Chapter 76

“Katz! I finally found it!” Hudderson shouted.

Katz stopped digging and ran toward Hudderson, asking, “Are you sure?”

“My search skill just showed a reaction here. Damn it, that took a while,” Hudderson said as he carefully hammered a stone wall.

The old stone wall broke down, and they found a treasure hidden in it—a large coffin.

Katz gulped dryly and asked, “Whose corpse do you think is in it?”

“It must be an ancient noble, at least,” Hudderson replied.

“How can you tell?” Katz asked.

“Look at the drawings on the coffin; they’re very fancy and luxurious,” Hudderson said.

The two graverobbers had come to this place two months before. They had stumbled upon it by accident after wandering around the desert and falling into a ditch, then down into a large hall. The passageway was quite weathered, and it seemed the two graverobbers had fallen when a portion of it caved in.

“Right in front of us is the fruit of all our labor,” Hudderson said.

The two graverobbers had secured an exit and searched the area. It seemed to be a burial site. The stone walls were inscribed with foreign inscriptions and numerous ornate murals. The place gave off the stench of hidden treasure just from the looks of it; unbelievably, they had found a pile of rare gems after searching for only a day.

“How much would this be worth in yen if we brought it back to reality?” Katz had asked.

“I don’t know the exchange rate, but it would definitely be worth at least thousands of dollars,” Hudderson had replied.

The two graverobbers had not ventured further inside and instead left with the gems they found. There was an old saying that letting greed get the better of you in an old burial site would bring nothing but danger. However, they had been caught by a corrupt inspector, who confiscated all of their hard-earned gems.

“In exchange, I will overlook all of the crimes you have committed until now. How does that sound?” the corrupt inspector had asked.

Katz and Hudderson had felt as if they were going to go crazy from the injustice they suffered, and the two graverobbers thus decided to visit the Desert of Death once again.

It had been much harder the second time, and it had taken them a long time to find the burial site once again. This time, they had made up their minds to find the most valuable treasure in the burial site because of the time they had spent. It was actually funny to think about the fact that last time they had given up halfway because of some folktale passed down by word of mouth.

“Are you telling me this coffin is the most valuable treasure in this place?” Katz asked.

“Let’s open this first and take a look. There are usually valuables and treasures together with the corpse in these coffins,” Hudderson said.

They both grabbed the coffin lid and pulled on it with all their strength, but the lid would not budge an inch. There were no locks or anything of the sort keeping it tightly shut, but the coffin lid was heavy like a block of lead.

“Phew! What’s going on?” Katz asked.

“How can we open this?” Hudderson exclaimed as he shook his head.

Then, a large warning message flashed on their wrist devices.

[The ancient king, Kartheon, has awakened from his slumber.]

That was the only message that appeared, but they were engulfed by a sudden wave of inexplicable anxiety.

“Something’s wrong…” Hudderson muttered.

Suddenly, the lid swung open and a hand shot out from the coffin, grabbing Hudderson’s arm.

“A-ack!” Hudderson could not even finish screaming, as his body suddenly withered away and turned to dust.

Katz was shocked. He pulled out his sword and screamed, “W-what?! Hudderson!”

The coffin lid slowly slid open, and a dried, withered corpse slowly stood up from it. It had no hair, and its eyes, ears, and lips were severely damaged and looked almost nonexistent. However, the mummy was adorned with all sorts of fancy and luxurious trinkets, and there was an hourglass hanging on its neck.

Katz forgot about running away, trembling on the spot.

.

“What year is it?” the mummy asked with a voice akin to metal screeching against metal. Katz was so shocked that he just stood there trembling. The mummy waited for a moment before continuing, “Answer me if you don’t want to lose your life like the fool a while ago.”

“R-reorkan Empire Calendar Year 468, 15th day of the month of the Solar,” Katz replied as he read out the date written on his wrist device.

“Reorkan Empire Calendar?” the mummy asked, scratching his chin with his long fingers and continuing, “Is Reorkan the name of the ruler of the continent?”

“Y-yes,” Katz replied.

“A long time has passed,” the mummy said. He opened and closed his bony hands, as if he were still trying to get used to his body’s motor functions. He continued, “I see that the resurrection took a long time, and this body has stagnated as well.”

Katz mustered up his courage and asked, “Y-you… What are you?”

“I respect your foolishness in staying and questioning me instead of running away; therefore, I will answer your question. I am the king of Sharshyanon, Kartheon De Rasil,” the mummy replied.

“S-sharshyanon?” Katz exclaimed, his eyes wide in shock.

There was no way that a person like him who made a living by graverobbing would not know about Sharshyanon. It was a kingdom that had flourished in ancient times; all of the endless treasures and artifacts found in the Desert of Death were all remnants of the once-mighty Sharshyanon Kingdom.

Had they really awakened the ancient king?

“I need to acquire knowledge of current affairs. I suppose there is value in keeping you alive,” the mummy, no, Kartheon said.

Kartheon walked outside, and Katz followed behind him. It was not that Katz was willingly following him; rather, Katz’s body had moved on its own.

