Living as an Unemployed in Another World

71 – 3. Two Adventurers (24)

24.

Chaos is equal to everyone.

We will not show mercy to a weak country that would collapse if left unattended, and we will not delay its destruction even if it is a great country with a prosperous history. It is not human beings who determine the rise and fall of a country, and the fall of an empire proves that.

“Empire, I mean.”

It was Chloe who opened her mouth. Unlike Mira, who gave her a stinging look, Squire was a little happy when she responded to her own words. Anyone could see that she was reciting verses that someone else had ordered her to memorize, but there was no way she wasn’t hungry for Beauty’s attention. Everyone, including me, had her eyes on her.

“Chloe, do you know the story?”

“No, it was before I was born, so I don’t know. But since I was little, I often heard stories about bad dragons.”

“…… A bad dragon?”

When Mira tilted her head in wonder, Chloe reacted to that reaction and shrugged her shoulders as if there was something wrong. Then she pricked up her ears in amazement to herself.

“Ah, no, that, when I was young. Her mother often said that. Because they are children.”

“Ah, the black dragon.”

Chloe patted her hands in embarrassment, and Mira nodded, saying she understood. She also muttered, looking at me with her sentimental tone.

“When I was living in the royal capital, Master often said. Even such grandiose buildings are actually just reconstructions of previous traces. Why, the story of the entire country being destroyed by the dragon’s breath is famous.”

Mira closed one eye slightly as if asking for her consent. I nodded her head too. Compared to them, I haven’t spent a lot of time in this world, but the story of the empire that flourished hundreds of years ago has been handed down almost like a fairy tale.

A long time ago. Before many countries divided the land and claimed their own territories, it was none other than the Empire that once dominated this continent. The story of a mighty country where the cold-hearted and cruel emperor united the territory that was once divided into four small countries into one, and maintained its system in chaos for five hundred years.

Even in such a country, when a noble disobeyed a dragon, everything melted due to the acid breath they emitted. Although the power of dragons varies greatly from individual to individual, everyone in the world has known that such a mighty dragon exists. It is still a mystery whether it is called a black dragon simply because the color of its scales is black, or whether it is called that with deep malice.

Anyway, everyone knows that everything melts and sinks deep into the ground, and the current kingdom is nothing more than a country rebuilt from the wreckage.

“So, why do you say that the mystery of that empire lies dormant at the ends of the earth? Also, how did your knights find out about that fact?”

“Oh, yes, that is.”

Mira asked Squire in a rather brusque tone if she still had no good feelings for the knights. However, he continued her explanation nervously as if it was embarrassing for her to talk to her about anything. He’s a very easy-going boy.

“As you know, the labyrinth our knights entered was up to the first basement floor. If it had been a sunken fort simply buried in the ground, we would have continued to explore…… From the 2nd floor, I couldn’t do that. They said it was full of traps.”

“A trap?”

“Yes. Since you’re an adventurer, you know better than I do, but it’s not unusual for our knights to see monsters that like to settle underground. However, on the second floor, it was said that the corpses of monsters who had died from those traps were piled up. Moreover, they said that they felt the presence of monsters that were not dead even in those traps, so they gave up the exploration and returned to the surface.”

From nob le mt l dot com

No, wait. It’s so easy with just the four of us in such a dangerous place? After all, didn’t Alicia hold a grudge against me? I am more concerned about my life than anyone else. Perhaps reading the anxiety in my expression, Squire added an explanation with a rare glance at me.

“Of course, you didn’t ask for a complete dungeon clearing. Haven’t you heard from Deputy Youngju? They say that they hired you on purpose because a large number of unskilled personnel will only increase the chance of getting caught in a trap…….”

Yes, that’s right. In a labyrinth, it is common to squeeze through a side road that only one or two people can pass through rather than a wide, open passage. That’s why I asked my party, but what the hell are you doing to entrust me with such a risky task? In the labyrinth, all I did was hide behind Gerald’s house and defeat the Mimic, and I’ve never really fought a monster before. All I can think of is hiding behind Mira’s back.

“Anyway, I couldn’t return without income, so I separately investigated the manufacturing style of the weapons and devices used in the trap…… It was concluded that it was an object of the Imperial Age. Also, there are a lot of history books in the count’s residence. The conclusion Alicia-sama based on that was the existence of the crown.”

