Chapter 100: Sun Claiomh Solais (8)
00YThe gates alone of the enormous castle reached 30 meters in height so it was natural for us to immediately think about another species.V1kak
rNfUZT“Is it a castle of giants?”1Em8O
Q6ul“Seems so.”ILOyZ
kEg“Do we have to solve riddles again?”IClY1jl
xFv“Hopefully not.”D76
1GZAll of us here would fail if we had to solve more riddles or something. Aside from Alicia and Lunia, even Yuel seemed quite unfamiliar with riddles.wAz78fo
SBi“It would probably be hard for us to enter through the main gates. Because the red rowan fruits are supposed to act as the entry ticket,” said Yuel.nwRaOz
zPGUnfortunately, we had failed at gathering the rowan fruits. Thus, the normal approach would be to give up on entering through the main entrance but… there were other ways around it.GtMpq
iDt1s“In any case, the walls… are really high.”kAM8m
pUYyr“Wow… It’s at least 50 meters tall.”R7zzG4
YbBwThe walls were just as enormous as the huge gates. Besides, they were maintained so well that I couldn’t see any holes in them.ELuL
CYyWell-maintained 50-meter-tall walls, huh.sE3gcKf
lb0FcNThat at least told us something.a1K
kt6F“Seems it does not have Sky Titans inside at the very least.” Lunia appeared to have caught on the same points as me. Hearing that from her sister, Alicia also noticed something.8gu75
a3gHA“Uhh, that’s true. It’s a bit… small for it to be a castle for Sky Titans, right?”x6PX6nG
8vPIt was definitely a gigantic castle, but wasn’t big enough to hold Sky Titans.7mR9TB2
xFv3D“But didn’t Mr. Uzkias say there would be giants protecting the Sun here?”mzXk7
VuWDka“It is most certainly just as he said. There are giants, but they are not Sky Titans.”zrzsFxb
3ls“Then?”aMyV
VUN“Well, I guess we’ll find out after knocking on the gates.”Q771Q
qbQI walked up to the castle gates while saying that. We weren’t the invited guests and we didn’t have the important rowan fruits either, but…yiGkfP
OI3Jt6“ANYONE INSIDEEEEEE…!!?”9RX
IlKI shouted as loudly as I could. It was an extremely loud voice for a human, but it was probably just slightly on the louder side for them.hNp
t0WpRight – for ‘them’.Yht7
uKq– Creakkk…!RXg
VWUHVMy voice seemed to have reached the inside of the castle, as the gates started creaking open.Rpmv15o
ITWMx“M, Mr. Korin?”uy177F
jaPOcW“Don’t be afraid. We are ‘rightful’ guests.”bWZ
Ls2fTIu“What is your plan?” Lunia asked.zv0d4B
RlQCJ7“We are going to be winging everything from here onwards. Just don’t get too nervous.”ChS
YWB4I was not aware of the background story of this place. It was an unexplored land of mystery that hadn’t been visited both in the game and in my previous iteration.Ovyz4L
n0gKXObEverything here was outside the player’s cognition and the only option for us was to wing it. But fortunately… coming up with random things on the spot was my forte.z74tVM
YCHJgU“Who are you all?”zxbB
BMYIt was a loud voice, but wasn’t sonorous enough to shake the pebbles and rocks on the ground as we had been expecting. The owner of the voice soon appeared along with tens of similar humanoid figures.ojwRjSN
5JlW“Huh?”riRZhX
EfQj5“Giants?”swMyklF
Lg1FhGiants that were all taller than 5 meters were gathered together as a crowd. It was a phenomenal and rare sight of a bunch of mid-boss-level entities, that were at least semi-Grade 1 or above, in large bulks.HMCyU1H
GmwIR6c“Korin… Are you going to fight them?”WYbU
GQ6“Of course not. I am not stupid enough to go for a frontal fight against dozens of giants.”Ynk4EE
b7RboFighting wasn’t an option; at least until the Solar Eclipse in 2 days’ time.iMdLm
UsaC2X“Humans? Humans!”dvAQGO
kYkn“Ohh. Four humans? Looking very juicy.”XhxxkHP
MHDg“A stew! We are having a human stew tonight!”d4LHSUQ
cpilRThe giants surrounded us while shouting out terrifying sentences. One of the special traits of giants was that they could eat everything including ‘humans’.vc9NW
