vanished as if it had been sucked into thin air.
Ray spoke without taking his eyes off the interior.
“Jang, Demper, I think it’d be better if you two waited on the bus.”
“Understood.”
“Will do.”
Once the three mages confirmed the non-combatants had boarded the bus, they stepped inside the tower.
They looked around.
Dim sunlight streaming through the windows.
Ashen dust thickly blanketing the area.
Decayed, fallen gray fragments.
And in the center, a desolate space with a worn spiral staircase.
Veronica murmured as she looked around with curious eyes.
“What was this place used for? There’s no trace of furniture like chairs or beds, so I doubt it was meant for habitation.”
Grine responded.
“I think it might’ve functioned as something like a command tower.”
“A command tower?”
“The war from the ancient era may not have ended with the races simply scattering to live separately. If they continued invading each other’s cities afterward, it could explain the existence of the Keepers.”
A time when magic and technology had reached their peak.
Grine’s theory was that the war machines created by the ancient races could be what the Keepers were.
Veronica nodded.
“That makes sense. A building this tall could’ve been used to monitor invading enemies at a glance.”
“Exactly. And if I were to guess what kind of race lived here…”
Ray walked toward the wall as he listened to the conversation.
The entire surface was covered in thick soot.
Upon closer inspection, the overlapping shadows revealed themselves to be letters and murals.
But they were unreadable.
‘It’s not just the soot. There are marks like slashes from something sharp, like a blade.’
It looked like someone had deliberately vandalized it to conceal its contents.
When Ray brushed the wall with his hand, the soot crumbled and fell like ash.
It was proof that not much time had passed since the soot had formed.
“Grine, didn’t you mention the stone tablets and history books in the Last Forest showed signs of deliberate damage?”
“That’s right. They’d been scratched, burned, torn—there were even signs someone had tried to destroy the stone tablets.”
“Were the marks old?”
“According to the elders, such signs have been there since ancient times.”
“These marks here seem more recent, though.”
Grine came closer and examined the wall.
“…You’re right. These were made fairly recently.”
“Could it be the same person?”
Grine paused in thought, then answered.
“You’re asking if someone who tried to conceal history in the ancient era somehow survived and later defaced this tower wall as well, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t think we can rule it out entirely. We have no way of knowing exactly how long ago the ancient era was.”
Someone tried to conceal history.
But why?
After a bit of discussion, the group ascended the spiral stairs.
Since each floor was no different from the first, they quickly passed through and reached the top.
“Hm, the top floor isn’t much different either.”
“Ah! Ray! Miss Grine! Look over there!”
Where Veronica pointed stood a familiar-looking structure.
A smooth, black stone formation.
White lightning-like patterns etched on the surface.
It resembled a massive, unmarked die—just like the cube they’d seen in Sector 37.
The only difference was its smaller size—small enough for a few grown men to wrap their arms around it.
“Ray, what’s a cube doing here?”
“There’ve been rumors.”
“What kind of rumors?”
“That the cube is an ancient construct jointly created by elves and dwarves.”
Ray stepped up to the cube and inspected its surface as he continued.
“I can’t confirm the first part, but the second seems more plausible now, seeing as it’s in a ruin. Grine, do you know anything about the cube?”
“No. There’s no mention of it in the records preserved in the Last Forest. In fact, I hadn’t even heard of it before coming to the human world.”
This was apparently Grine’s first time seeing a cube in person.
“I heard it’s a place where you can store and retrieve money conveniently.”
“Right. You can also make payments anywhere using a card linked to your account.”
Saying so, Ray took out his black card and held it to the cube’s surface.
He expected to feel something like being pulled inward—but nothing happened.
He tried several more times. Still nothing.
‘Is it broken?’
Or perhaps it was a cube designed for a purpose unrelated to Ignis.
“……”
The moment Ray observed it more closely, he became certain.
Scanning the area with narrowed eyes, Veronica burst out in frustration.
“But that guy who claimed to be a king earlier is nowhere to be seen. Did he escape through a secret passage or something? We can’t let him off after cornering us like that!”
“He didn’t run.”
“Huh?”
“He’s hiding. Inside this.”
Ray pointed at the cube. Veronica blinked in confusion.
“Uh… hiding? Are you saying there’s space *inside* the cube?”
“Looks like it. I can see mana moving inside. Like emotions in a container—right now, there’s fear, then distrust, and now… shock and surprise…”
Grine added with a bewildered expression.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but if there’s someone inside, the cube might’ve been designed as a kind of bunker—to hide from intruders.”
Ray nodded and examined the cube with delicate movements.
There was no visible door or mechanism leading inside, so he decided to use his secret weapon.
*Knock knock.*
“You’ve won a prize, and I’m here to deliver your reward.”
Veronica made a face somewhere between baffled and exasperated.
“Ray, are you serious?”
“Philip said this always works to get people to open their doors.”
“He’s not *completely* wrong, but it depends on the situation—ah! Miss Grine! No need to write that down!”
Pushing Ray aside, Veronica stepped up, saying she’d try opening it.