“How much has the world changed? Do people still ride wolves and inscribe words on tablets?” Kartheon asked.

“N-no, they don’t ride wolves, but they do ride horses. Also, they no longer use tablets, and use paper and pens to write,” Katz replied.

“So the world has progressed quite a bit,” Kartheon mused.

Kartheon started to ask Katz various things about the continent, such as the continent’s population, the politics of the empire, its military might, the value of money, climate, topography, and other such things. There were many things that Katz was not aware of and did not know the answer to, but he nevertheless replied immediately because he feared for his life. There were numerous words that must have been new and difficult to understand, but Kartheon simply nodded as if he understood everything.

Katz squirmed for a moment and eventually said, “Actually, I’m not from the continent. I’m from another world.”

“Another world?” Kartheon asked. Katz’s words had suddenly piqued his interest.

Katz pointed at the device on his wrist and said, “The people who are wearing this are people from another world. We lived in a different world before we were summoned here to the Sylphia Continent.”

“For what purpose?” Kartheon asked.

“No one knows,” Katz answered.

“I think I have an idea why,” Kartheon said. He laughed and added, “What a pity. I don’t think you guys will ever go back to your world.”

Katz could not understand what Kartheon was saying and just tilted his head in confusion. However, he gained some courage to ask a question after seeing that Kartheon had softened up to him a little bit. “How did you meet your demise, your majesty?” he asked innocently. However, he soon regretted his newfound courage as he realized what he had just said.

However, Kartheon simply replied without a fuss, “I was assassinated by a man called Sirian, but I used temporal power and was resurrected.”

“T-temporal power?” Katz asked.

“I can control time,” Kartheon said.

Katz’s jaw dropped in surprise. Kartheon laughed at the sight of Katz’s mouth hanging agape and said, “Actually, I already killed you when I first met you. You took too long to answer; it was annoying.”

“W-what?” Katz stuttered.

“However, I decided that I needed information, so I turned back time by three seconds, and that is why you are still alive,” Kartheon explained.

Katz dryly gulped and asked, “I-is something like that even possible…?”

“I gain temporal power whenever I kill a living organism or simply wait for it to replenish, and I can use it to turn back or stop time in this world,” Kartheon explained.

“That’s amazing!” Katz exclaimed.

Kartheon walked toward a large, majestic door. It was the door that would not budge an inch no matter how much effort Katz and Hudderson exerted, but it simply opened by itself as soon as Kartheon placed his dry, withered hands on it.

“However, this is not enough. I need more temporal power,” Kartheon remarked.

There were numerous preserved mummies in the room beyond the large door. The mummies in the room greatly varied in size; some of them were the size of a normal human, but there were a few large ones, each almost the size of a house.

Kartheon waved his hand and commanded, “Rise from your slumber, my soldiers. The time to reclaim my rightful place has come.”

The bandage-wrapped mummies started to move; there seemed to be thousands of them in the room.

A large mummy stabbed its greatsword into the ground and shouted, “O, my king! What is your command for us, your servants that have awakened after a long time?”

The ancient king, Kartheon, declared, “Regression to the past! I will obtain strength by killing all living beings, and I shall regress to the past!”

***

Kang Yoon-Soo scratched his ears as if an annoying sound were buzzing around him.

“It’s over there!” Yanak announced.

A large temple was visible through the scorching heat that made everything in front of the party seem hazy. They had arrived at the great temple after traveling with the three Fire Trolls for four days.

“Help us enter the temple,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Huh? You plan to enter the temple?!” Yanak exclaimed. Kang Yoon-Soo merely nodded.

A Fire Troll that was standing guard stopped them as they tried to enter the great temple. He barked, “Quit messing around! No other races aside from the Fire Trolls are allowed to enter the great temple!”

“These are our friends!” Yanak retorted.

“The answer is still no!” the Fire Troll guard countered.

It was impossible. The Fire Troll guard did not seem to plan on letting them in.

Yanak squirmed for a moment before telling a blatant lie. “We’ve kidnapped these two males to be groom candidates for the goddess! That’s why you have to let us in!”

“What about the other two females?” the Fire Troll guard asked.

“Ah… they’re their mates, so we couldn’t leave them behind!” Yanak responded.

“You should have told me earlier!” the Fire Troll guard said, giving way and allowing them to enter the great temple.

Yanak smacked his own forehead after entering the great temple as if he were trying to rebuke and punish himself. He cried, “I lied to a fellow Fire Troll! I’m very bad!”

Kang Yoon-Soo’s wrist device rang as soon as he stepped into the great temple.

[You have completed the ‘Legendary Quest—Desert Temple’.]

[The next quest giver is inside the great temple.]

The interior of the temple was vast and cool, and a group of around forty Fire Trolls appeared around the party.

“Yanak’s group has come!” they said.

“You’re the last to arrive!” some of them added.

All of the Fire Trolls had kidnapped males to offer as a groom to the goddess so they would have a chance at becoming the tribal leader.