b04X6KCannibalism was the worst trait of giants, and was one of the reasons why giants were still treated as demi-humans by humans.F0lSc
yIiJu“U, uaahhh… Mr. Korin?”CKuD
mxiLH7“Don’t worry. We have Yuel on our side!”Gq6j
ebzk“Huh? Me?”p3a
MdL‘I don’t have any means to stop dozens of giants though?’ was the look on her face.F0KLWy
WuFI72R“Wait! We have been personally sent by the Sky Titan, Sir Searbhan, and the Sage of Findias, Uzkias!”pe7j
i7KNPO9“???”weU
JdKwNMAfter shouting that, I could feel my party members sending me puzzled gazes.WRXH8P
9TxhC“Searbhan? Uzkias?”Ygc2
QaSQ3NHearing those names, the leader of the giants halted his feet. As I expected… there seemed to be not only a connection between Findias and the floating island of Findias, but also a regular exchange.3S0noKF
DtH15V“Yes, sir!”Y4pU4
UNJxoD“Speak in more detail, human.”p9G709
x0sUP4jNow, this was where I had to be very careful with my replies.8W10Fh
zIOujaWhy did Uzkias set the red rowan fruits as the objective of one of the trials? That was most likely a ticket or a necessary device – without that, we couldn’t lay our hands on the Sun, at least not in a valid manner.tunCK
eSRnH5Currently, we had two things that were going well for us.vZMkK0
HpZCVTLFirst was that we managed to arrive ‘before’ Scaith thanks to the fertilizer made with the Yellow Gold Mandrake,I7qS6vt
ljZIlC9And second was that we had information about Uzkias, Searbhan, and the red fruits of the rowan tree, thanks to attempting the trial.Lnt
9q9BAoAdding those two points resulted in the following.cDfmrNJ
w1AwSAQ“We have been sent beforehand by the honorable hero, Mr. Dun Scaith!”Uqm
yVn2“Mr. Korin?”ocfEhju
yInHqHLying.Xi64zX
rILa6hY“Dun Scaith? Who is that?”0D6vJ
EYDodY“Yes, let me explain sir! He is our lord and the great hero who has completed all the trials! He will be making his way very soon with the red fruits of the magical rowan tree!”6XK
1sV7ECIf these giants were the ones protecting the Sun, there was no way they wouldn’t have any connection with Findias. In other words, it would be impossible for them to ignore the importance of the names, Uzkias and Searbhan.uoFpqOp
m7a“Boss! Does that mean these guys are guests from Sir Searbhan and Uzkias?”R0a
BjXJH“Hmm…”ih1MZ
9oRe2Red rowan fruits, Uzkias and Searbhan.HzE
hV7xjP8Those were all names that the natives of the floating island of Findias should be aware of. Now, it was time for the finishing blow.1YyhLqe
dMwAzC“And you see, Miss Yuel here is the druid who has come instead of Mr. Uzkias!”ON0
s5SI“Ehk? Korin?”2Emm3I9
VKyQLH“Hmm… How could I have possibly missed a druid. But, did you say this little girl is here instead of the sage?”T4R
kuey7KJ“Yes sir! Miss Yuel is the future guardian of Findias that will be succeeding Mr. Uzkias! Mr. Uzkias has been very ill and Miss Yuel here has been chosen as the future successor!”HdBhOT
wKdkHcOf course, it was another lie, but there was something we had that could add credibility to that falsehood.tYVnz
q0mhs“O, Miss Yuel! Please show us your marvelous power!”nk83rp
nBmeNp“H, h, huh? O, okay…!”UflltdO
5XcpskYuel, who had been in a stupor from my constant lies, replied with her strongest spell.zhLu8GB
pkVAx8kᚄ (Sail)vp6X
6Tdᚘ (Ifin)ibNSM
5Wfu2fᚒ (Ur)fytdg
GTLvᚆ (Uath)R8t3Mte
ZbgLoYᚎ (Straif)IxW
th2651Twigs and branches gathered to form the shape of a giant – a wooden doll that was even larger than the giants.ZS1o5r
kjdBMQrWickerman.1VNYj
iL0uNThat was the greatest spell of druids that were only inherited by the sages of each forest. A Wickerman summoned with pure mana without a single sacrifice wouldn’t even last more than a minute, but that was more than enough to prove something to the giants.eDXR9
