What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 530

##530

Dragon King’s Onward March (10)

“…We might have taken a wrong turn. We’ve passed several intersections by now.”

Johan said calmly. Tete, nestled in his arms, occasionally stirred in her peaceful slumber.

Cedric frowned slightly beneath his helmet.

The empty passage of sacred stones emitted an emotionless light from all directions.

It was the second basement level.

“This is the only area paved with sacred stones.”

“It could be a deception.”

“Or, or there might be a hidden door here?”

Franciska cautiously interjected between the two men’s quick exchange.

Four pairs of eyes immediately turned to her.

The child disguised as a servant was quite bold.

Even among adults several times her size, who didn’t even reveal their faces beneath their helmets, the girl didn’t seem intimidated.

Well, she was barely fourteen, and the fact that she had left the lord’s castle alone and come to a place like this was proof enough of Franciska’s courage.

She trembled, but she said everything she wanted to say, showing how loved she was.

Cedric sharply retorted.

“A hidden door?”

“Exactly. There might be intruders like us, so they hid the door. You said the most famous mercenary guild in the kingdom, no, the continent, is ‘Somac,’ right? Then you must have had many adventures.”

The child’s eyes sparkled unnecessarily.

Just a moment ago, she was sobbing over the thought of the bleeding territory residents, but she seemed to have recovered her energy.

The paladins, who often had such partners and masters, silently sighed.

Her large, freckled cheeks twitched with excitement.

“Don’t you know that novel? .”

“…”

“I barely managed to get one chapter from my mother. It’s a flyer from the Empire!”

“…”

Then, a silence like a boulder pressed down on their chests.

That’s right. Even if it was the far north of Baren, there was no way the flyers hadn’t spread to Atsuma, which was further south.

Johan turned around completely, focusing on the noise coming from afar.

Baron Eda Atsuma, with a group of knights and mercenaries, was completely passing through the passage with the underground entrance and crossing the first intersection.

Among the dozens of footsteps, the neat sound of shoes echoed through the air.

Calculating the approaching speed, they had about three minutes left.

“Let’s start by examining this place.”

Such a solid space would be safe even from the attacks of mythical monsters.

But the baron would surely want to check on Pysis’s safety first.

“If you look there, the main character, Sir Christel Langbuillet, sneaks into the Dragon Palace to find the lost Ice Cocoon’s storage. Then she meets the Obsidian Sea Urchin who gives three riddles! It’s a famous story in the capital, you know it well, right?”

It was nonsense. Cedric simply ignored the child and began to feel the sacred stone wall.

Lopi in his arms seemed to read his mind and meowed, directing him this way and that.

Franciska, who was helping him on tiptoe, widened her eyes.

“Did you just make a cat sound, Sir Knight?”

“There’s not even a scratch, let alone a keyhole.”

The man’s black-gloved fingertips quickly felt the sacred stone.

Johan silently approached and examined the lower part.

The Crown Prince and the adventurous noble lady had a point.

The intersections they had passed so far were not covered with sacred stones like this.

Even those who had sold their faith wouldn’t be ignorant of the value of sacred stones.

In the first place, if they were using jewels that only came from the place where the priests were buried, from the ceiling to the floor, as a barrier, it was right to assume that Pysis was here.

Suddenly, he remembered the day he infiltrated the black magician’s mansion in the black market.

The door there had a safe-like opening device…

There’s really nothing here.

“It feels like there’s something here, but I wish there wasn’t.”

Franciska muttered, following the adults and touching the sacred stone.

Cedric stopped for a moment and looked at the child.

Her eyes, quickly turning red, came into view.

“My mother, my mother is strange.”

“…”

“She’s getting thinner day by day, and she often skips meals. The other day, dozens of territory residents came to the main castle and cried and shouted. It sounded like someone had disappeared, but I couldn’t hear exactly. Like, like…”

“…”

“When I asked her what was wrong several times, my mother got angry for no reason and locked me up for days. I still don’t know why those people came.”

The girl quickly wiped away her tears. She bit her trembling lips tightly.

Cedric silently watched it.

His partner would surely offer soft comfort like Krem Shibus, but unfortunately, he didn’t have that talent, and he didn’t trust Franciska yet.

As the heir to the throne who had been subjected to countless checks and jealousies since birth, it was a natural reaction.

The moment Johan turned to look at the two,

-Kuguguung…!

A deep vibration echoed from afar, presumably from outside the guild meeting hall.

The sacred stone passage shook finely from top to bottom, left and right, making a cracking sound.

The mercenaries’ shouts echoed loudly not far away.

The startled girl rubbed her sweaty palms on her apron.

Cedric Liester was now certain.

He didn’t know why he believed it so firmly, but this was definitely Christel Langbuillet’s power.

An unknown anxiety gnawed at his uvula with sharp claws. What is it?

…Is she going to die where the Palace Lord can’t see?

-Tok!

It was then.

“Gasp, a baby lizard! Did you bring a lizard?”

The child, who had just stopped crying, shouted in a whisper.

The Crown Prince’s crimson eyes moved in an instant.

Gugu, sticking out from his armor, was moving towards the sacred stone wall with a precarious movement.

He immediately reached out to help the divine creature climb the wall.

Then the lizard, like a fish in water—an inappropriate analogy, I know—began to dash across the mineral with excitement.

The two paladins didn’t have much of a feeling yet, but the little one seemed to be gradually sensing his heart.

The three people closed their mouths as if they had promised and carefully observed the orange animal.

After several tens of seconds passed,

-….Toktok, toktoktok!

“Gasp, here. Something seems strange here. It found something!”

The fire lizard, which had stopped at one point, tapped the wall wildly with its tail.

Three pairs of eyes peered intently under its claws.

