Chapter 253

After passing through the space where the Golems had lined up, the end of the secret area soon appeared.

Though it wasn’t as vast as the wide cavern they had passed through earlier, it was still a fairly spacious dome-shaped room.

The room was completely empty, as if it had just been constructed, with nothing inside except for a single platform rising waist-high in the center.

“Finally, the end. That took a while.”

“I can’t believe how much we struggled just to find this one place.”

“It’s more modest than I expected.”

“But now that we’re here, what are we supposed to do?”

Even though they had arrived at the final location, the group was unsure of what to do next.

The one who resolved their confusion was Seiri, the reason they had come to this place in the first place.

“According to the journal, if we use the artifact we found in these ancient ruins on that platform, something should happen. It’s written that the artifact acts as a key.”

“The platform…?”

Upon closer inspection, the platform had nothing on it except for a complex magic circle engraved in the exact center, as if waiting for something to be placed there.

If the correct artifact was placed and activated, something would surely happen.

“Then, Seiri, what kind of artifact are we talking about that acts as the key?”

“Ah, the journal doesn’t go into detail about that… I was planning to try each of the artifacts we found in the previous ruins one by one.”

“That might not be necessary.”

“Huh?”

The group turned to me with puzzled expressions.

But I ignored their gazes and pulled out an item from my bag.

“That artifact is…!”

It was a metal plate that looked like it had broken off from some larger component.

According to Daria, this artifact wasn’t a complete item but just a fragment of a much larger artifact.

At the time, I didn’t believe Daria and brushed it off, but…

If we consider the word “key” in Seiri’s restored journal, this sous-vide machine… no, this barrier-generating device might be the most fitting item for the concept of a key.

“Indeed, the shape of that artifact clearly looks like a fragment left behind after something much larger was broken…”

“But what if it’s not a broken fragment but a piece of a puzzle that was always meant to look like this?”

“…Exactly!”

With that, I climbed onto the platform with the barrier-generating artifact in hand.

And quietly activated it.

….

“….”

“….”

“….”

Huh?

“Nothing… happened?”

“That, that can’t be… Could my reasoning be wrong…?”

“Thinking about it, if Kurt’s artifact was the right one, would the journal have needed to use the word ‘key’? It would’ve made more sense to write ‘final piece’…”

“And the size of the magic circle on the platform doesn’t match the size of that artifact at all.”

“…So Kurt made a mistake?”

“Ahem! Then let’s think again about what the ‘key’ might be.”

I couldn’t believe the artifact I had wasn’t the right one.

I felt embarrassed for confidently stepping forward earlier.

Avoiding the gazes of the other women, I cleared my throat and thought again.

When we first entered the depths of the ancient ruins, there were three of us.

Me, Arisa, and Seiri.

And the three of us divided the artifacts we found in the ruins.

At the time, I only took one artifact—the barrier-generating device I had just used.

But since that wasn’t it…

The only possibilities left were Arisa and Seiri.

Next, the artifacts Arisa took were a dagger enchanted with magic to give it strength and cutting power comparable to an aura blade, and a necklace that emitted light and could be used as a temporary flash grenade.

Lastly, Seiri took the most artifacts—ten in total.

While the number of artifacts she took was several times more than the one I took and the two Arisa took, all of Seiri’s artifacts were broken items she took purely for archaeological research.

Some of them seemed like they could have a purpose, but others didn’t work at all, making their purpose unclear.

At the time, we thought they were all broken, but maybe they weren’t broken—they just didn’t work because certain conditions weren’t met.

If that’s the case, the most likely possibility is Seiri’s artifacts.

And fortunately, Seiri had anticipated this and brought all the antique artifacts from Astram.

I shared my thoughts with the group, and we proceeded to place each of her artifacts on the platform and activate them.

“Hmm… Still not working.”

“This artifact is also broken.”

“Mine’s a bust too.”

“Same here.”

Contrary to my expectations, none of Seiri’s artifacts elicited any response when placed on the platform.

Whether my reasoning was wrong or the key artifact among hers was broken and thus didn’t work, all ten artifacts were a complete failure.

“Finally, the only ones left are Arisa’s artifacts.”