0q3TpThe fact that she could raise a Wickerman, which was only permitted to the chosen few druids, was the same as saying that she was a sage of a forest.Y3iMuTX
p1H0“Hmm… She really is the sage of the forest.”UXQGOD
dTpm4Since the giants couldn’t leave the island, Findias on the ground was probably the only place they could interact with. In other words, the only things they could possibly be aware of were the names of the Sky Titan and the druids of this forest.oSE
dClEverything I said made some sense and as expected, they were soon convinced that I was telling the truth.cDu
PHm“Good. We will treat you as guests. However, unless you have the red fruits of the rowan tree…”VjtKf
vhHZ“Yes of course. Sage Uzkias has told us that we must hand them over to you, wise giants, for your permission to lay our hands on the Sun!”z2STLu
n2Q0m7“…You will not be able to take the Sun without the fruits.”SUH8Nb
YkND“Of course! Our lord Scaith will be here very shortly! He considered it respectful to let the great giants know beforehand about his visit!”AVTT
VO9w“Hmm… I see.”WBpYmD
ADwqThe giants looked quite happy after hearing good things about them. Just like that, we openly entered the castle under the warm welcome of the giants.1JYa
hEv7G68“How was that? Super easy, right?”sVmaxf
Pq6Lf6“…”VDpHi
w3A“…”KVK6
sTsMy comment was met by three pairs of squinted eyes.mqRQI
CzA1dZYIn any case, we arrived at the guest room built for giants under their guidance. Sitting in front of the milk and large chunks of pork that were served to us, I gave an open announcement.VtSeq
rKgoi0g“Now, let’s go.”Qo9
07qyBm“G, go where?”Nbu22Gr
0hgjxx“To the treasures of giants.”0rI8f
lxsSym****LxnXzb7
SMnI know it’s nothing to be proud of but in our last iteration, we were pretty much living as thieves, because Park Sihu the player had an overpowered tool called the ‘Inventory’.hL16u
S44yoWhenever there was a treasure, all we had to do was sneak it into the Inventory and no one was able to find it. Therefore, it became commonplace for us to sneak expensive-looking things into the Inventory and pretend like nothing happened.FBNiML
xcQ0…I only helped a tiny bit though.TNA5s
NsHIn the game, they were simply pictures in the background so it was impossible to take them but in the real world, all we had to do was pick the treasures up one by one, no?CrS
w3ixI’m sure there were many gamers out there who saw those pixels of incredible treasures during the campaign, and thought to themselves, ‘Wow, how nice would it be to take a few of those for myself!’MXuPA
sG4BkIn any case, because of that, we took in the habit of looking for treasures first whenever we arrived at the boss stage, huts, or whatever.Kcu3
mgZQeMAt night, 30 minutes into my search for the room of treasures with Alicia, with Lunia and Yuel staying back just in case, we arrived at a large hall that most certainly contained a bunch of treasures.jNC
AjTO“Mr. Korin… Why are you so good at this?”rWZ
huH9E“Of course it’s from… experience.”vUkjNF
CWos0“It’s your first time coming to a giant’s castle… and yet you find the storeroom with a few guesses… You must have done this quite a lot…”BHL94z
n7Esk0C“W, wait a second. Are you doubting me right now? M, my hands are clean, okay?”o1x9p8
ZhIj8At least in this iteration, they were very clean!bhXrU8
TVi4l6“Hold on, Mr. Korin. ‘Immortan Lork’… and the Mandrake Bandits… Are you perhaps very experienced?”bWJsTj
tCpSq6Her eyes were very cold when saying that.G7cJ
GaP3rzB, but… Most of the time, treasures and storerooms are generally very easy to find! You just have to do it a few times to get the hang of it!u9EbVZl
EWC“That’s not important so let’s put that aside… and look for the Sun first.”2PIK
0R0t“Okay… By the way, there’s absolutely no one here.”YruYwp
HYGGCst“I know right.”a2ldVHk
