Chapter 47

Part 22: Found the Inheritance (3)

A moment later, all the monsters had fallen, and the phoenix hunter approached with a bright face.

She hugged me tightly, and I found myself buried in her stomach.

Oh, the height difference made the scene quite comical.

Moreover, her arm strength was incredibly strong.

"Wait, wait! I can't breathe!"

After flailing my arms several times, I finally managed to break free from her.

She stepped back and, realizing she was in her underwear, quickly put on her outer clothes and armor.

I wiped my face, which was drenched with water, and said to her,

"Wow! Just holding another shield makes such a huge difference?"

"Compared to before?"

Oops, that was something only I experienced, right?

"No, it's different from when you fought with just a sword at the viscount's house. Did your skills improve during that time?"

"Oh, I see. I remember that. It's not that my skills improved. It's because of the shield, just as you said."

She smiled and stroked the shield.

Fortunately, it seemed to pass smoothly.

I need to be more careful with my words. Repeating lives multiple times has led to occasional mistakes. Even though my body is fine, my attention has been affected by the continuous deaths and suffering.

"Oh, right. Look at this."

She stroked the shield and then hurriedly walked toward the reservoir.

By the water's edge, a considerable-sized iron chest was half-submerged.

Could it be?

I followed her to the iron chest.

Unlike the shield she was holding, this chest was made of ordinary iron.

It was rusted and corroded from being in the water for a long time.

If it hadn't been made of thick iron, it would have broken long ago.

"Was there something like this on the bottom?"

Thanks to the light from the torch, I hadn't seen this chest when I looked around.

"There were probably more originally. But because it was submerged in the water for so long, this is the only chest I found."

She infused mana into her sword and struck the side of the chest, which had a broken lock.

Snap.

The lock easily broke off.

"Shall we see what's inside?"

She opened the old chest.

Whoosh!

When the chest opened, a bright light blinded us.

Rubbing my eyes from the sudden light, I finally managed to see inside the chest properly.

First, what caught my eye was the thick layer of gold coins covering the bottom of the chest.

These were ancient empire gold coins, worth several times more than the current ones.

"Using gold coins as a floor mat?"

However, the phoenix hunter only nodded indifferently at the gold coins on the bottom.

No, a mercenary shouldn't have that expression.

Relaxed, the phoenix hunter inadvertently revealed her true nature.

I pretended not to notice her expression.

On top of the gold coins were other items, half-buried in the coins.

A small sword that looked like a dagger and an old book.

She picked up the old book with a delighted face and handed me the dagger.

Hey, there's a flying bird pattern on the dagger too.

"There's a pattern on this too."

The items with patterns and the book were what she wanted. I had agreed to take the other items.

Thinking about it now, it seemed like a slightly disadvantageous deal for me...

"The items falling into the water made it too advantageous for me. Just the shield and the book are more than enough compensation for me."

Well, from the battle just now, I could tell that the shield and the sword were a pair.

The remaining book probably contained information about the lost inheritance ability.

However, the dagger she gave me also had the same pattern. It was clearly part of the same set as the sword and shield...

"That dagger is part of the inheritance, along with the sword and shield."

See? I was right.

"It's just a slightly sharper sword to others, but it's a sword to show that our family owes you a favor. If you return the sword later, our family will repay the favor."

Hmm, she's indeed a principled person.

It wasn't a bad deal for me, but...

When she mentioned her family, she must have meant nobility, yet she seemed too principled even for a noble.

I shook my head inwardly.

Well, people are different. There are bound to be people like her.

Thinking that, I asked again,

"Will you tell me where to find you later?"

She nodded with a serious expression in response to my question.

Well, that's good. While the compensation is important, I was most curious about her identity.

Moreover, all the gold coins on the bottom of the chest were mine, and there were definitely more items left at the bottom of the reservoir.

The reservoir isn't going anywhere, so I could always come back and search later.

"The place to find me later is..."

She opened her mouth, and I focused on her words, even infusing mana into my ears.

But just as she was about to speak!

Rumble.

A rumbling sound came from the reservoir.

Then, a jet of water shot up into the air.

Boom!

The water jet soared through the ceiling and the hole in it.

Swoosh!

The two of us were immediately drenched.

"What the...?"

I looked at the phoenix hunter with a bewildered face.

"Why is the reservoir suddenly doing that?"

She frowned at my question. She tilted her head and muttered,

"I had to break some rocks to get the chest out from between them..."