“My, my artifacts…? But even if they are mine…”

Arisa hesitantly pulled out her artifacts.

What she took out was a single dagger with a sleek, practical design and a necklace with a blue crystal.

Honestly, they didn’t seem like keys…

But with no other options left and having come this far, it wouldn’t feel good to return to Astram empty-handed. So, half-doubting, Arisa placed the artifacts on the platform one by one and activated them.

When the dagger elicited no response,

and finally, in a half-resigned mood, she placed the necklace on the platform and activated it,

a blinding light burst forth from the necklace.

“What, what is this!? This light…!”

“Ahhh! My eyes…!”

The sudden burst of light startled the group.

But even in the chaos, I quickly examined the light emanating from the necklace, and when all the light had burst forth, I couldn’t help but be amazed.

“This is like…”

A planetarium.

No one would understand what I meant, so I didn’t say it out loud, but I thought it as I looked around the room.

The originally dome-shaped room was now filled with light from the necklace, as if a movie projector was casting images onto a screen or a planetarium’s walls were filled with constellations.

The once barren, hemispherical space had instantly transformed into a mysterious atmosphere filled with intricate patterns and characters.

“Is this… the Ancient Empire’s technology?”

“Who would’ve thought the necklace was the key?”

As we stood in awe, a figure suddenly appeared in front of the platform like a hologram.

No, not like a hologram—it was an actual hologram created by the artifact.

[If you’re watching this, it means you’ve found my journal and made it past Andelria’s Stone Guardians to reach this place.]

The man who spoke in a somber voice looked haggard and worn, but judging by his original physique, he must have been a highly skilled warrior.

“A, a person…!? How, without any warning!”

“I didn’t even sense his presence…!”

“Don’t panic. It’s just a projection.”

[I was the Imperial Palace’s protector… No. Introducing myself is meaningless now. The Empire is gone. I’m just the one who wrote the journal you read to find this place.]

The man spoke aimlessly into the air.

He didn’t seem blind, but his gaze was directed at a strange place, and he referred to us as “you” rather than “you all,” so it was likely just a pre-recorded video.

As I thought this, the man continued speaking without pause.

[You must be wondering why I didn’t leave all the information in the journal and instead used an Information Preservation Crystal to store it.]

Information Preservation Crystal…

Of course.

I thought Arisa’s necklace was just an ancient Empire’s portable flashlight, but the light it emitted was meaningless without a proper output device like the platform. It must have originally been a storage device for information.

[There are two reasons. First, the journal was too limited in space and the amount of information it could convey. So, I only wrote a brief summary of what happened to the Empire in the journal and left it as a clue to find this place.]

Indeed, with a storage medium capable of storing videos like this, it could convey hundreds of times more information than a journal.

[And the second reason was to prevent this information from falling into the hands of inferior beings other than humans.]

…?

Other inferior beings?

[This information is a precious legacy containing knowledge that will serve as the foundation for humanity’s greatness in the distant future after the Empire’s fall. I couldn’t let such a treasure of humanity fall into the hands of inferior beasts and become their property.]

“Ugh… I heard the Ancient Empire was a nation of only humans. Guess it’s true.”

“Indeed. I don’t know if this guy was particularly human-centric or if all Ancient Empire people were like that…”

“How annoying.”

[But the fact that you’ve entered this hidden space and are viewing this information means you must be human. This space was designed so that if a non-human opened the door, Andelria’s Stone Guardians would immediately mobilize. Heh. Andelria’s Stone Guardians were originally Golems that protected this place, which was once the Imperial Palace. There are twelve in total, each with combat power comparable to a master. Such great Golems would never be breached by inferior beasts.]

So…

The Golems we faced were originally much stronger than this.

And considering how new areas kept appearing as we explored, I thought this place was unusually large, but to think it was the Ancient Empire’s Imperial Palace?

Why would such a grand place be in the mountains?

Did they pile mountains on top of the palace to hide from those otherworldly monsters?

Or did those monsters bury the entire palace under a mountain of dirt?

Either way, the scale is mind-boggling.

As I pondered this, the man in the projection changed the subject and moved on to the main point.

[Enough of the introduction. Let’s move on to the main topic—what happened on the day our Empire fell.]