g9O0It was great that we located the room of treasures, but the strange thing was that there was not a single giant protecting the treasures. Did they not even have any guards?cMsc
kqPDespite our doubt, we walked into the large hall of treasures.5t3noC
UzONyLj‘Large’ was not enough to describe just how enormous it was.Cnx
U4pTThere was a time when I watched a fantasy movie… about the nest of a dragon that was filled with treasures of gold and silver that had been taken from the dwarves. The treasure room of giants was so gigantic and remarkable that it reminded me of the one I saw in that movie.azkB
Rx9“H, how are we supposed to find the Sun from here?”GWj6sG
o9zb“It should look like a sword so… Ah.”IDm
ZSw6Inside the room were a bunch of swords along with other treasures. I could already see more than a hundred swords.BwaKb
TGbJ“…They are too small for giants to use.”UhWAg
9ErFQZ4“Besides, these have so many jewels attached that they are practically useless.”4U7J
crbdThere was literally a mountain of treasures inside the treasure room; there were so many of them that it was impossible to tell which was valuable and which wasn’t.V7q
sXNm5GWhat was especially strange was that there were a bunch of gold eggs rolling around the room like trash. Even if I was here with stupid Mr. Park, he wouldn’t have been able to grab one-thousandth of what was in here because of the weight limit of his Inventory.3NmZ
n9Q“I was wondering why there weren’t any guards, but I guess it makes a little bit of sense,” said Alicia.h77VIS7
aU2It seemed that they were certain that it would be impossible to find the Sun from this gigantic pile of gold and obtaining it wouldn’t be as easy as it was in certain movies.fqW
dyGbRAR“Not like we can go ask them either…”8AJ
cvALIt was when we were in the middle of searching for Claiomh Solais.RDNZP
l7B– Cluck! Cluck cluck!5Wi
D48For some reason, there was a chicken roaming around the room.tkXAQzu
5zwD“A chicken?”Cp3KBWG
tiVq“Do giants have chicken farms or something?”S5dG
EjAsPsw“But that one… looks a bit too small for giants to eat.”dR0P
NVWdTreasures were lying around like trash in the same room as a chicken. It was hard to tell why.paYpy
clPLudFor the time being, we ignored the chicken and continued with our search. After spending a while looking for the Sun, we were about to go back to the entrance but it was then.CM49d
x899Xs– Kung! Kung! Kung!k55i
5tR29The footsteps of a giant echoed from near the entrance of the treasure room.OwlT9
jW8b“H, hide!”mdP
2Qu“W, where?!”AuyQZZx
El2The best place to hide in a place filled with treasures…!YMp
0I6ext2“Come here!”6l9R3
B431DZM“Uahht?!”sSKf
OG1Grabbing her by the hand, I dug through the treasures and threw ourselves into the large pile. Treasures fell on top of us and created a curtain for us to hide behind.S8xCFC
Cru7eS6“…”h8XD
AbQcF“…”AAuT1
s3scwThere was a small gap in the pile of treasures we were hiding in. Naturally, we peeked through the gap to the outside and…cVUcy
3aBk– Cluck cluck?qdK13m
0ZaWhat we found was that same chicken tilting its head while looking at us.Pl3s
fwYrR‘T, that bastard…!’QwbCJnc
Ht9Wd9‘Shh! Be quiet, Mr. Korin!’cLjA5tM
CcsfXSCPlease don’t cry at us, and please just go past us Mr. Giant… Despite our earnest prayers, our hope was crushed by the incoming loud footsteps of the giant.8G2jUT
VvMd“Ohh~ my cute little baby. Here you are.”nDOUA6i
wCGplThe 7-meter-tall giant trampled on the treasures with his feet while reaching out for the chicken. For a split second, our eyes were on the same level as the giant’s.9mdp0p
qwY– Gulp!7ZI
SRLEven a gulp felt as loud as a lightning bolt. Fortunately, the giant did not notice we were there.uR15ITr
PnDVITD“Huhuhu. My cute little chicken.”E69
MrSmRThe giant stroked the chicken by its head like it was his favorite pet.hKg
xlUN7It was then.0PfB
vabmhuE– Pop!4wCZld