"Surely, you didn't disturb an underground water vein, did you?"

"Did I? It wasn't that hard to climb out with the sword and the iron chest in my hands..."

That's definitely what happened!

The rocks she broke must have been blocking the water flow from the ceiling.

The water flow, blocked for hundreds of years, was now open.

Boom!

The water that had been gushing like a fountain now poured onto the floor.

The reservoir gradually expanded due to the water pouring in.

No, the water level in the reservoir was gradually rising.

The phoenix hunter and I looked at each other.

"We need to run, right?"

"There's no other choice!"

It was impossible to lure the monsters and defeat them one by one or to wait for an opportunity to deal with the larger ones.

We had to rely on the now stronger phoenix hunter and escape from the rising water.

I stuffed as many gold coins as I could into my pockets and started running with her.

She ran into a nearby cave first, and I followed, tucking the dagger into my waist and slinging the greatsword over my shoulder.

Boom!

The sound of water rising behind us continued.

Due to the vibrations and the sound of water, the monsters blocking our way seemed different from before.

Instead of surrounding us or trapping us, they seemed more surprised to see us than we were to see them.

She couldn't have known they were different, and she wouldn't have cared even if she did.

As her shield and sword moved, the monsters blocking our way were cut and thrown aside.

We didn't stop to finish off the monsters that were thrown aside and continued running forward.

The injured monsters would be taken care of by the rushing water behind us.

We kept going up, dealing with the monsters as we passed.

During the ascent, I didn't even have a chance to swing my sword.

The gold coins in my pockets and the weight of the greatsword slowed me down, but more than that, her movements were too fast.

She had been getting stronger since she picked up the shield.

She was gradually getting used to using the shield and sword together, and her mana flow was becoming smoother.

By the time we reached the exit of the cave, she was probably twice as strong as before she picked up the shield.

I had no complaints about just following her.

Unlike her, I had already fought the monsters to the point of exhaustion.

If I stopped to fight like her, I might be swept away by the water.

I couldn't afford to repeat my death for such a foolish reason. This time, I was determined to escape.

Running hard, we arrived at a completely different cave.

"Hold on, this looks like it's been touched by human hands?"

As she said, from here on, it was a man-made underground passage.

It was the passage leading to the treasure vault.

"Ah... Is this connected to the treasure vault?"

She quickly realized it too.

However, she was unusually calm this time.

That was because she knew the treasure vault had been destroyed.

She tried to move on with a calm expression.

But this time, I stopped her.

"Wait. We should be more careful from here. It doesn't seem like all the monsters have come out yet..."

The two large red monsters and the gray ones were still missing. If they hadn't drowned, they were likely waiting nearby.

But my explanation was lacking...

Without revealing my secret, it was hard to give a proper explanation.

She looked at me for a moment and nodded.

"Alright. Your instincts seem pretty good."

Fortunately, she listened to me.

She spread mana while holding her shield and sword, and I retied the belt of gold coins made from monster skin that I had grabbed earlier.

I slung the greatsword on my back and held the dagger in my hand.

The passage was too narrow for the greatsword to be useful, and it would interfere with her fighting.

Supporting her from behind would be more helpful in the fight.

Seeing me with the dagger, she smiled, apparently pleased.

The two of us slowly walked down the passage.

A little later, the iron door we had seen before came into view in the distance.

As expected, monsters were gathered in front of the iron door.

The gray monsters we had been killing and two larger red ones behind them.

The 'Red Mice' were guarding the treasure vault, living up to their name.

However, it didn't seem like they were there to block us.

Interestingly, the monsters had gathered there to avoid the rising water.

They might also be planning to deal with us, but a fight was inevitable either way. There was no reason to avoid it.

"I thought it was strange that the Red Mice weren't red. Were the others mutants born from these two?"

Unlike the last life when she told me to run, she showed no fear at the sight of the two monsters.

"Cover my back! Let's finish this quickly before the water rises."

She said enthusiastically.

However, I couldn't respond to her.

At that moment, I was overwhelmed by the hallucinations and auditory hallucinations in my head.

The hallucinations started when I held the dagger and infused it with mana.

Flames began to rise in the air, forming the shape of a bird.

The translucent flames passing through objects made it clear that it was a hallucination. Moreover, the phoenix hunter didn't notice it at all.

As the hallucination grew, I started hearing auditory hallucinations.

When the flaming bird, flapping its wings, opened its mouth, a voice echoed in my head.

-Do you desire power!