What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 686

Sub-Male Lead’s Strike – Episode 686

#686

The Coward and the Catacombs (9)

‘A secret door,’ you say?

“Ooh…”

“Jackpot…”

With eyes wide, Gain and I led the charge as the entire group flocked toward him.

I was so out of it that I dropped my torch on the way, so the visibility was dim.

The musty smell was still there, but after the spectacle we just experienced, everyone seemed to find it bearable.

Doo-doo-doo-doo. Skeletons and ants were still running around outside of Sir Johan’s air barrier.

Humans are creatures of adaptation, or so they say. I think I’m slowly getting used to this ridiculous sight…

“…Oh my god. It’s blocked here?”

Only when the distance narrowed did we realize that this was a dead end.

I was flabbergasted and gaped.

Meanwhile, Duke Lasso was sparkling his eyes as he looked at my back, so I felt a little embarrassed and folded my wings.

But I should still take out two just in case.

“Hey, that was almost a disaster. What if those bones had chased us all the way here?”

– Clang!

Gibriel Diop scolded while looking down at the puddle, and the kid was being cheeky as if to say, ‘Isn’t it enough that we’re alive?’ (You really have to see it to believe it…)

Unexpectedly, the young master, who is usually very calculated, would be annoyed, but anyway, that’s what he said.

For now, rather than dwelling on the trials we’ve overcome, we needed to quickly unravel the clues before us.

Curious Doria peeked out from behind and sniffed Francois.

Then, the wizard held up the L-shaped iron bar so everyone could see it clearly.

“Did you make a magic tool with this, Marquis? Is it a tool specialized for opening doors?”

Sant clasped his hands together, full of anticipation.

The Marquis gestured to the man next to him with an elegant gesture.

Realizing it was his turn, Duke Lasso startled and twitched his lips.

His face was completely drained of blood from the series of events.

“Ah, that. In my territory… In the underground passage in my territory, I have seen a secret door like this before. At first glance, there are no doorknobs or hinges, so you can’t tell it’s a door.”

‘If you look closely here…’ He pointed to one spot with his stiff fingers.

Everyone’s eyes followed and moved in unison.

I subtly gave Cedric, who was standing right behind me, a look.

Don’t push, you’re heavy, my height will shrink.

“Like this, there is a small hole.”

“Ah! Really! It’s a keyhole?”

“Yes. To be precise, there is soil or metal fragments filling the hole inside, and if you push it out, the internal spring… something like that will activate and the door will open, something like that…”

“Wow. Amazing.”

“…”

Gain and Duke Lasso exchanged words smoothly, but the moment their eyes met, they froze awkwardly.

Oops. I quickly called Francois to ease the atmosphere between the two.

“But what if we open the door and those skeletons appear again?”

“As you can see, their purpose is not to eliminate intruders. If the skeletons reappear, then we can simply step aside and let them pass.”

“…”

Everyone seemed to be slowly losing their minds as they faced extreme situations.

I tried my best to hold on to my sanity.

“Still, before opening the door, it would be good for everyone to be on guard and tense. We don’t know what might pop out from inside.”

“No matter how troublesome it is, it won’t be as much as you.”

…Don’t grab my wings. There are bones in my wings too. I have bones too.

“So, are you going to use this magic tool to remotely activate the internal spring? That’s cool.”

“Oh, this is not a magic tool. As I said, it’s just a part.”

The genius wizard shrugged his shoulders.

The light pink eyes looking at me were very confident.

“I’m going to stick the iron bar in this hole and push the stone wall with force.”

“Ah.”

Just muscle power…

“As a wizard, you must know how to use strength. Your Highness. Young Master.”

He called the combat wizards with an extremely smooth tone.

For a moment, it felt like I heard the phantom sound of snapping fingers.

Then the two men stepped forward as if they had been waiting.

Sir Johan stepped forward to help, but Francois immediately stopped him.

He winked as he inserted the iron bar into the hole in the stone wall.

“We are the group responsible for the empire’s military and magical power. Trust and entrust us, wizards.”

“…”

At those words, Cedric and Diop both raised their eyebrows.

It was a positive reaction unique to the imperial family. I had nothing to say, so I just shut my mouth.

Okay, now that it’s come to this, let’s give up thinking. It’ll be easier.

– Rumble…

“Ooh, it’s moving! It’s really moving!”

“Amazing, you two! So wizards are all about strength!”

Gain and Sant cheered loudly. Isabel and Sir Johan clapped along.

I gave a bitter smile to Duke Lasso, who was scratching his cheek.

Okay. Let’s be satisfied that that damn iron bar was used somehow.

*

– Rrrrr…

Finally, the stone door stopped moving, and a mysterious space opened before the group.

Cedric took the lead again, and Sir Johan and Diop took the rear.

We stood in this single file and slowly advanced.

A total of three torches brightly illuminated the beginning, middle, and end of the procession.

Tick, clank, step, tap… Everyone’s footsteps gathered into one in unison, continuing the new exploration.

“Wow… What is this place?”

“Christel, watch your step. Come to Mommy.”

Gain opened her mouth as she looked at the even higher dome-shaped ceiling, and Isabel took care of her daughter as if she were a five-year-old.

Seeing our pink Tama [a fictional animal similar to a llama] holding her mother’s hand with an embarrassed face, I felt a little relieved.

I was walking side by side with Leopold Lasso, who was wearing restraints on both hands again, and he had been looking around since earlier, as if he had never seen such a space before.

Hmm. I guess now is a good time to talk.

“Excuse me. Duke.”

The eyes that turned to me with a flinch were still terrified.

