Chapter 290: Unearth (10)

"Purpose?" I asked.

Isaac didn't answer. The crow's red eyes were fixed on the empty air, unmoving. His gaze rolled like a slow wheel through the void until it stopped over the whitened manuscript.

I lowered my eyes to it as well. With Isaac's silence as a backdrop, my thoughts aligned. One clue pointed the way—the rise in my Wisdom stat. This manuscript contained Ashton's power. My awakening in the grave was also proof. Even seeing those words in the air could not be separated from Ashton.

The

Archmage Trapped in the Cracks of Time

being here was also part of the design. Everything was not a coincidence. Dots had been placed, lines drawn, and architecture planned. When the pages turned white, it felt like a pivot had been reached.

Rubia's voice wavered. "Are you saying Kevin Ashton planned... for me to raise Mr. Skeleton?"

In the end, it all boiled down to one question.

"But... why?"

Her eyes met mine, reflecting the same question I carried.

I turned to Isaac. "Any guesses?"

"Who can say? Half-formed theories will only cloud your judgment. For now, leave. The protection here won't last."

"Already?"

"What do you mean already?!"

The crow tapped the window with his beak.

Tap. Tap.

Outside, the stars drew long arcs across the night.

"This girl has her schedule, too. By now, her absence will be noticed."

Isaac was right. Someone in Rubia's position would have every hour accounted for.

"I'm fine..." Rubia said with a soft smile.

The gratitude in her eyes weighed on me like guilt. "No. I've kept you too long."

Rubia sighed, faintly wistful. Warmth drifted through the library.

"I'd like to follow... but staying here and doing my part is what will help you most, isn't it?"

"I'll return before the emperor arrives."

I had three months. It was enough time.

"I'll prepare things in the meantime," she said.

"Prepare... what exactly?"

"

Hmm

. Circumstances where I can eliminate rivals at any time. Like that tournament you mentioned."

"Not bad. A clean kill, right in front of everyone. She gets it, doesn't she?"

I glanced at Rubia.

Instead of replying to Isaac, her eyes fell on the book in my hands. "

If You Wish to Kill a Troll

... Is it another Ashton work?"

I nodded, holding it out. "Take it."

"Truly?"

"I meant to leave it here anyway. It's better if you're the one reading it."

Rubia's face lit up as though she'd stumbled upon a gold coin in the street. "Thank you!"

Rubia loved books. She always carried Ashton's name on her lips and visited this library without fail every day. For her, it was a fitting gift.

"If danger comes, seek T&T. Or the lord of Grassmere. Or Yube at the inn. All will answer my word," I explained.

I even gave her info about Yube's alias, his location, Rena, and the Grassmere lord indebted to me. She would not be alone. Yet unease still pressed in.

"And one more thing... Isaac. The secret passage. How do you open it?"

"Why?"

"She may need it, if cornered..."

Isaac flicked his gaze to Rubia.

"Better she not know."

"What?"

"If she's pushed so far that even T&T and Grassmere fail her, it means the ghosts are already involved. It'll be worse. In that case, knowing the entrance will only doom it. Once captured, they'll drag it from her lips by any means they like."

There was no need for details. I could picture it easily with torture and violation.

Rubia firmly added, "I agree. I wouldn't be able to endure that. If my weakness endangered the passage, I'd regret it forever."

Her resolve steadied me.

I nodded. "Then... until next time."

Before I could turn away, Rubia stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me.

I gasped. "Wha...?"

"Heh. What's with the act? People embrace when they part."

Isaac's jeer hardly reached me. Through the cold armor, I felt her warmth, a living heat I didn't deserve. It seeped into me and stirred the silence buried in my chest.

Flap!

Isaac left us, wings spreading as he went to open the passage.

"Return safely. I'll do well here too."

Rubia's smile was bright, her eyes shining with stubborn light. They patched cracks forming in places I hadn't known were breaking.

Rumble!

The stone floor split, a narrow seam of darkness opening below.

"Need more time? If you hate leaving her, take her with us. You've done it before."

Isaac eyed me with an unreadable expression. Regardless, I knew I couldn't.

"No, let's go."

***

"You could rule through a puppet, you know. Manipulate from behind a curtain. It'll be quite amusing."

"..."

I didn't answer. My only goal was to clear the scenario.

Yet... could I swear that Rubia is more to me than a puppet?

I crushed the guilty thought and changed the subject. "Which way to Yublam?"

