Episode 14
#14. The Golden Chariot of the Demon Lord (3)
At some point, a strange rumor began to circulate in the magic world..
The rumor was related to a golden chariot traveling around the devil's land..
It was a very unique carriage in that even though it was traveling around a world full of monsters, there were no monsters around..
The wizard named Arad, who drove the carriage, made and sold beer and food such as hamburgers and French fries in the middle of the magic world..
In addition, they provided equipment maintenance and simple first aid treatment..
Although the price was 10 to 20 times higher than in the village, it was salvation itself for those wandering in the devil's land..
“Have you guys seen the five knights on horseback??”
And Arad, the owner of this golden carriage, always asked the same question to the adventurers he encountered..
About the knights of the High Castle who roam the demonic landscape on horseback..
“I don't know that! Give me everything you have!”
“There's only one wizard! Just attack before casting the spell.!”
“kill it!”
Of course, the journey of this golden carriage was not always safe..
As the saying goes, the most dangerous thing in the Demon World is not monsters or ancient dungeons, but adventurers..
Quite a few adventurers have attacked, aiming for the golden chariot of the Demon Lord..
Not all adventurers are as cautious or have extra money as Travis Party..
“Tsk, I guess I'll have to use up my precious magic stones again..”
Of course, Arad was well prepared for this..
It was a handmade magic crossbow and a magic stone arrow custom-made for the crossbow..
Slap, Chuck
He activated the dust-sized magic power in his heart as if turning on a lighter and then pulled the trigger of the crossbow..
Kwaaaaang-!
Then, as always, there was a huge explosion and explosion at the place where the irreverent act took place..
‘This is my first murder!’
Not long ago, he was living an ordinary life on Earth..
Even after falling into another world, I just safely made and sold food in the village..
It was my first time experiencing carnage and threats in this situation..
‘It's calm. To a strange degree.’
Perhaps thanks to the countless passive skills and stats inherent in his body, Arad's mentality was calm..
“Hehehe… … ! Yuda's party……!”
The huge explosion blew away the calves of the three adventurers who were just swinging their axes without a trace..
“He is a wizard of great skill! I didn't even see the spell being cast.!”
Quite a few adventurers witnessed the skill of the wizard driving the golden chariot..
“What are you going to do with that party? Are you going to attack? Are you just going to go? Or will you use my food wagon??”
“We're not in a hurry yet... … . I will use it later. Hehehehe…….”
“Our party will pay with monster byproducts.!”
Even if they were mayfly adventurers, they had the ability to learn..
After demonstrating his skills about ten times, there were no more attempts to attack Arad's golden chariot..
Arad's golden chariot, which embraces fear and salvation at the same time, quickly gained recognition in the magic world..
* * *
Business was better than expected.
Of course, business was not the main purpose for me now..
However, there was no reason to refuse to allow goods worth of silver coins and by-products that, if processed and sold well, would be worth gold coins, to be piled up in the wagon..
‘Of course, considering the cost of operating and maintaining this carriage, it is barely enough to avoid a deficit..’
But just because business was going well didn't make me feel good..
Because the golden carriage I am driving now was the height of inefficiency..
If we had to compare it, we could think of it as space development technology from the Cold War era..
Insufficient infrastructure, materials, etc... … . In order to bridge the gap of 100 years, a huge amount of money was inevitably required..
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
While driving the golden chariot, I looked at the snowy fields of the Demonic Scenery..
As I passed small hills and a handful of garden-sized forests, open plains repeatedly appeared and surrounded me..
When it comes to demonic scenes, there must be monsters that appear without knowing the end, but the surroundings of my carriage were strangely quiet..
The two ordinary horses pulling this carriage are also calm..
I put it on a harness coated with all kinds of enchantments, and even though it is not a special horse, it runs freely in the horse race..
‘I'm glad I made a lot of money.’
It was rewarding to apply magic stone paint to the outside and inside of the half-dismantled carriage, which increases durability, defense, and helps fight off monsters..
‘Even if you don't have the materials or equipment, you can somehow cover it up as long as you have MAX level dexterity stats and production skills. It was an almost unique achievement even in the Silver Age 1..’
How far did you travel by carriage??
As the sun quickly set, I parked the carriage on a rocky hill..