I tried to make my voice as casual as possible.

“Where exactly is Alison sick? She’s walking fine now, and she readily accepted and chewed the herb earlier.”

“Ah… Alison… was originally born weak. Especially her leg joints are weak, so the stable keepers were worried about when this child would die… I also spent nearly a year eating and living in the stable, taking care of this child. She also catches colds often.”

When the story of the pet came up, the man’s expression became noticeably calmer.

The story continued smoothly enough that I didn’t have to ask any other questions, and his tension was slowly easing.

Thank goodness.

“You took care of her with utmost devotion. But how could you take such a child to the battlefield…?”

“…Alison follows me so much, and I don’t know what will happen if I leave her alone even for a day… I thought it would be safer to be together.”

“…”

“I know it’s a terrible thing to do to a child.”

A small cave-like voice echoed. The Duke’s face looked quite pained.

I could feel my other friends listening to our conversation.

We diligently walked through a space that seemed more like a hall than a passage.

A musty smell of dust came from all directions.

Unlike the area where water was dripping from the ceiling, this place was unbelievably dry.

“Is it because of your mother, the previous Duchess?”

When I asked carefully, the man was so surprised that he looked like he was about to faint.

So that’s what it was. I lowered my voice, drooping my eyebrows.

“I heard that the Lasso Duchy is famous for mass breeding and trading of various rare animals. Alligators, rhinos, elephants. Leather, horns, ivory. All by-products are special products, so they receive orders from noble guests all over the country.”

“…”

I carefully observed his gaze falling to the floor.

Suddenly, the conversation I had with him on the ground came to mind.

‘Is that the only passage? Is there no other way to Cheonro?’

‘I don’t know. I truly don’t know. I just thought it was a good place to hide the children…’

‘Hide the kids?’

“…But you don’t want animals to lose their lives or become disabled for that reason, so you hide those children in the mountains. Probably since you were young.”

“Good heavens, how did you know…?”

“Children who are born weak like Alison, children who have defects from birth, will need your care even more. Maybe because your approach is different from your mother’s.”

“My God!”

The Duke was so startled that he covered his mouth with both fists.

Well, if you think about it based on the statements you’ve made so far, it’s not a big stretch.

Instead of saying that, I just smiled faintly.

But he seemed to think that I was a very great being, and he kept mouthing while looking back and forth between my wings and purple eyes.

“I’ve heard rumors, I’ve heard rumors. That there is a flyer printed in gold… That the late Prince has been resurrected as sacredly as tulip bulbs buried over the winter…”

“Ah.”

“I only take care of animals in the Duchy, so I don’t really know much about the outside world. I’m ignorant of politics and don’t know how to do business. No, I didn’t even pay attention to that kind of thing on purpose. But as expected, Angel Gong is…”

He looked down at me with trembling eyes. It was then.

– Step.

“This is the end.”

The Crown Prince’s low voice echoed through the wide space.

I blinked and got out of the conversation first.

“Yes? The end of what?”

“Literally. The space doesn’t go any further.”

The man pointed to the floor with the end of his scabbard.

Gain, Isabel, and I took turns bending over and squinting.

“Uh…”

It was true.

However, the boundary of the hall was not a straight line but a strange curve, and the stone wall that actually surrounded this place was also slightly rounded. Then…

“This hall is circular.”

“Looks like it’s circular.”

Diop and I said at the same time. Our eyes met briefly and then scattered.

I swallowed a sigh as I looked around the space, which had a much more eerie aura than the passage from earlier, and the ceiling also seemed several times higher.

It seemed like a very large hall, considering that it took quite a while to reach the other side.

“Duke, did the ‘underground passage’ you knew have a place like this?”

“It wasn’t this big. Secret doors existed, but beyond them was an ordinary rectangular space.”

“Your Highness. You need to check this place for a moment.”

At that moment, Sir Johan called us from behind.

This time, everyone’s feet rushed towards that side.

In the darkness, the heads of the group gathered in a circle again.

“Here, I can see something like human footprints.”

…Yes?

“Good Lord.”

Francois, greatly shocked, staggered.

As a matter of course, Sant and I also panicked. What’s here?

“Look closely. See if it’s ours.”

The lightning wizard said coldly.

But Sir Johan was definitely not the kind of person to make such a basic mistake.

The fact that someone else could be here, the fact that an enemy we don’t know might be lurking in the dark, filled us with fear.

“Not at all. It’s not a military shoe but the trace of ordinary shoes, and they moved in a different direction from us. Judging from the depth and stride of the dust, it seems likely that this person is a woman. And this way…”

The Cardinal walked lightly over the dusty floor without even scratching it.

In the dark twilight, his torch was revealing an even larger radius of reality.

I almost fainted as I looked at the clues that appeared one by one.

“Two, three… Four. There are footprints of four people that can be identified with the naked eye. Half of them are presumed to be men… There is one thing in common.”

“What is it?”

The Crown Prince asked sharply.

Isabel, who is talented in painting, quickly captured the unusual part.

“Your Highness, there is a faint trace of something brushing over all the footprints. It seems to be a material that is too light to be luggage… It’s probably a trace of being swept by a robe.”

“…”

A secret door. A round hall. Four people not wearing military shoes. Everyone is wearing robes.

There was only one occupational group that was suspicious.

– Clack!

– Whoosh…!

At the same time, a fierce flame soared from the Crown Prince’s fingertips, and a wave of flames raced to the round boundary of the hall.

The vast space instantly lit up like daytime, revealing its identity in front of us.

“Ah…”

What was hidden under the dust on the floor was a huge magic circle.

I got goosebumps.