Emerald Tablet
by Afuhfuihgs
The bronze gauntlets I ordered arrived at the clubroom early in the morning, and at the same time, we finished preparing for the trip in advance, and headed straight to the nearby portal station in the Brown Mountains.
Perhaps because there were few users, the Telos Portal Station where we arrived was the smallest portal station I had ever seen. To give an example, it felt like looking at an old highway bus terminal in the countryside.
Thanks to putting everything we needed for camping into the space warehouse, our attire was relatively light for travelers.
As soon as we got out of the portal station, Kane, unable to contain his curiosity any longer, asked me with a subtle expression.
“So, what’s the purpose of this trip?”
At the probing voice, I deliberately pretended not to know.
“I explained the purpose last time, didn’t I? It’s a trip to keep my promise to help you grow. Of course, the purpose of this trip will be your growth, right?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know so obviously! I’m asking you to explain at least a little bit about what kind of growth it is!”
Ignoring Kane, who was swinging something like an invisible hammer at me, I got on the carriage I had reserved. Kane, frowning, got into the carriage and sat next to me, not across from me.
I narrowed my brows and glared at Kane with a ‘what the hell are you doing’ look, and he raised his fist at the action of sticking closer to me as if he was okay.
“Aren’t you going to get lost?”
“No~ I’m just asking you to explain! You’re going to find out soon anyway!”
“Yeah. You’ll find out soon, so don’t whine and just look forward to it.”
“Okay! I’ll look forward to it as much as I can, so watch me be disappointed right next to me!”
I smiled as I watched Kane move to the opposite seat, grumbling. I was sure that the reaction Kane would show when he had it right in front of him would definitely not be disappointment.
*
The carriage stopped in front of the Brown Mountains. After promising to meet at this place at this time tomorrow, the carriage went back the way it came. I opened the space warehouse and took out the camping equipment.
It was still a long way to the destination, but it was to respect Kane’s opinion that he would climb the mountain with heavy camping equipment on his back to give the feeling of real camping. Of course, I drew the line in advance that I wouldn’t do that kind of thing.
Perhaps because it was a moment to enjoy the trip I had dreamed of, Kane surprisingly kept up well without falling behind, despite his skinny body. He even talked non-stop about the things he was interested in lately while going to the destination.
Thanks to taking breaks in between and checking the map, we didn’t get lost and arrived at our destination. When I stopped and said, “We’re here,” Kane looked around with a bewildered face.
“This is the destination? There’s nothing to see around here? It’s all trees here, so it’s going to be hard to catch fish because there’s no river nearby. It’s also inconvenient to set up a tent because of the slope.”
“We have to clear the trees that grow here and use magic to eliminate the slope and make it flat. It wouldn’t be camping if it wasn’t that inconvenient, right?”
I made a plausible excuse because I was too lazy to go to the river about 30 minutes away from here, and Kane nodded, saying it made sense. Kane, who put down the heavy camping equipment on the ground, stretched and asked.
“But what kind of growth can I achieve here?”
Instead of answering, I gestured for him to follow me and headed further up.
“Look over there, between the rocks. That’s the entrance to the dungeon.”
Kane, who moved his gaze to where I was pointing, found the entrance to the dungeon and nodded.
“The purpose of the trip was dungeon exploration?”
Kane smiled happily, as if the adventure spirit that had been dormant was stirring.
“If you don’t need a break, let’s go in right away.”
“Okay, then get my reagent bag out for me.”
After taking out Kane’s reagent bag from the space warehouse, we went straight into the dungeon entrance between the rocks.
Because the adventurer had already cleared the dungeon once, traces of battle remained from the entrance.
Kane, who was carefully avoiding stepping on the rotting spider corpses, turned on the cave lamp he had on his side as the inside of the cave gradually darkened.
Since it was a naturally formed cave, it was a winding passage with bumpy stones sticking out of the floor.
Kane, who was holding up the lamp and observing the old bloodstains embedded in the cave wall, said.
“It looks like we have a guest who came before us? Considering the rotting corpse at the entrance and the old bloodstains here.”
“It’s a dungeon that a B-class adventurer party discovered a while ago.”
“What, then is the exploration all over?”
Kane looked a little discouraged, as if he had been expecting a real battle. I patted Kane on the shoulder to mean don’t worry.
“There’s no way I would have come this far just to see a dungeon that someone else has cleared. Our goal remains the same. Don’t worry.”
“…That’s a relief then!”
Kane, who had regained his energy, started walking hard again. After going inside the dungeon for a while, the size of the stuffy passage increased and a huge cavity appeared.
“There’s no more way to go?”
As Kane said, I looked around the cavity here and there, but there was no more way to go. But there was nothing in the cavity.