2XDNZThe chicken laid an egg with a loud ‘Pop!’ on top of the giant’s enormous palm. What was surprising was not the act itself but its egg.eyZ8Gzr
dXtNx5‘What the…’CxIbte
X8nezwLWhat came out was a golden egg that sparkled so brightly that it appeared like the materialized form of the word, ‘sparkle’. That’s right – that chicken was a chicken that lays golden eggs!KNnk6b
UGSgy‘Y, you’re not even a goose…’kROOI
Boop1L‘What do you mean?’Qh7s6nq
z8QCBxt‘N, no… It’s nothing.’jWF
FdY76YK‘A chicken that lays golden eggs… Don’t tell me all the golden eggs here are…’fZO
wV9u‘They’re all from that little guy’s ass!’xnsbmLZ
kcClpdo‘That’s a rather… unrefined way of saying that.’pI8CJ
WQgTYtStealing that one chicken was probably enough to let you live without worrying about money for your entire life.pzsMyYW
YlLP4IZ‘S, should we take it?’DRw
Ptnku3‘Wake up, Mr. Korin. What are you going to do if it starts crying?’Sg1X6U
o9W78Cm‘…Right.’6PF6
odBWIt was a shame but I decided to hold myself back as the giant started walking away with the chicken in hand.F4Mw3m
EGRiwE0“Huu…”1G8h2BH
z1q“That was a close call.”oKVM
N1qxBUWe both heaved a sigh of relief. Her exhale of breath touched my lips and mine must have done the same – we both raised our eyes and looked at each other.n6tjA1u
b7GUDBuried in a pile of treasures, it somehow made me remember what happened on that night.TJi
wutWW『Brother-in-law… Sister is not coming home tonight.』mDwm
bqEUnder the moonlit sky, I recalled the girl with a sensuous blue light in her eyes saying that after pushing me down on the bed. She had a very seductive gaze that slithered up my body, which I had never seen before on Alicia.Gzo
jhAWhy was it… that I was suddenly remembering the things that happened on that night?98S
yNI3mYA“A, Alicia.”4Ph80e
8BCCPG“W, what is it?”BIcjQw
xLluFX“When you first came here, what illusion did you see?”YR8gfg1
GAr“?!!”PaXX
gzVXqiInside the heap of treasures, a red flush faintly appeared on her cheeks.PfjUr
TEV4Gfu“W, where did this come from?”p1q
wJvJmh“Like… I just became curious.”N2o
65SWF0“I, I would rather not say it.”3Fo
0cxq“But why? Did you see something embarrassing…?”KQz
QoW“Whatever you say, it’s a no. I won’t say it even if it’s to you, Mr. Korin.”rAD
yWUj00“Well, alright then…”JdIYr
nwk8The room turned silent again. A faint scent of sweat was starting to float up when Alicia broke the silence.knTHiqf
JH5M“Umm, Mr. Korin.”skccG
bzzw“…Yes?”jZXo
mUxiUU“What do you think about Sister?”27KU
IZS90“Miss Lunia? Well… she’s a great person. I do like her as a person.”00sD
4CmWnLunia was a very honest person, and that was something I realized all the way back when we were fighting together in the last iteration. Even when looking at the complex nature of her relationship with Alicia, it was possible to see just how upright and righteous of a person she was.kLbk
DuHp“‘Like’…”lBcVa
RSi1cOO“She’s a good person, right? She’s competent, gentle, and pretty. I’m sure she won’t be hated by any guys.”pTFfYKr
eZDB8D“Is that… so?”uAh
dqappFcFor some reason, Alicia turned sullen. She used to like hearing compliments about her sister though… What was wrong with her all of a sudden?muYO1a1
xPy“…I see.”otdK
5MbNot knowing the reason behind that last mutter, we soon escaped the pile of treasures.ruTKkh
O5M9F0………5Xg2
4xxpxF……zwGKf4
M20…I9l
wexOGoing around the castle with a circular moon in the night sky, we came across a few giants and every time, we gave the excuse that we were out on a walk.gc2aQ
hGIThere was not a single light of caution in their eyes, as if anything we tried to do would be meaningless.FO7R3C
qPtn“The day after tomorrow is the Solar Eclipse though. Isn’t this bad?”KEbz5
ucpDQ“…Yeah.”rTl
x5nDG“It ends in 2 hours, right? Maybe we can try to look for it then…”sBqu
XeqB“But by then, Scaith would receive the Sun following the rightful procedures.”E3cMV
