Chapter 14

Chapter 14

#14. The Golden Carriage of the Magic Realm (3)

One day, an odd rumor began to spread throughout the Magic Realm.

The rumor was about a peculiar golden carriage that roamed the monster-filled Magic Realm without any beasts daring to come near it.

The wizard driving this golden carriage, named Arad, parked right in the middle of the Magic Realm and sold beer, hamburgers, and fries.

He also offered equipment maintenance and basic first aid.

Though his prices were 10 to 20 times higher than in town, he was nothing short of salvation for those wandering the Magic Realm.

“Hey, have you guys seen five knights on horseback by any chance?”

And always, this owner Arad asked adventurers he met the same question—about the High City knights riding through the Magic Realm.

“I don’t know about that! Hand over everything you’ve got!”

“It’s just one wizard! Attack before he can cast a spell!”

“Kill him!”

Of course, such ventures weren’t always safe.

As they say, the most dangerous thing in the Magic Realm isn’t the monsters or ancient dungeons—it’s other adventurers.

Not all parties were as cautious or well-off as Travis’ group, so many attacked the Golden Carriage.

“Hmph, I’ll have to use another valuable magic stone.”

But Arad had prepared for this.

He wielded a custom-made magical flail and arrows made from magic stones.

Click, Clack

He activated a tiny spark of mana within his chest like lighting a lighter and pulled the trigger on the flail.

KABOOM!

As expected, a massive explosion erupted wherever troublemakers appeared.

“This is my first ever kill!”

Until recently, he’d lived a normal life on Earth.

After falling into this world, he’d safely sold food in towns.

This was his first experience with violence and threats.

“Calm. Surprisingly calm.”

Maybe thanks to countless passive skills and stats embedded in his body, Arad’s mental state remained remarkably stable.

“Aieeeek… It’s Yudane’s party!”

The massive explosion cleanly obliterated the shins of three adventurers rushing forward with axes.

“An incredible wizard! We didn’t even see him cast a spell!”

Many adventurer parties witnessed the skill of the wizard driving the golden carriage.

“Hi-eeek… What will your party do? Attack? Walk away? Or use my food cart?”

“We’re not in dire need yet… We’ll use it later! Hehehe…”

Even short-lived adventurers learned eventually.

After around ten demonstrations of power, attempts to raid Arad’s golden carriage ceased.

Thus, the golden carriage driven by Arad quickly gained recognition in the Magic Realm as both terrifying and lifesaving.

* * *

Business was better than expected.

Of course, making money wasn’t my main goal right now.

Still, there was no reason to refuse silver coins or monster byproducts that could fetch gold coins after proper processing.

“Though considering the operational costs of this carriage, I barely break even.”

But good business didn’t exactly make me happy.

The golden carriage I drove was incredibly inefficient.

If I had to compare, think of space technology during the Cold War era.

With insufficient infrastructure and materials… bridging a hundred-year gap requires astronomical expenses.

Hiiing!

Driving the golden carriage, I admired the snowy landscapes of the Magic Realm.

Passing small hills and forest patches the size of a garden, vast plains surrounded me repeatedly.

Though the Magic Realm should be teeming with monsters, strangely, the area around my carriage remained eerily quiet.

Even the two ordinary horses pulling the carriage stayed peaceful.

Thanks to various enchantments on the reins, these regular horses traversed the Magic Realm freely despite not being top-tier steeds.

“At least all that money wasn’t wasted.”

The hard work of coating the inside and outside of the half-disassembled carriage with durability-enhancing magic stone paint paid off.

“Without proper materials or facilities, MAX-level crafting skills and stats can still cover things decently. It was practically a unique achievement in Era of Silver 1.”

How far had the carriage traveled?

As the sun set quickly, I parked the carriage near a rocky hill.

“I suppose we’ll camp here tonight.”

Stepping down from the driver’s seat, I opened the back door of the carriage.

The interior revealed was surprisingly impressive compared to its exterior.

The space inside seemed five times larger than the carriage’s appearance suggested.

This result came from painting the carriage with magic stone coatings, installing large magic stone panels on the walls and ceiling, and drawing various spatial expansion and weight reduction mana circuits on them.

In this era, creating something like this makes me practically the only one capable, even among future magitech engineers.

“Considering how much effort went into making this…”

While this level of carriage might command high prices, I had no intention of making more.

Creating one was already grueling work, and daily maintenance required both time and money.

* * *

I exited the carriage carrying four totem-like tripods.

Placing these four totems at the north, south, east, and west around the carriage…

“Please watch over us well tonight.”

After setting up the totems, I sincerely chanted the activation incantation.

Pew, pew, pew, pew

Four magical circles glowed holographically around the carriage. A faint barrier was erected.

Until dawn, these totems would keep vigil for us.

Most Magic Realm monsters are handled by the magic stone coatings on the carriage. Even if some slip through, these alarm artifacts would warn us.

“…”

However, my expression watching them wasn’t particularly pleasant.

Creating these alone drained all the money I’d saved so far, including the gold coins received for revealing Arad’s salt recipe.

“Damn, counting interest, I practically gave it away!”

The causes behind this financial hemorrhage…

I was searching for them.

“The bag of salt I gave as a gift is still intact.”

Before going to sleep,

I checked the direction for tomorrow’s travel using the compass inside the carriage.

Because that Arad salt-filled pouch had a rudimentary location tracking enchantment.

“Seriously, did they go all the way to the depths of the Magic Realm?”

The problem was that this compass pointed towards the very deepest part of the Magic Realm.

“Adventurer reports match, and so does this compass. Damn… That’s why sudden disappearances happen! How could a Duke, especially one without an heir, wander around like this?”

The information from adventurers matched the compass direction. This was pretty conclusive.

