Chapter 51

Al, startled, thought it might be Orson's mischief and quickly looked over to where he was sitting, leaning against the wall nearby. But Orson's eyes were closed. As Al looked around, wondering where the voice had come from, the voice spoke again.

“I am the assistant of Tempest.”

“Tempest? Assistant?”

To Al, these were unfamiliar words. He continued the conversation cautiously. It seemed that the voice was coming from the crystal the corpse was holding. When he heard "Tempest," Al recalled the neighboring Kingdom of Tempest, but from the explanation, it was not that. The man's name was Tempest, and the "assistant" referred to an intelligent crystal that had assisted him when he was alive.

“This is not just a crystal, and it may not be limited to this form.”

The assistant added this to Al, who was tilting his head in confusion. This whisper seemed to be audible only to Al. The assistant explained that it was conducting something through the bone near the ear of the person touching it. Al had more questions, like why there were no bones in the ear, but he felt it would be endless to start asking.

“Anyway, let's leave the details for later. What was this assistant doing here? Were you guarding the corpse?”

As the explanation became more detailed, Al, who was growing tired, asked. From his tone, it didn't seem like he was angry, but the situation was unclear.

“I was indeed guarding the corpse. Normally, I should condemn any actions that would dishonor the corpse, but I sensed respect from you. Besides, my own magic power is almost depleted, and I can hardly even speak, let alone guard. It is thanks to your assistant providing me with magic power that I can speak like this.”

It turned out that the crystal Al had as a pendant from his grandfather was also an assistant. When Al asked why it didn't speak like the one here, he was told that it was in a state like a newborn baby and couldn't even speak to humans yet.

“We just ended up here. When we tried to leave, a golem blocked our way. Could you let us pass?”

Al, worried that the conversation was straying, quickly interjected.

“I just want to spend quiet time with Tempest. I want this tomb to remain a secret to others. If you can keep that, I will let you go for the sake of your assistant.”

The crystal, which called itself an assistant, had apparently spent a long time here. Al nodded.

“Your assistant is rapidly learning from the knowledge I have imparted. It will soon be able to speak to you. It seems to have been growing slowly, receiving your thoughts. I understood from the magic power it shared with me that you are not a bad person. I envy you. I also had days like that with Tempest.”

Al glanced at Orson, who was sleeping weakly. He wanted to get out quickly, put Orson to bed, and feed him something nutritious.

“Sorry, but I want to get out quickly. Can't you use magic to send us back to the village at the foot of the mountain?”

The crystal immediately said it was impossible. It seemed to have only a few permissions to manage the tomb and couldn't use magic. When Al asked if this conversation was magic, it seemed to be different.

“Research to make assistants capable of using magic was progressing, but I entered this tomb before it was completed. I don't know the results. On the contrary, why is your assistant so young, or rather, why do you seem to know so little about assistants?”

Al didn't know the answer. In middle school, history lessons only covered a little before the founding of the Sylvester Kingdom, about 200 years ago. When he asked if the crystal knew about the Sylvester Kingdom or the neighboring Kingdom of Tempest, it didn't know. Its master, Tempest, was a great magician but not a king or noble. It seemed there was a significant gap in the periods they knew.

“Hmm, at least, I will give your assistant a password to prevent the guardian golem from attacking. If you have it, you won't be attacked. Return through the ceiling of the guardian room. Also, the Kingdom of Tempest is intriguing. If you find out anything, please come and tell me without letting anyone know. Can you do that?”

Al nodded and placed Orson on the chair he had transformed from the transportation spell disc, adding a frame to prevent him from falling off.

“Not bad at all.”

The crystal, the assistant of the magician Tempest, said this sincerely. Al smiled happily.

“Then we'll go. Uh, Mr. Tempest's assistant.”

“Yes, I have a name. It's Malachi. Goodbye.”

Al carefully placed the crystal back with the corpse, closed the stone coffin, and stood up. By telling him his name, it seemed the crystal had developed a sense of closeness. He thought there was a lot to learn. When Orson recovered, he would come back secretly. That's what Al thought.

-----

As Al climbed up the crack in the cave using a rope, a faint smell of burnt meat wafted through the cave. He peeked in to see if anyone was there. The cave was empty, and the smell seemed to be coming from the gap in the collapsed rocks where he had entered.

He had parted ways with Gabby around noon, and it wasn't yet evening. It was too early for him to return. Perhaps he hadn't followed Al's advice to go back.

Al laid Orson on a relatively undamaged bed in the cave and peeked outside through the gap in the collapsed rocks. There was a clinking sound of metal and voices. It seemed there were people set up a simple kitchen outside the cave for long-term stays. From the voices, there were two people, both young women.

“Thank you, Joanna. But it's fine, I don't have an appetite. Can I just have the sauce?”

“Princess, I'm sorry, but you have to eat something…”

Al tilted his head. Princess? Whose princess? Or a nickname? At least, they didn't seem to be bandits, and Al felt relieved. He slowly slipped out of the gap and peeked at the kitchen from behind a rock.

There were two women there, one in her early twenties, with short, brown hair that looked like it had been cut hastily, and a metal armor that was dirty and damaged, as if she had fled from a battlefield. The other was a girl a little younger than Al, wearing a tattered dress that had once been beautiful. Her dull, golden hair was tied back, probably to keep it out of the way. On the kitchen counter, there were some charred lumps that seemed to be failed attempts at cooking.

Thank you for reading.

I plan to post twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays at 10 AM. I appreciate your support.

Thank you for pointing out the typos. I always find it helpful.

I would be grateful for likes, ratings, and comments. Please feel free to leave them.

On June 3, 2023, I changed the way the crystal's words (which only Al can hear through bone conduction) are presented from single quotation marks (「」) to double quotation marks (“”).

On June 9, 2023, I received a comment that the name "Levi" appeared twice, once for the assistant and once for the guild. This was my mistake. I have changed the assistant's name from Levi to Malachi. I apologize for the confusion.