At the very corner of the vast sacred stone wall, about two spans [a span is the distance between the tip of the thumb and the tip of the little finger when the hand is fully extended] below a normal doorknob.

Something was carved in relief.

Johan gently pulled down the lizard and checked the carving himself. Gugu, full of excitement, hit the Crown Prince’s shoulder with its tail.

“…”

A strange feeling began to draw a map-like picture in the cardinal’s head.

First of all, it was definitely not an ordinary keyhole.

The carving was much larger and more complex than that, and the overall outline was a vertically long oval.

This is more like an elaborate seal or…

“That’s strange.”

“What is?”

“It looks like a person’s profile.”

“You’re talking nonsense.”

“…Baron, be careful of your feet from here! Gravel is falling from the ceiling…”

Wince! The surprised Franciska turned around.

It seemed that Baron Atsuma’s party had already reached his chin.

At the end of the passage, the shadows of torches and people were gathering.

‘Clang, clang, clang.’ The sound of footsteps was so close that she was terrified.

Cedric placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and coldly urged.

“Speak accurately.”

“Well. This is more like a picture than a key…”

“Ah!”

The girl raised her voice loudly and quickly covered her mouth.

“I, I have the same thing. This is probably right!”

The child hurriedly touched her neck and pulled out a necklace from under her shirt.

It was a typical noble family’s item with diamonds embedded in a gold chain. No—

“This is a locket that my mother and I wear together. Inside is my deceased father’s profile…!”

-Tak!

The Crown Prince snatched the locket and opened the lid.

Inside, a noble man’s profile was carved in marble.

Johan, after confirming the carving, immediately nodded and took charge of the rear.

This was the key.

“Hurry.”

“Yes, yes!”

Franciska took off the locket and brought it to the sacred stone wall without a moment’s hesitation.

Meanwhile, Johan cut through the air and grabbed a sharp sword of wind in his hand.

The voices of the mercenary group grew so loud that they seemed to touch his skin.

Their shadows, which had only looked like lumps, were now growing with a clear shape.

The girl was still confused about the top and bottom of the locket!

“Ah, is this not the right direction? Just a moment!”

“…It’ll be okay, Baron. We have Lady Isenia.”

“The mercenaries have a lot of experience with monsters. You don’t have to worry.”

…Isenia? Did he just say Isenia? The Crown Prince’s pupils widened.

“Yes. Those monsters will be neatly cleaned up in a few hours.”

“What do you mean a few hours? My kids will be here in thirty or forty minutes…”

-Click!

“It’s done!”

As soon as the child whispered, the heavy sacred stone wall caved in as a whole.

The Crown Prince gritted his teeth and put strength into his arms and pushed the door open. ‘Kugugugu…’

The square sacred stone mass slowly rotated once around the central axis.

“Isenia told him to take care of that healing priest?”

“I couldn’t catch him. I’m sorry. When I arrived at the room, the knights were already unconscious…”

“He jumped out the window! I missed it on the ground too—”

The enemies’ shadows were so close that they seemed to be within reach.

The dance of the torches and the noise of the metal were too close.

Cedric put the child into the space across the street first and moved quickly. And he quickly checked behind him.

The door was closing automatically, but Johan’s movements were too slow.

He knew that he was preparing for a possible situation, but he clenched his fist.

-Clang, clang, clang!

The moment the enemy’s toes, which had finally reached his nose, were revealed—

-Gugugugung…!

“I’ve earned another minute with this.”

‘Hwiririk!’ Johan, who came into the room like the wind, whispered, putting away his sword.

Franciska then stroked her chest and sighed, ‘Hua!’

But the Crown Prince was not given even that much time.

-Tododok!

Because Gugu, who jumped off the man’s tall shoulder, started running at full speed towards the heart of the room.

Cedric and Johan stood blankly and watched the scene.

The girl, who was staggering with her legs weak, eventually collapsed to the floor.

“Oh my god… What is that? Do you knights know what it is?”

That’s because, in front of their eyes—

-Saaaaa…!

-Dugun, dugun, dugun…!

A huge orb that all six eyes could not contain was pulsating from the deepest place, emitting ecstatic rays of light.

Around it, all sorts of magical tools and bloody weapons that did not match the supreme beauty were scattered randomly, creating discord.

Even though the room was surrounded by transparent sacred stones, it was as dark and gloomy as a starless night.

The two men took off their helmets as if possessed by something.

Then Cedric gripped the sword tied to his waist tightly. He didn’t know if the heartbeat that was ringing vividly in his ears was his own, Hyegeom’s…

-Dugun, dugun, dugun!

Or Pysis’s.

“…It’s a power I’ve never experienced before. I know why Sneider had to protect it even by destroying the Salt Marsh.”

“…”

The man felt a thrill as the capillaries of his whole body dilated in the extremely pure ether of the same attribute.

The Hyegeom in his grasp was also heating up fiercely.

-Totototok!

And finally, the fire lizard, who had regained his everything, hugged the orb with his small front paws.

“Ah…”

-….

From the round gray eyes, lava dripped.

*

-Hwiiiiing!

Ugh, it’s too high! Where are you going!

-Flutter, flutterdeok flutterdeok!

“Herit! Wait, wait! Pause!”

The child, who was soaring straight up into the endless night sky, looked down at me and tilted his head.

I almost forgot what to say at the sight of his brightly smiling face.

I was surprised when I saw him once before, but he really didn’t resemble Sir Johan at all.

Nevertheless, his white hair and mint-colored eyes were exactly the same, and especially the atmosphere was similar, and he was cool and handsome…

“Thank you for growing up well, no, that’s not it! We still have business below!”

I hurriedly corrected the sentence and looked down.

Tess, who was holding the cut rope of our waists, also looked at the distant bottom.

-Hwiiiii…

The other Gugus were not visible yet.

So I had to help from here.