“The depths are truly dangerous…”

Deep within the Magic Realm. From the depths onward, genuinely dangerous monsters appeared.

Monsters that would ignore the golden coating on my carriage would appear in numbers incomparable to now.

Additionally, the mana emitted by ancient golden-age dungeons might prevent my magitech devices from functioning.

Though my skills are MAX level, the materials and tools of this pre-100-year era clearly limit me.

“Of course, the number of adventurers will decrease drastically, but that brings its own dangers.”

Not just monsters, but people are problematic too.

Adventurers operating outside the depths are mostly C-rank or lower from the Northern Region.

My second-circle mana and magic flail are enough to handle them.

But B-rank adventurers active in the depths are different.

“B-rank and above adventurers fall into two categories. If they’re from non-Empire regions like the North, they’re basically super-strong legal bandits. If they’re Empire-born, they’re practically Empire spies.”

Especially in situations where Imperial manipulation is suspected, the latter is more concerning.

“Untouchables exploring ancient dungeons for the Empire.”

Their skills would allow them to sever my head before I could aim my flail.

“In fact, it’s been lucky not encountering Empire adventurer parties until now.”

Fortunately, thanks to my luck stat adjustments,

I haven’t encountered upper-tier adventurers yet.

“Phew…”

I sighed inwardly and slouched into the chair inside the carriage.

“If I go through all this trouble and find out the Duke is fine… I’ll be really disappointed.”

There’s nothing as thrilling and anxiety-inducing as betting everything on intuition.

* * *

Snowflakes swirling in the snowy expanse.

The view is blurry and hazy.

The deepest part of the Magic Realm. The depths’ snowfields were closer to ashen desolation than pristine white.

Somewhere amidst this expansive snowfield,

A fire burning with minimal smoke illuminated like a lighthouse.

“…”

“…”

Six figures presumed to be knights sat silently around the fire.

To ward off the cold, they tightly wrapped themselves in thick capes lined with beast furs, their heads covered by hoods made from monster fur.

Each showed clear signs of exhaustion from a long and arduous journey.

Meanwhile, the expensive special-grade horses that had served as their legs…

The horses that wouldn’t fear even monster pheromones were nowhere to be seen.

“Where did it all go wrong?”

Sitting dazed, Ariana couldn’t believe the current situation.

Closing her eyes and standing up now, she felt she might still be in her bedroom in the High City. Or perhaps the Poly Inn in Haven.

Lifting her head, she scanned the gray snowfield.

This act, repeated countless times since entering the depths, had become as natural as breathing—a survival necessity.

“No traces of barriers detected.”

Currently, they were trapped within a barrier.

It felt like two months had passed.

* * *

When they first entered the Magic Realm,

They were greeted by the usual snowy landscape.

Occasional small hills and forests dotted the scenery, filled with rare and mutant monsters exclusive to the Magic Realm.

Such snowfields were traversed by adventurers galloping in from the continent, hunting or being hunted by Magic Realm monsters.

For barbaric northerners, this was a rather mundane daily occurrence.

“We were wise to start early.”

Ariana and the six knights felt relieved.

They confirmed that the catastrophe of the depths mentioned by Frosthaven knight Doyle hadn’t yet spread.

However, they also felt puzzled.

“Too quiet.”

It was suspicious that no unusual signs appeared despite the necromancer controlling depth monsters.

“Let’s hurry to the depths. Knight Doyle, lead the way.”

“Yes, sir!”

They didn’t doubt Frosthaven knight Doyle.

Knights belonging to Lenslet’s Frosthaven branch were selected as the most trustworthy and loyal members.

If they couldn’t trust them, there would be no one reliable in the North.

Thus, they swiftly rode their special-grade horses into the depths of the Magic Realm (Note: Frosthaven operative Doyle was riding together with another high-ranking knight).

Along the way, numerous monsters attacked, but Ariana and the knights, representing the strongest force of the North, swept everything aside.

They reached the depths without sustaining even minor injuries, hardly expending any stamina, and with nearly all their provisions intact.

The depths they arrived at differed significantly from the entrance. Like a border marked by a river, an intense ash-gray snowfield stretched before them.

“Definitely strange.”

“The depths we remember are completely different.”

The entrance and depths of the Magic Realm are usually distinct.

But the current depths were extremely abnormal.

“Not a single person in sight.”

“Even in the depths, it’s unusual for there to be no adventurers.”

Firstly, B-rank or higher adventurer parties that should have been hunting in the depths were nowhere to be seen.

Certainly, the Magic Realm was vast, making encounters between humans rare. But having no traces at all was odd.

“Not even monsters visible.”

Above all, the monsters typically associated with the Magic Realm were absent.

“Too quiet.”

The depths of the Magic Realm lived up to their name with an overwhelming silence. Enough to make one uncomfortable, even send shivers down the spine.

“Your Majesty, it seems we’ve fallen into a barrier.”

“Hmm…”

Soon, Valkyrie and Ariana had to acknowledge what was happening.

“How?! When?!”

“If it was a barrier, we wouldn’t have missed it!”

“Everyone stay alert! This is an immensely skilled necromancer!”

By the time they recognized the problem, it was already too late.

“If only we had requested support from witches…”

“At the very least, we should’ve come with Spring’s Great Witch.”

Everyone panicked and shared similar regrets.

The northern witches currently tending crops in the High City.

Especially their leader, Spring’s Great Witch Isabel, should have been brought along.

We didn’t want to disturb the busy witches nearing spring, but this turned out to be a huge mistake.

“Stay calm everyone. Barriers must have an end and exit!”

“Yeah, that’s right. We’ve dealt with barriers before.”

“Just annoying and frustrating, but nothing we can’t overcome.”

“From now on, focus all senses to find the gaps!”

Ariana and the knights began navigating through the barrier.

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