As I listened to his story, I put on a nonchalant expression on the outside, but on the inside I was shocked. No, he was raised with a good education, but Alicia is only 16 this year. Having a lot of knowledge and applying it are completely different things. How smart are you? Perhaps the future of the Louver estate is bright.

“So, why ‘sculpture’? I haven’t heard the explanation for that part yet.”

“Oh, yes. That is.”

I looked out the window alone while the others focused on the story again. In fact, from this point on, it was a story that I knew without having to hear it.

As I said, the empire is a typical bloody country that inherited the crown by shedding countless blood before it was destroyed. Naturally, the apex of such a place was also not inherited because of blood, or because he was the eldest son. The one with the most qualities of a ruler was appointed the next emperor.

The symbol of the custom is the piece of the crown. The story is that the first emperor who unified the empire cast a spell on the crown he wore and cut it into four pieces to pass it on to one of his four children.

Four crowns. One throne. Of course, none of the emperor’s children wanted to yield the crown, as the blood symbolized it, and after all sorts of schemes and schemes, his brothers and sisters stabbed each other in the back, and only those who survived assembled the bloody crown and put it on their heads.

It is indeed a barbaric tradition, but ironically, it is said that the empire prospered endlessly while that barbaric tradition was handed down over dozens of generations. However, unlike the story of destruction, this fact is never known to the general public. Well, if the fact that this custom existed spread widely, it would obviously affect the current kingdom’s succession structure.

Then how do I know? Yes, thanks to the witch’s ‘education’, what else could there be? She indeed had beaten me to everything she considered ‘cultured’ by her standards, including her f*cking way of speaking. The same goes for old histories that people have no way to know about.

Anyway, when the squire realistically spread a story similar to what I knew inside the carriage, unlike Mira and Alphonse who silently nodded, Chloe responded realistically and listened. If you look at it this way, it looks like a girl who is at most a year or two older than that squire…….

“Yes, I needed an adventure story like this! So, if the crown exists, our goal is to find it first, right?”

“Oh, yes. Anyway, I’m supposed to wait outside the dungeon…….”

Come to think of it, how old is Chloe? I know that elves live much longer than dwarves, but I’ve never heard of a half-elf’s lifespan. Even though they look like that, did they actually say that they are not my age? I don’t think I’m going to say honorifics now, but I’m still curious.

“Come to think of it, how old is Chloe?”

“Huh? Nana?”

I stuck my head when Chloe hesitated and didn’t answer. That’s why I’m more curious. Then Mira pushed my body back.

“Why are you interested…… ?”

From nob le mt l dot com

No, you might be wondering. Celine isn’t the only one who’s jealous, but if you look closely, Mira’s guard range is too wide. I couldn’t help but shrug my shoulders and look at Alphonse.

“Speaking of which, Alphonse… ….”

“…… I do not know.”

“Don’t you know?”

“In my tribe, age was not counted in years. They are different from humans.”

“Ah… ….”

There was such a situation. In the end, are Mira and me the only ones who know each other’s age? I was about to get a little sullen, but Alphonse eventually added briefly.

“However, after coming out of the tribe, I learned the calendar, so if I had a rough guess, hmm, Jin, it would be about the same as you.”

“…… Are you kidding?”

Alphonse did not answer. No, you’re not older than me with that look? Maybe it’s your brother? I can’t accept beyond what I don’t want to admit. Maybe I’m old enough to be a squire and a younger brother squatting next to me.

Mira was equally taken aback, and Chloe was making an indescribably complicated expression. How old are you? While everyone was shocked, I slowly recovered from the shock and tried to move on to another topic.

“By the way, Alicia…… If you did your own research and found out, don’t the Kunt estates even know what the crown is doing?”

“Oh, yes. I heard that you only know that there is a new dungeon near the border of the territory…… First of all, we discovered it first, so we made a treaty to explore first.”

Squire muttered. Indeed, now that the power of the Louvre estate has weakened as a whole, adventurers from other territories can sniff it and go secretly. That’s why I was rushing things. I leaned back on the backrest and looked out the window with my chin resting. Now the coastline or the plains could not be seen, and the view of the deep forest was gradually approaching.

Suddenly, the bag he covered with his hand moved slightly in his bosom. Whoops, it’s not the time yet. I blocked the opening of the bag at the squire boy, who was looking around at the noise, and deliberately smiled.