There is no possibility that the information is wrong. There’s no way someone could have taken it first either. Then….
When I materialized the Spear of Shadows, Kane, surprised, put his hand on his reagent bag and guarded his surroundings.
“What, what is it? An enemy?”
“No, I need guidance magic.”
When I materialized the Spear of Shadows, I had created a magic circle for guidance magic in advance at the bottom of the spear shaft. It was a modification of the guidance magic that required drawing a magic circle on the floor so that it could be used in battle, even if its power and efficiency were lower than before.
When I used the guidance magic, magic power was emitted from the Spear of Shadows, and I could sense the inside of the dungeon as if I were seeing it with my own eyes, centered on the cavity where I was standing. There was a passage behind one wall of the cavity.
“It looks like we have to break down the wall.”
It seems that the adventurer party, judging that something unknown was dangerous, blocked the road with magic. Or maybe they judged it was valuable and hid it.
When I got rid of the Spear of Shadows I had materialized, Kane asked me with a dumbfounded expression.
“You knew how to use guidance magic too?”
“…I learned it from a book a while ago.”
“Why is a combat department learning guidance magic from a book? Even I, from the alchemy department, haven’t learned it.”
Kane, who shook his head as if he couldn’t understand, narrowed his eyes and said suspiciously.
“Actually, Luna-yang told you, didn’t she?”
I shrugged and answered.
“Think whatever you want.”
I took out the Spear of Destruction from the space warehouse and immediately used the power of destruction to break the wall. In the passage that appeared when the wall collapsed, Kane let out a strange exclamation of, “Heo-eo,” and held out the cave lamp forward.
“It’s a straight passage, so it looks like we just have to keep going straight.”
Kane, holding the lamp, took the lead and we slowly moved inside the passage. After walking for a while, a bright light could be seen at the end of the passage, so we didn’t need the cave lamp.
Kane, who put the lamp back on his waist, looked at me over his shoulder and asked.
“What’s that?”
At the end of the passage, there was a fragment floating in the air, illuminating the surroundings with green light. It was my first time seeing a fragment that emitted an eerie light in real life, but it was exactly the same as I had imagined.
“The purpose of this trip is that right there.”
At that, I grabbed Kane’s shoulder, who was about to approach the fragment without thinking.
“Be careful. It absorbs everything.”
When I picked up a pebble that was rolling around and threw it at the fragment, the pebble was naturally sucked into the fragment as if it were falling into water.
Kane, who witnessed the bizarre phenomenon with his own eyes, took a step back and asked in a flustered voice.
“What, what is that?”
To Kane’s question, I was finally able to say what I had been itching to say.
“A fragment of the Emerald Tablet.”
At my short words, Kane turned around to look at me at a terrifying speed. With the same face he had when he was focused on making the perfect pizza, Kane asked again.
“I think I just heard something strange… Say it again.”
“What’s in front of you is a fragment of the Emerald Tablet, and you’re getting a chance to get a clue to reach the truth of alchemy right now.”
The first clue about the fragment of the Emerald Tablet came from Modest’s meeting. The information that the troll who participated in the meeting sold was related to the Emerald Tablet.
Ross of Yearning, who lived in a world where the discarded setting was revived like me, also completed the Emerald Tablet.
However, the act of trying to overcome the setting using the Emerald Tablet became an act of violating the plausibility, and he faced the world’s denial… But this is not a complete version, it’s just a fragment of the tablet.
But even with just one fragment of the Emerald Tablet, Kane-ssi will be able to achieve great success as an alchemist.
Kane getting one fragment was not an impact that would change the flow of the story, so I thought I would pass the fragment to Kane before it fell into someone else’s hands.
At Kane’s shaking eyes looking at me, I took out the bronze gauntlets from the space warehouse with a smile.
“The only way to take out the fragment of the Emerald Tablet, which absorbs everything, is to use special gauntlets made of bronze and copper.”
When I handed the bronze gauntlets to Kane, Kane, who was staring at the gauntlets blankly, asked with a hollow laugh.
“How did you know that again? I even thought the Emerald Tablet was just an old legend until now.”
“All the answers are in the books.”
At my nonchalant answer, Kane chuckled and put on the bronze gauntlets.
“Lend me that book later.”
Kane, who approached the fragment, stretched out his hand wearing the bronze gauntlets.
The passage trembled slightly, and the bronze gauntlets began to vibrate violently as they approached the fragment.
“This is okay, right?”
To Kane’s question, I threw words of encouragement.
“…Maybe? I doubt you’ll die, right?”
The bronze gauntlets, which slowly stretched out as if pushing something invisible away, finally grabbed the fragment. Then, as if it were a lie, the vibration of the passage stopped.
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