Large amounts of sky-blue mana gathered in her hand, and wind projectiles fired repeatedly at the cube.
“Come out immediately!”
The air split with a chilling sound, and the surrounding dust scattered in the wind pressure.
“Ray almost died because of you! Get out now! How are you going to take responsibility?!”
Watching Veronica suddenly explode with fury, Ray thought:
‘I didn’t almost die, though.’
And this wasn’t opening the door—it was more like trying to destroy it.
The cube wasn’t scratched at all. Just a waste of mana.
But he kept quiet, sensing that saying anything now would only get him scolded.
After her magic-fueled outburst ended—
“Phew…”
Veronica slumped like a deflated balloon and leaned against Grine.
Grine patted the girl’s red hair and looked at the cube.
“It’s completely unharmed. What kind of mineral is this made of?”
“Probably some rare mineral that no longer exists in modern times.”
“Maybe the rumors are true.”
“What rumors?”
“That the cube can’t be destroyed by physical means.”
Ray had heard that, too, and found it mostly believable.
If the cube could be broken, no one would’ve left a potential treasure vault sitting in the middle of a sector.
Then a triumphant shout echoed from inside the cube.
—Ahahahaha! You pitiful creatures think you can harm me? Foolishness! This is an impregnable fortress that has *never* been breached!
Ray tried to initiate a conversation.
“Come out. We won’t hurt you.”
—You think I’d fall for a savage’s trick?! Fool! Simpleton! Imbecile!
His haughty tone and manner of speech oddly reminded Ray of Binjin.
—Sit there and suck your thumbs, you inferior beings!
“Ray, I think I’m getting mad again.”
“Hang on. I’ll get him out.”
Ray immediately put into action a method he’d considered before.
*Wuuuuung!*
All types of elements in the air were sucked into Ray’s hand.
A violently swirling vortex.
The result of mixed, multi-colored mana was a pure black orb that swallowed all light.
“Ray…? Is that…?”
Sensing the deeply unnatural and ominous energy, Grine’s ears flattened.
She, who remained calm even in the face of death, was now clearly afraid.
But Ray had no bandwidth to explain—he was focused on controlling the Element of Destruction.
The last one he’d created was the size of a marble.
This one was egg-sized.
‘It may not seem like much of a difference, but…’
He could tell—it would lead to a vastly different result.
“Element of Destruction.”
Ray gave a short answer to Grine and brought the black egg to one side of the cube.
The contact point disintegrated into black particles and vanished.
No sound. No sensation.
—Now that you realize the strength of my fortress, leave at once, you uncivilized invaders!
The man inside, unaware of what was happening, continued to boast.
Then, after a moment—
The element consumed a volume proportional to its size before vanishing.
Through the gaping hole left in the cube, they saw a man with wildly overgrown hair and beard.
Next to him were stacks of travel bags and preserved food.
“Heh heh heh! You fools don’t know your place! No matter how hard you try, my fortress shall never—”
Lost in his monologue, the man turned his head.
“—never… be breached…”
And locked eyes with Ray through the hole.
“……”
“……”
“……”
“……”
A long, suffocating silence.
“Uh… hello?”
The man gave a dazed, sheepish smile.
Ray reached through the hole and grabbed him by the collar.
—
*
*
*
*Outside the cube…*
The man, now dragged out, didn’t seem entirely sane.
“I-I am a king! Y-You can’t treat me this way…”
His eyes were unfocused, and he kept rambling nonsense.
Still, the group remained patient and managed to piece together the situation.
The man had been a mage with an expedition team that arrived about five years ago.
The rest of the team had been wiped out by Keepers, leaving him trapped in the tower alone.
‘And after spending so long here by himself, he must’ve gone mad.’
Ray looked at the wall where countless tally marks had been carved.
There were about a thousand—and then they stopped.
Ray asked the man,
“How did you survive for five years without food?”
“M-Military rations were plentiful. My retainers originally ran separate food supply vehicles. I stockpiled all of it inside the fortress.”
“I noticed a device that lures Keepers. Didn’t you think of using it to escape?”
“W-What king would abandon his nation and run away?”
Having resolved a few lingering doubts, Ray moved on to the most important matter.
“The letters and drawings that were on this wall—did you destroy them?”
At that moment, fear and terror rapidly filled the man’s vessel.
“I-I don’t know anything about that!”
“Answer me—”
“I swear, I don’t know!”
“From the start, it looked like—”
“I don’t know! I said I don’t! Get out of here!”
“……”
Seeing the electricity gathering in Ray’s hand, Veronica stepped in before things could escalate.
“Wait, let me try talking to him.”
Ray stepped back, and Veronica stood before the man.
“Your Majesty, we did not come here to conquer your country, but to foster exchange. If you are willing to cooperate in conversation, we will withdraw without any unpleasant incidents. As a gesture of goodwill, we will also supply food to replenish your nation’s dwindling resources.”
“I-Is that true?”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
After a long moment of hesitation, the man finally parted his lips with difficulty.
“Ten days ago, an invader bearing a red stone trampled this fortress and then left.”