‘I guess I'll have to camp around here today..’
I got off the coach seat and opened the back door of the carriage..
The inside of the carriage that was revealed was even more surprising than the exterior of the carriage..
This is because there was a large space inside that seemed to be five times the size of the exterior of the carriage..
This is the result of wallpapering it with magic stone paint, spreading magic stone plates on the ceiling in all directions above it, and then drawing all kinds of space expansion and lightweight mana circuits on the magic stone plates..
In this era, I am virtually the only one, and even 100 years later, only a few magic engineers can make this miracle..
‘Considering all the hard work I put into making this…….’
It might be worth the price for a carriage like this, but I had no intention of making more..
It was a lot of hard work just to make it..
Even after making it, I had to spend a lot of money and time on maintenance every day..
* * *
I came out from inside the carriage holding four totems that looked like tripods..
The four totems brought out that way were installed in the north, south, east, and west around the carriage..
“Please take care of me today as well.”
After installing the totem, I sincerely chanted the activation spell..
Paat, paat, paat, paat
Then, four magic circles glowed like holograms around the carriage. A barrier has been established, albeit slightly..
From now until daybreak, these totems will be on watch for you..
Most of the magic monsters were solved with magic stone paint applied to the carriage, and even for some monsters and adventurers that did not work, these alarm magic tools were used to prevent them..
“…….”
But my expression when I saw this wasn't particularly good..
I spent all the money I had saved so far making these on my own. Even the gold coins I received in return for teaching me the recipe for Arad salt..
‘I end up paying the real interest.!’
What caused me to bleed like this?.
I was looking for the causes.
‘The bag of salt I gave as a gift back then is still safe..’
before going to bed.
I checked the direction I would travel tomorrow by looking at the compass in the carriage..
The bag of Arad salt that was handed to him as a gift at that time had a location tracking magic enchanted in a crude way..
‘Have you really gone to the abyss of the devil??’
The problem is that this compass points to the deepest abyss of the Demonic Sutra..
‘The adventurers' eyewitness accounts are the same, and so is this compass. shit… … . This is why you suddenly disappear! I wonder what a nobleman who is as high as a grand duke, or even a nobleman without an heir, is wandering around like this..’
The information I heard from the adventurers and the direction indicated by the compass matched. This is just too much.
‘The abyss is really dangerous…….’
Deep within the magic world. There were many truly dangerous monsters from the abyss..
The number of monsters that ignore the golden paint applied to the carriage and approach them will also be incomparably greater than now..
Also, there was a high probability that the magic tools we had now would not work due to the magical power emitted by the dungeons of the ancient Golden Age..
My skill level is MAX, but materials and tools were clearly limited by the times from 100 years ago..
‘Of course, the number of adventurers will be rare. But it's just as dangerous?’
Not only monsters but also people are the problem.
Adventurers active outside the abyss are, at most, C-level or lower adventurers from the north..
Combining my 2nd circle magic power with a magic crossbow is enough to subdue me..
However, he was not a B-class adventurer active in the abyss..
‘There are only two adventurers who are B-level or higher. If you are from a non-imperial country like the North, you are a very strong legal robber, and if you are from an empire, you are actually an imperial spy..’
The latter was especially problematic in a situation like now where the empire's manipulation was suspected..
‘The Untouchables explore the ancient dungeons of the Demon World for the Empire..’
With their skills, they could sever my head before I even aim my crossbow..
‘If anything, we've been lucky enough not to have encountered any imperial adventurer parties so far..’
The good news is that my luck stat has been corrected..
The point is that I haven't encountered any high-level adventurers yet..
‘Ugh…….’
I sighed inwardly and sat half-lying on the chair provided in the carriage..
‘If you go this far and nothing happens to the Archduke... … ? I feel really frustrated.’
There's nothing more thrilling or more unsettling than having to risk everything based solely on intuition..
* * *
Snowy field with fluttering snow.
Vision is blurry and hazy.
The deepest part of the magic world. The snowy field of the abyss was closer to gray desolation than snow white..
A place like this in an open snowy field.
A bonfire with minimal smoke lit up like a lighthouse..
“…….”
“…….”
Six people, presumed to be knights, were sitting silently around the brazier..