Isaac's eyes gleamed. "Not stopping at the Merchants' Guild first? Their route forks away from Yublam."

"No. There's someone I must meet near Yublam first."

I needed to meet someone who had three Ashton books. Until now, we'd mostly clashed.

Why not attempt recruitment?

They had sought a third path, neither human nor demon lord. They were searching for salvation wherever it might lie. Perhaps I could offer it to them.

"Oh ho. Another one tied to Ashton?"

Isaac's sudden remark cut into my thoughts.

"..."

"What's with the surprise? If the thought only hit you after we left the Erast Library, it's obvious, isn't it?"

Rubia, and Isaac even more so...

It felt like my thoughts floated naked in the air, easy to pluck.

"To some degree. They hold three of Ashton's books," I replied.

"Interesting. Describe this little cutie for me."

"First of all, they have no gender."

Or rather, they could become either, as needed. When I explained that, Isaac was delighted.

"That's it! That's why I adore slimes. They're a far too precious race to be left to extinction."

Precious.

Though they were precious for very different reasons than Isaac's, the word fit. Lime's insight was sharp. They had the ability to appraise objects in detail. Lime could transform with complete freedom. If confined to their own flesh, even Biblio's so-called sculpting powers were nothing.

Lime could dissolve human bone and flesh as though they'd never existed. With that nature, Lime could infiltrate anywhere—an ideal scout. And Lime's temperament was gentle, without malice. If I could recruit Lime... the help would be immeasurable.

"Here."

Isaac stopped at a sealed section of the tunnel and unraveled the wards.

"Breathe it out..."

Rumble...

The ceiling opened wide, about two meters across.

"An inner keep?"

No human presence stirred nearby. I stepped into the dark. Dust clung thick to every stride, layer upon layer, ages deep.

"Heavy. Dust gathered over centuries. Old castles are riddled with places like this."

"A forgotten space, then?"

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Isaac nodded.

We passed a storage chamber where massive, rotten oak barrels lay, then ascended. I angled toward the flicker of human presence. There were twelve guards, arranged in a pattern that marked proximity to the lord's chambers.

"

Yaaawn...

"

One of them stretched, jaw cracking. I slipped past with ease, heading to the bedchamber. I'd walked these halls before when the marquis had dragged me here, and I'd even been down to the dungeons where opium addicts rotted. Inside, the corpulent lord of Yublam bent over his ledgers, thick wrists gleaming with golden bracelets. A familiar administrator stood at his side.

"He didn't run even after losing more than ten guards?

"

Isaac peered into the ledgers, chuckling.

"Why flee? When a partner dies, profits double overnight."

"

But... not even knowing why your partner died?

"

"Humans are lazy, primitive creatures. They never move unless their fear outweighs their greed. Right now, his profits have doubled. Why would he leave?"

Yet, I remembered him bolting at nothing but the sight of Leandro's letter. The marquis was that overwhelming and terrifying.

"

Shall we kill him?

"

"And replace him with what?"

When Leandro had come, he'd set his man Merek as acting lord. However, that was after an official investigation had been set up. Here, I had not confessed anything about assassins, nor was there any imperial scrutiny.

Why would anyone look twice at Yublam?

Killing Asphode, the guard captain, and his pack had been a safe choice. Two regressions proved it. Maybe the only reason it hadn't blown up then was because this greedy pig of a lord buried it. That explained how such a chain of murders had passed without notice.

"

I don't know. Better to play it safe."

I slipped past, leaving him to his oily ledgers. When the emperor arrived, even if I killed him, another pig would take his place. I left the reek of opium-stained streets behind and stepped out of the gates. The gray walls of the keep loomed, cracked and weather-worn under the falling night. This was a city without conscience or courage. Rubia had died here.

I'll have to act here.

I crushed down the memory and turned my feet toward the orphanage. Above, the night sky glittered too cleanly for Yublam's filth. The air grew fresher as I neared a massive lumber mill. Children's breathing drifted from the dormitories, soft in sleep.

The building was two stories high. I hadn't come here in a long time.

"Even the beds are the same."

"You even know something like that?"

"I lived here for three months once."

Would Lime still be the same?

Only one room glowed faintly. It was the headmaster's office. The door was closed.

Creak.

I turned the handle and eased it open. A middle-aged man with gentle features looked up immediately, his voice calm and unshaken. He didn't startle. The man didn't even wonder who I was beneath perfect concealment.

"I've already refused the offer to become a ghost," he said flatly. "I must insist you stop visiting."