Shaneth’s eyes widened in surprise and she whispered, “But do you think they can become the goddess’ groom…?”

“How should I know? There’s a saying that you’d be better off eating a whole loaf of dry barley bread instead of trying to understand what’s going on in a troll’s head,” Henrick said.

“Eat barley bread… That is a wise saying, but who said that?” Iris asked.

“I made it up,” Henrick replied.

The Fire Troll High Priest stepped forward, and the Fire Trolls who were dying to become the tribal leader could not hide their excitement, causing a ruckus.

“Silence!” the Fire Troll High Priest shouted, silencing the rowdy crowd. The old Fire Troll looked around at the surroundings with sharp eyes and asked, “Who did you bring as a candidate to become the goddess’ groom?!”

“I’ll step up first!” a Fire Troll at the forefront announced confidently. He had brought a large lizard with a chain around its neck. He declared, “This is a desert lizard that was roaming around the desert! I’m certain it’s a healthy male as per my inspection of its nether regions! It has the qualifications to become a groom!”

“You’ve gone mad!” the Fire Troll High Priest rebuked the Fire Troll.

“How so?! I’m certain it will be vigorous at night!” the Fire Troll retorted, seemingly feeling it was unfair. However, the Fire Troll High Priest smacked him in the head.

The other Fire Trolls were no different than the first one. They brought many kinds of creatures ranging from a small male spider to a male rattlesnake; some of them even brought male desert flowers. The only relevant being they brought was a small male dwarf.

“Don’t be nervous! I’ll let you go after this!” the Fire Troll who had kidnapped the dwarf said as he removed the chains binding the dwarf.

The dwarf immediately jumped up from the floor and took out a black marble, throwing it to the ground. The surrounding area was engulfed in a cloud of dark black smoke; the dwarf had disappeared by the time the smoke subsided.

“That bastard ran away!” the Fire Troll cried out as he slammed the ground.

Henrick laughed at the sight unfolding in front of him and said, “What a circus.”

Finally, the last Fire Troll left was Yanak. He said haughtily in a boastful tone, “One of the candidates I’ve brought will become the goddess’ groom in the end!”

The Fire Troll High Priest approached Kang Yoon-Soo and Henrick and inspected them closely; his gaze was especially fixed on Kang Yoon-Soo. He then nodded and said, “Alright! They have the qualifications to become the goddess’ groom! Everyone, get ready for the trial by fire!”

The Fire Trolls started to move around busily. Shaneth could not help but wonder, asking, “What’s the trial by fire?”

“It’s a trial to endure a hot fire! They have to pass this trial to become qualified to be the groom of the goddess!” the Fire Troll High Priest replied.

The Fire Trolls brought out a rack filled with an assortment of defensive equipment. Its contents ranged from large chainmail shirts to sturdy tunics and various kinds of shields.

The Fire Troll High Priest looked at the two men and shouted, “The trial by fire is simple! Choose one of the defensive items over here and endure the flames! You can use your own equipment if you wish! It doesn’t matter if you sustain burns; you’ll pass the trial as long as you don’t pass out!”

Yanak sneakily whispered to them, “Choose the red tri-horned shield! It’s made from wyvern leather, so it has strong fire resistance! But your hands will melt even if you block the fire with it!”

“Thanks for the advice, but don’t you think your whisper is too loud?” Henrick replied.

“Is that so?! We trolls always talk loudly!” Yanak replied.

The Fire Troll High Priest smacked Yanak in the head and rebuked him. “You! How dare you try and interrupt the trial!”

“It hurts!” Yanak cried out.

“This is the flame that will be used in the trial!” the Fire Troll High Priest said as he brought out a heart engulfed in flames. Just from the looks of it, it was extremely hot.

“The heart of a Fire Giant spews out flames that are too hot for anyone to deal with! It can melt the skin of most creatures and burn down entire mountains! Now, who shall challenge it first?!” the Fire Troll High Priest asked.

The flames spewed out by the Fire Giant’s heart reached their feet; they were so hot that the soles of Henrick and Kang Yoon-Soo’s shoes melted after the lightest graze.

Henrick quickly raised his hand and said, “I give up.”

“Henrick! How can you do this to me!” Yanak cried out.

“Do you plan to see me get roasted or something?” Henrick retorted as he walked back.

Kang Yoon-Soo had been left alone.

“Will you accept the trial by fire?!” the Fire Troll High Priest asked.

“Yes,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

The crowd became rowdy once again, cheering when Kang Yoon-Soo accepted the trial. The Fire Trolls liked brave warriors. They gathered around to watch over Kang Yoon-Soo’s trial as if this were the first entertainment they had experienced in a long time.

“Now, choose your defensive equipment! Will you choose a shield or armor?!” the Fire Troll High Priest asked.

Kang Yoon-Soo chose the best defensive equipment in the temple—Shaneth. He grabbed Shaneth by the wrist and pulled her close before saying, “You.”

“Eh…? Yes?” Shaneth responded confusedly with a dumbfounded expression.

Kang Yoon-Soo said brazenly, “I’ll use this woman as my shield.”