Chapter 99
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n“Hey, Ron. Come here, quick.”
n“You’re too fast, Mirian. Are we even allowed here?”
nIt was empty land with destroyed traces on the ground.
nIt was a barren part of a mountain that didn’t seem dangerous, but Ron felt disturbed.
nThen Mirian became annoyed.
n“Hey! Don’t be such a coward. The teachers didn’t say we couldn’t come here. They just said people avoid this place.”
n“…They did. They warned about the possible danger due to the weakened ground.”
nRon heard that Instructor Khutil said this land became unstable after the incident five years ago, but Mirian didn’t seem to mind.
n“You can go home then. I need to see it with my own eyes.”
n“Huh? What is it?”
n“Follow me if you want to know.”
nMirian then began jumping up the rocks to climb up, and Ron followed after shaking his head. It was after the sun began to go down that they arrived at the destination.
n“Is it here?”
n“Yeah. I saw this from far away last time. I couldn’t even sleep because I wanted to see this.”
n“Hm… It does look weird.”
nThere was nothing special around here. Except for one thing.
nThe place Mirian pointed to had a human-sized pillar in the ground, and the pillar had various compartments.
n“There might be an owner to this.”
n“Huh?”
n“Look… each drawer has a name.”
nIt was locked, but each compartment had names written on top. There weren’t that many that had names.
n“Really? Oh… that’s unfortunate.”
n“Huh? Why?”
n“I thought it had some kind of hidden treasure or something. I thought that was why the teachers didn’t want us to come here!” Mirian exclaimed. Ron grew curious about the names and began to look more closely. After looking about, Ron became shocked.
n“Hey… Mirian. It might have the treasures that you wanted.”
n“Huh?”
nMirian turned back to Ron with a disappointed look.
n“Look at these names.”
nMirian realized she had not read the names and began examining it.
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n“Wow…!”
nMirian brightened up instantly. She didn’t know who ‘Stiel’ was, but she recognized all the other names. The King who brought the age of peace to Tian, Narasha Qun Tian the First, the Kingdom’s greatest general, Grand Bander Kain von Roman, and the leaders of the most powerful special force
n“Maybe it has secret teachings in there! Maybe something that can make you a Grand Bander instantly.”
n“I don’t think so. Besides, all teachings are shared in Gron-Pilah.”
n“How do you know if that’s everything?”
n“Oh…”
nIt didn’t make much sense, but Mirian didn’t care. She was too excited already. She began unlocking the compartments.
n“Hey, Mirian, what are you doing?”
n“I want to take a look.”
n“We shouldn’t touch it! There must be an owner!”
n“Who’s the owner?”
n“Huh?”
n“I saw this months ago already. The owner must’ve taken it if there was one. Even if there was, the owner wouldn’t really care if it was left alone here like this.”
n“But…”
n“Hey, I’m not taking anything. I’m just taking a look. Aren’t you curious too?”
n“…”
nRon couldn’t say anything. He was, in fact, curious about what secret this mysterious pillar contained.
n“You stay there. Hehe… Let me see.”
nMirian took out a hairpin from her pocket and began to pick the lock before she finally opened the drawer. She was most curious about Count Roman’s drawer as she was a warrior herself, so she checked to see what it had, but she was disappointed.
n“What is this!”
n“Huh? What?”
n“No… wait. Let me try the other ones.”
nMirian then moved onto the other compartments, but she was still disappointed.
n“Ahh…”
nRon curiously walked up to see what was inside each of the compartments.
n‘…a letter?’
nThere was nothing else but a handful of letters.
n‘So the name was the sender.’
nRon then became curious.
n‘Then who’s the receiver?’
nHe would’ve known if he had read the letters, but he thought it was too much so he decided not to. Mirian had a different idea.
n“The letter… it can be a way to deceive us. There should be some secret inside!”
nShe then stood up and walked toward the compartment.
n“Move out.”
n“Hey, what are you doing?”
n“I’m going to read it.”
n“No! It’s a private letter! What are you going to do if those senders find out?”
nIt would be a problem if those letters contained private matters. There was a possibility that their lives could be in danger if it really contained such matters. Ron explained this to Mirian and she understood.
nBut she couldn’t resist the temptation.
n“Then let’s read those with the name ‘Stiel’ on it. I’ve never heard of the name so there won’t be any secrets in there.”
n“That doesn’t make any sense…!”
nMirian quickly moved closer. Then a voice came from the back.
n“You don’t want to do that. You might die.”
n“!!”
nRon and Mirian flinched and turned back quickly. There was a weird man talking to them. He was weird because he was buried in the ground up until his head.
n“W-who are you? Since when-?”
n“Uh… I was probably here before you started pick-locking those drawers.”
n“Ugh… so what are you doing there? Why are you buried like that?”
nRon tried to change the subject.
n“Oh… I don’t have any clothes, and since you guys are there, I can’t come out right now. Haha.”
nThe man laughed.
n“But why are we going to die if we read that letter? Is there some hidden secret?”
n“Oh, no. It’s probably not like that. But…”
nMirian looked at the man as he continued, “The owner might get embarrassed. She’ll kill anyone who reads that letter other than me.”
n“…”
nMirian couldn’t understand. What kind of person was that violent? However, she realized there was something important according to what he just said.
n“So, you are the receiver.”
n“Yeah, probably. Can I ask you a favor?”
n“Yes.”
n“If I’m correct… there should be clothing in the pillar. Can you toss me those?”
nMirian searched around the pillar. Sure enough, she found some clothing.
n“Here you go.”
n“Thank you.”
nThe man then began moving about underground and came out after putting on the clothes.
n“WHOA!”
nHe then let out a yawn and began stretching.
n“Ha… sorry about that. So, why are you guys here?”
nThe man looked at them with a weird look after noticing that there was nothing around other than the pillar.
n“Oh… we are…”
n“We were just here on a walk. But what are YOU doing here? Buried up to your neck.”
n“Hmm… I… oh. What year is it right now?”
n“…”
n“Don’t look at me like that. Please, tell me.”
n“It’s 1017.”
n“Oh… I see.”
nHe then moved past Ron and Mirian and began opening the compartments. It was locked, but the man opened it effortlessly.
n“Wow, brother, you sure know what to do. Perfect.”
nHe then found money from within, took the bag from the pillar, and collected all letters into it. After he was done packing, he then started walking down toward the city.
nMirian decided to follow him. They were going in the same direction and she was curious about the man.
n“Hey!”
nThe man turned back to Mirian.”What is it?”
n“Let’s go together.”
n“Hm? You have something more to say?”
n“No, we have to go back to the city too, so we can go together.”
nThe man nodded.
n“Sure. I was bored too. You can tell me about any news in the world.”
n“Hehe, okay. Hey Ron! Let’s go!”
nMirian yelled at Ron to follow and the three of them began walking down to the city.
n“Oh, by the way. I’m Mirian and this is Ron.”
n“Hello. I’m Ron.”
nThe man smiled.
n“I am… Sian.”
nThey began walking toward the city of Lagran.
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