kSpfsVIt was impossible for us to attack him. Although it was a different story for Dun Scaith, we were still under the constraints of the geass.wwpe4
JYwWe had to apply that geass to stop the greatest threat from entering the fight, which was Dumnroix, but because of that very pledge, we couldn’t strike them at the back of their head in an open manner.5wCuLa
mUs“Huu… Let’s think about it for now. Uzkias said the Claiomh Solais could only be acquired during the Solar Eclipse. Why do you think that’s the case?”7GoZPw
aoa“He said the power of the Sun gets weaker, right?”wv5iW
zho6F“Yeah. Even though it’s not the same as the real Sun, it contains the power of the Sun which is why it’s impossible to even touch it.”7wql2
Q6qa5“So… is it only possible during the Solar Eclipse because that’s the magic period where the Sun loses its power the most?”TBZ
6in“Similar to the story with Nazrea.”djRN
b06frHA Solar Eclipse might be a simple astronomical event but in this world, a Solar Eclipse had the power to carry out a magic phenomenon alongside a Lunar Eclipse.4a6f
SBHyU“But this means that the Claiomh Solais must be at a location that is exposed to sunlight to absorb it.”0N95Mpr
MO6zA“In that sense, the treasure room with all of the sides walled up would be… Ah.”tWbQrdm
gnByRemembering that the ceiling of the treasure room was open, Alicia closed her mouth.XR5
yVWRvnG“Then maybe we have to go there during the day?”1dq6ND8
s45Eds“…Maybe.”mkHZ
Ije9lSomething… something wasn’t right.JshStVm
fScfWhy was no one guarding the treasure room?FFVAIuC
GU83Was it because they had been protecting the Sun for too long that they found it bothersome to allocate guards there?PX5sD2B
WpPKpTNo. It was a bad idea to look at it from that perspective.qu6
2E7v“Is it because the giants do not even need to protect the room?”1lEv8WV
hUP“…”ZcJiO
gHGUApproaching from that perspective allowed me to come up with a few other possible locations for the Sun to be hidden in.wWYEW8H
iZ1Mdd3What about the roof of the castle? No, that would be way too open.bUM4Ue
BUsWhat about the plaza of the giant’s castle? No, that would be too close. Considering how it was a treasure that was so powerful that you had to wait till the Solar Eclipse to even touch it, it was hard to assume that they would put it somewhere that was so close to their everyday life.suy0H
ZKU“If only we had a tiny bit of clue…”HGxLQ
zJeN68vI became more and more anxious over time. There was a last resort in my mind but that was a very extreme method that had to be kept at bay until the very end.iMIHcrD
7eP9x5For now, I decided to go back to our room for another planning session but it was then.tBj
43d“Mr. Korin. I’m not… sure if this could be counted as a clue but…”9eSp7
p3jIckh“Hnn?”xiV
4DVS8I raised my head in response to Alicia’s words. Her face was shining brightly under the full moon.CjuiBR
6ljN“What is it? Did you find any clues?”alRv
Sw1I“…Actually, it’s been weighing on my mind for a while now.”wFESn3
r3iDaShe whispered after carefully drawing her face closer to my ears.XNW
Ouoi——!!!PX0LZj
yFfd7Holy crap.QCA
9zmgFvThat certainly was an incredible place to hide the Sun in.lTPBP66
pkLfA place that was constantly exposed to sunlight during the day, that was unreachable during the night. At the same time, if it was there, the Claiomh Solais would most certainly lose its power during the Solar Eclipse.uGB3pWb
CcGpT17But if it really was that place…cUOOD58
Hs1YgqQ『It’s supposed to be a New Moon today.』BogEUxo
RNJ9aHanging above the clouds was something in the form of a ‘Full Moon’.U8WEw
E96wC6xThat was where uninvited guests would never even be able to reach.VQHPkU
Yx8WpZ0The ‘Sun’, Claiomh Solais, was hanging above the floating island in the form of the ‘Moon’.UM8Uzy
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