Chapter 538: The Secret Underground Tunnel
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Your Majesty, do you really feel that the thing we are looking for is underneath the palace?"
In the dark tunnel, a huge group of mages fumbled forward while holding up torches. Elemental shields of various colours protected them, to prevent anything from springing out of the darkness in front of them.
The mage at the very front turned his head and turned to ask the Queen, who was being guarded in the middle of the team.
"This was recorded in the royal ancient books so it should not be wrong." The Queen looked forward and answered calmly, "This secret tunnel that runs under the palace really existed. This shows that the contents of the ancient books are not wrong."
Right now, they were roughly a few hundred meters under Gealorre. The secret tunnel was rather wide; the dark grey walls had been here for who knew how many years and on them were carved ancient runes and decorative patterns. Withered, yellowing moss climbed on them and there was a slightly pungent smell in the air.
Next to the Queen was a cluster of at least three to four hundred mages.
"But... Something left behind tens of thousands of years ago might possibly have become useless long before this." The mage was somewhat sceptical, "We have to go to such great lengths: attacking Carretas and pretending to be dead during the negotiations, all to sneak under Gealorre to look for this legendary thing. Is it really worth it?"
"Of course it is worth it." The Queen answered without hesitation. "This is the treasure left behind for me by my ancestors when the empire was just beginning to rise. I have searched for it for over ten years. It was not easy to find this trail; whatever price I have to, will be worth it."
Hearing this, the mage had more to say but bit his tongue upon seeing the Queen’s expression.
In reality, he did not really agree with what the Queen was doing.
The political situation kept changing; Icor had just undergone a change in government and the Kingdom of Helius was on the side, eying them as a tiger eyes its prey. Under such circumstances, it would seem very reckless for them to send troops to Carretas. If the Kingdom of Helius took this chance to launch an attack, the army and mages in Icor might not be able to withstand it.
But the Queen was set on her decision, listening to no one else. The mage felt helpless.
He couldn’t believe that this was all for a legend that was supposedly buried under where the palace used to be.
Gealorre was once the capital of the empire. The new palace was newly rebuilt here on the site of the old palace after Carretas was established, Legend has it that the first Emperor’s treasures were buried under the former site of the palace, and only the descendants of the royal family be able to open it up. Of course, to people like them, this was only a legend. The empire had been established for years now; if there were really any treasures, they surely would have been dug out by now. Would any even be left for them?
However, a few years ago, the Queen had mysteriously obtained an ancient book. It was said to be something passed down each generation of the royal family and that many ancient secrets were recorded inside. One of them mentioned the ground beneath Gealorre’s palace; the book stated that there were many secrets about the source of magic buried there.
"The hatred between brothers who go against each other has been buried in the deep abyss under Gealorre." Were the exact words from the book.
It would only take a bit of thinking to realize that it meant that the Abandoned Valley of Gods was under the palace.
This would actually be incredible if true, and it was not impossible. After all, so many years have passed that something that had once been a valley could very well now be an underground cave.
The only thing was that there so many legends concerning the Abandoned Valley of Gods - who knew if this was real? To send out troops so quickly just for this was a bit of a joke.
But the Queen did not seem to think so.
She had taken a lot of time to decode the ancient book. After it had been decoded, the plan to send troops to Carretas was formed in an instant. The attack, the negotiations, the faking of her death... Everything was done to divert their attention so that they could enter this secret underground tunnel that no one had ever walked through before.
Of course, the mage felt in awe walking in this secret tunnel; the sight reminded him of ancient ruins. However, he still could not wrap his head around what treasures this underground area could be hiding that had made Her Majesty the Queen worked so diligently, without considering the cost.
Other than the Queen, no one else had seen the complete text of the ancient book, so only she knew the answer.
The mage restrained the doubt in his heart; maintaining the protective shield in position, he continued forward.
He was, after all, walking at the head of the party, so he had to be very alert. They had walked into this secret tunnel for almost a day and had not encountered anything as of yet, but... A tunnel that was left undisturbed for countless of years, who knew what strange things might pop up?
They needed to be wary at all times and protect themselves well. Even more so, they had to protect Her Majesty the Queen.
"...We’ve arrived."
After walking for who knew how long in the silence, the footsteps of the mage in front suddenly stopped. They could only see a white wall suddenly appearing in the tunnel before them that was now blocking the way. The earth, runes and patterns that had been lightly etched onto the wall unfurled, giving off a quaint beauty.
The mage in front was slightly surprised and thought that they had come to a dead end. The Queen, however, revealed an excited expression; holding up a torch, she walked up through the crowd of mages.
"Your Majesty, this is..."
"The entrance into the Abandoned Valley of Gods." The Queen took out something that looked like a map, and after giving it a look, nodded in satisfaction, "This is the seal left behind by the First Emperor. To protect and preserve the place, only the blood of a royal can open it."
Saying this, she took out a dagger from her waist and slit it gently against her finger.
A small trickle of warm blood oozed out of her finger, which she wiped onto certain parts of the patterns on the wall.
The mage suddenly felt a weak magical oscillation as the fresh blood of the Queen was slowly absorbed into the wall.
The mages looked at each other, somewhat stunned.
"Alright, let’s move." The Queen turned around and commanded, "Now the wall can be broken through. Do not use magic that is too powerful. We are right under the palace, let us not alert the people above us."
Hearing this, the mages nodded and chanted their spells.
A dense and thick wind blade was summoned and launched straight at the wall white. With a loud crash noise, the gigantic wall collapsed; dust and smoke spread everywhere and the path behind the wall was finally visible.
They looked forward; however, at that moment, an even more pungent smell surged into their faces, so strong that they could not help but fall back a few steps.
"This... What smell is this?"
The mages held their noses; some almost fainted from the stench. However, the Queen did not even bat an eyelid. She strode forward, looking neither to her left nor right, her eyes gleaming with expectation.
It could be seen that there were no more man-made walls around the tunnel beyond the shattered wall. The terrain had also become uneven and rough, as though it was an underground cave that no one knew about.
In the pitch black darkness of the cave, a white light was gleaming faintly.
The Queen calmly walked towards the white light.