Vol 1 Chapter 10 – The Secret Treasure in the Deepest Part of the Ruins is Gross【Vol 1: The Beastkin Hero Arc】

Gazing at the golems that had spat sparks and ceased functioning, Allen sheathed his longsword. The surrounding walls remained open, but there was no sign of any more golems appearing — as expected, they didn’t seem to spawn infinitely.

Having disposed of all the ruins’ guards, Allen set Asmodeus down onto the hard floor. She looked up at him with a smug, upward glance and smiled.

“…Even while complaining, you still do exactly as I say. I quite like that gentle side of yours, you know, Allen?”

“…Yeah, yeah. Even if a weapon likes me, it doesn’t do much good.”

“Hmph, this is my true form! I was sealed inside a sword ages ago!”

Shrugging his shoulders, Allen mercilessly stepped over the wreckage of the golems as he advanced into the interior of the ancient ruins spreading out beyond the giant gate.

“More importantly, I just figured out why the Empire designated this whole area as a Forbidden Zone.”

“What do you mean? All of a sudden.”

“I think those golems guarding the ruins are the reason. Even if someone came here, unless they were a World Knight, they’d probably just get killed.”

It only worked out because it was Allen — if someone who wasn’t a hero stepped foot in here, they would likely be slaughtered by the golems without any means to defend themselves. In other words, the Empire was ensuring reckless adventurers wouldn’t come near this place.

However, Asmodeus gave Allen a half-lidded stare.

“…You think far too highly of people. Personally, I believe the Empire simply wanted to monopolize the ancient relics and technology.”

“…Would the leader of the Human Coalition really do something that crooked?”

“They would.”

She stated it categorically. Was Asmodeus harboring a grudge against the Empire?

Still, her theory had some merit. In the end, he wouldn’t know unless he asked the Emperor directly — and of course, since Allen was already considered to have died in the line of duty as a World Knight, such an opportunity would never come.

“Tell me, Allen, what do you make of the fact that the Emperor of the ancient empire and the King of the modern hegemonic nation share a common name?”

“Probably distant descendants or something like that, right?”

“…What if it is actually the very same person?”

“No, no, that’s impossible. Just how long would he have to be living? Even the Elf-kin would be shocked.”

“…Well, that is normally how one would think.”

Chatting as they went, the two looked around the interior of the ruins. The space was divided into countless small rooms — less like ruins and more like a research facility. Dust blanketed every surface.

Bookshelves lined with tattered books, magic circles of various shapes drawn on the floor, experimental equipment scattered across the desks — every room shared the same stagnant atmosphere.

As he moved through the rooms, one detail kept catching his attention.

Over a dozen mummified corpses lay inside transparent, capsule-like containers. On the desks beside them, diagrams imitating Mana Cores had been drawn. He wasn’t a researcher, and the text was written in an ancient script he couldn’t decipher, but the pages were densely covered in carved letters.

It was just a guess — perhaps they had been extracting and examining Mana Cores from human bodies, or perhaps transplanting artificially created ones into living subjects. Regardless, this was clearly a Mana Core research facility.

“…These are blueprints for a Brave Core…! If put into practical use, anyone could obtain hero-class strength…”

Asmodeus was muttering to herself over moth-eaten scraps of paper, but Allen was already getting bored.

“I had my hopes up since it’s an ancient ruin. But there isn’t really anything worth calling treasure here, is there?”

“…Hm? There is. Look over there.”

Allen followed the direction Asmodeus pointed — a relatively spacious room at the deepest part of the facility. Passing through the automatically opening doors, he stepped inside.

“What the hell is this gross thing?”

Several vermilion tentacles extended from the gray walls, connecting to a giant crystal placed on a pedestal in the center of the room. Floating inside that giant crystal was something that could only be described as a brain.

“—A type of 【Ancient Artifact】, the 【Cursed Brain of Domination: Brain Order】.”

Asmodeus explained from behind Allen.

“Just like me, this thing possesses a will. If you connect to those tentacles even once, anything that harbors mana — be it living or non-living — will be turned into a puppet of the 【Cursed Brain of Domination: Brain Order】.”

“…Wait, even non-living things?”

“Indeed. This is what was remotely operating all those golems equipped with Mana Cores.”

Being a fellow 【Ancient Artifact】, Asmodeus was extremely knowledgeable. Though she was dead weight in combat while in her little girl form, she was proving quite useful as a source of exposition right now.

“…That’s amazing, even if it looks gross.”

“…That being said, now that all the golems are broken, it is nothing more than a powerless brain.”

“Ah, so it really is a brain… By the way, what happens if a human connects to those tentacles?”

“They would lose all thought entirely. With neither pain nor fear, they would end up just like those golems.”

“…”

In other words, it was a brainwashing tool.

To be honest, Allen didn’t want it — but exploring an ancient ruin and leaving without a single piece of treasure felt depressing. Even something like this qualified as a secret of the ancient world.

As Allen approached, it detached its tentacles from the wall and launched them at him, as if warning him to keep his distance. The speed wasn’t anything special, so Allen simply sliced off every dangerous tentacle from the base, and then —

“Boyo-chan. Stow that thing for me, please.”

Ribbit…

“Hey, don’t hold back. Here.”

The frog Spirit Beast he produced seemed somewhat hesitant, but it reluctantly enlarged its face and munched down the 【Ancient Artifact】, swallowing it whole.

Thus, Allen and company concluded their exploration of the ancient ruins they had stumbled upon by pure accident.

Retracing their path back to the surface, Allen was struck by a thought the moment they stepped outside.

“Oh, right. I should leave a note for anyone who might accidentally wander into the Forbidden Zone and stumble upon these ruins like I did.”

Allen went out of his way to carve a wooden signpost and plant it in front of the stairs leading down to the entrance. Even if someone were thrilled to discover the ruins and ventured inside, there was no treasure left — it would just be a waste of their time.

Therefore, he made sure to write: “I have taken the dangerous treasure sleeping within these ruins. Exploring is pointless.”

He also signed his name, just in case: “Noir, the Wandering Mercenary.”

He had no idea if the next visitor would come years or even decades later — but this was, without a doubt, an act of pure goodwill on his part.

After that, the two of them spent roughly a month crossing the Mountains of the End, making their way toward a human settlement in pursuit of their true goal: a slow, peaceful life.