Perhaps because of the cold, he wrapped his body tightly in a thick cloak made of monster fur, and his head was also protected as much as possible with a hood made of monster fur..
Everyone was clearly showing extreme fatigue from the arduous and long journey..
Meanwhile, the expensive express horses that served as their bridges.
There were no horses that were not afraid even in front of monster piers..
‘Where did it go wrong??’
Arina, who was sitting blankly, couldn't believe this situation..
Even now, if I close my eyes and wake up, it feels like I'm in my own bedroom in a high castle. Or the Polly Inn in Haven..
She raised her head and scanned the gray snow field..
This act, which I had repeated countless times since I first entered the abyss, had now become a part of survival, like breathing..
‘I didn't feel any trace of the barrier at all..’
Now they were trapped and wandering in the barrier..
It felt like two months had passed..
* * *
When I first entered the magic world.
What welcomed them was the same snowy landscape as usual..
There were small hills and a handful of forests here and there, and it was a snowy field filled with rare and unique mutant monsters that can only be found in the Demon World..
Adventurers from all over the continent ran across these snowy fields, hunting monsters in the magic world or being hunted..
For northerners, whose daily life was fighting against barbarism, it was a very ordinary life..
“It's a good thing we got off to a quick start..”
The six knights, including Arina, were relieved when they saw this..
We have confirmed that the abyssal disaster mentioned by Frostmourne Knight Doyle has not yet spread..
But at the same time, I felt puzzled.
‘too quiet.’
It was questionable that even though a necromancer controlling the monsters of the abyss appeared, no signs of abnormality were visible..
“Hurry to the abyss. Lord Doyle, take the lead..”
“ancient!”
However, I did not doubt Doyle, the knight who returned alive from the abyss..
This is because the knights belonging to Frostmourne were selected only from the most trustworthy and loyal of Lancelet's knights..
If you couldn't trust them, it would be no exaggeration to say that there was no one in the north you could trust..
He entered the abyss of the magic world by driving a special horse so quickly (for reference, Frostmourne's agent Doyle was riding a special horse with another high-ranking knight).).
On the way here, quite a few monsters attacked, but Arina and the knights, as the strongest force in the North, wiped out everything that approached..
In the process, I didn't even suffer any minor injuries and didn't lose any physical strength. They arrived at the abyss with almost all the food they were carrying..
The abyss we arrived at was noticeably different from the entrance. A deep gray snow field spread out there, like a border divided by a river..
“It's definitely strange.”
“It’s completely different from the abyss we remember..”
The beginning of the Demonic Sutra and the abyss of the Demonic Sutra are originally different..
But the current abyss was very strange..
“I can't see a single person..”
“No matter how deep the abyss is, how can there be no adventurers like this??”
First of all, there was no adventurer party of class B or higher that should have been hunting in the abyss at all..
Of course, because the demon world was wide, it was rare for people of the same name to encounter each other. But even so, it was strange that there wasn't even a trace..
“I can't even see any monsters..”
Above all, I couldn't see any monsters that were always associated with demonic scenes..
“Even though it's quiet, it's too quiet.”
As its name suggests, the abyss of the Demonic World is so profoundly serene. So unpleasant, so creepy.
“……Your Majesty, it seems like I've been hit by a barrier..”
“Mmm…….”
And soon Balzac and Arina had to admit what had happened..
“When and how?!”
“If it was a barrier, we wouldn't have known.?”
“Everyone, come to your senses! He is a necromancer with tremendous skills.!”
But by the time the problem was recognized, it was already too late..
“If I had known this would happen, I would have asked the witches for support.…….”
“Even if I couldn't do it, I had to come with the Great Witch of Spring..”
Everyone was embarrassed and had similar regrets.
The witches of the North are probably growing crops in the high castle right now..
In particular, I should have brought Isabelle, the Great Witch of Spring, the head of those witches..
Spring is just around the corner, so my heart, which did not want to disturb the busy witches, returned with great defeat..
“Everyone, don't panic. A barrier probably has an end and an exit.!”
“Yes, that's right. It's not like I've been hit by a barrier once or twice in the first place.?”
“It's very annoying and annoying, but it's not something I can't get over..”
“From now on, focus on your five senses and find the gap.!”
Arina and the knights began to wander through the barrier..
Comments