Cave King – 262

Chapter 262 – Freezable!?


When I opened my eyes, there was a white ceiling up above.

While lying down, I looked towards my chest.
Apparently, I was inside of a sleeping bag.
To my left and right, Rienna and Fule were sleeping.

“I must have fallen asleep without realizing…”

I felt bad that they had to carry me from the bathtub.

And then Rienna’s eyes opened.

“Ah… Good morning, Lord Heal. Did you sleep well?”
“Uh, yeah. I hope carrying me was not too much trouble?”

I heard Fule yawning behind me.

“It was easy, thanks to the shield. Besides, it has a drying feature.”
“What a useful shield… I suppose it is the reason that it’s so warm as well.”

Mappa proudly leaned the small shield against the hut. As if to say, ‘You took a liking to it, eh?’

“…I understand it too well. How amazing it is. Alright then, we’ll use it again today.”

And like that, we used the shield to head south once again.
Number 15 and the others cleaned up the campsite quickly.

And then we got into the shield and slid through the icy fields.

Around us, there were only snowy mountains and forests. The scenery was just the same as it was yesterday.

Fule looked around and said,

“It’s just snow wherever you look. I wonder how much progress we’ve made?”
“At this speed…we must have covered the same distance that we would have in ten days on foot.”
“Surely it would not be strange to see something soon. We should be watchful.”

I nodded at Rienna’s words.

“Yes, there may be something that will attack us.”

It wasn’t just things that were visible to the eye. I paid attention to the presence of any magic energy as well.

Eventually, Rienna looked up ahead and raised her voice.

“That… Isn’t that a building?”
“Huh? You’re right. It looks like a tower.”

There was a mountain range that rose up like a wall, and on the top was a tower.

Fule said,

“Ohh! Does this mean that we are close to Sanfaris?”
“I don’t know. I have never seen a tower in this style before.”

Considering its location, it was likely a watch tower.

However Sanfaris towers were usually made of stone or wood. Materials that were common in any land. Even from a distance, they would be brown or gray.

Of course, it was also possible to be white from snow and ice. However, the tower in front of us was gold, both the walls and roof.

“And it is so shiny… What is it made of?”

I muttered. And then Fule opened her mouth as if remembering.

“It might be gold…or Orichalcum. Or even Hihiirokane, from Old Mappa’s home.”
“Regardless of the materials, it is difficult to imagine humans making such a thing.”

It was much too extravagant for humans.
It was possible that some king or royal noble made it, but I had never heard of such a thing. If it was someone from Sanfaris or a neighboring country, then it would have been known far and wide.

Fule asked.

“…Should we try getting closer to it?”
“Aye. Perhaps we can learn something. We may not even be on the Barleon continent.”
“Let’s take a look then. While they shouldn’t be able to see us, we must still be on our guard.”

And like that, Fule steered the shield towards the tower.
It quickly became an uphill climb, but we rose up without the need to fly.

I did not detect any lifeforms in the area.

However, there was the presence of strong magical energy coming from the tower.
In other words, it was not made of gold, but material like Orichalcum or Hiirokane, which contained energy.

“…Could it be a machine?”
“Perhaps… Besides, can’t you sense energy from the other side of the mountain as well?”

Fule said as sweat dripped from her forehead.

Rienna looked worried.

“It could be some horrible magic machine. We must be prepared for anything.”
“That’s true. Maybe we better ride on the Mappa Go instead… Oh.”

The Mappa Go, which had trailed us at a distance, now came closer. He must have sensed what we were thinking.
And so we quickly got into the Mappa Go.

“Mappa, thanks for coming. We want to see the tower, and what is beyond the mountains. Is that fine?”

Mappa pointed a fist at us with his thumb raised. And then he began to push some buttons.

Magic energy then enveloped the Mappa Go. It was likely some kind of concealment magic.
After that, the Mappa Go rose and headed towards the tower.

“This can hide too… We really could have gone the whole way with the Mappa Go.”
“Now, now, Lord Heal. Nevermind that…”

Fule said as she looked outside. Her expression became worried.

I felt the magic energy getting stronger. It wasn’t just one place, but covered a vast area.

There must be something incredible… However, what we saw when we arrived at the top of the mountain was quite unexpected.

“…Is this a lake?”
“Yes. It must have frozen.”

A frozen lake spread out on the other side of the mountain.
The mountain surrounded it in a nice circle.

At a glance, it did not seem very unusual.
However, I could sense powerful energy coming from below the lake.

“Water charged with magic? Well, ice.”
“Regardless, that can surely be useful!”

Fule said happily.

Perhaps those who could not use magic would be able to if they used this water.
This could be a valuable resource.

However, Rienna seemed more cautious.

“I don’t know…there is something ominous about this.”
“Ominous?”

Fule asked, and Rienna squinted her eyes while looking at the lake.

“It seems very dark… I know that happens when lakes freeze over. But it seems darker than most frozen lakes. And why would there be a tower here…”
“Indeed, it’s strange… And there is not just one tower. It seems like there are other towers on the other mountains… As if they were surrounding the lake…”

Rienna nodded and said,

“And the towers appear to be gathering energy from their surroundings. And they are consuming it. Perhaps some magic is being activated?”
“But what magic? A barrier or illusion?”

As Fule said, there was no way to tell by just looking.

I considered going inside of the tower, but there was no visible entrance.

“Mappa… Did dwarves make that tower?”

I asked, but Mappa shook his head.

He didn’t even have to think about it. At the very least, it was not made by dwarves that Mappa knew about.

“I see. We could knock the tower down and find out… But first, we should check the lake. Mappa, can you do it?”

Mappa nodded, and the Mappa Go advanced towards the lake.

However, the Mappa Go started to shake greatly.

“!? Wha-what!?”

Mappa worked the control panel, and the shaking stopped.

Rienna looked outside.
Fine snow was hitting the windows at a great speed.

“Apparently, a strong wind is blowing. That’s why it is shaking.”
“…The wind grew stronger suddenly. Perhaps it is coming from the tower?”
“That is possible. Mr. Mappa, would it be difficult to go any closer to the lake?”

Mappa shook his head, and the Mappa Go continued to move forward.
While slow, it did not shake much any more as it descended the mountain.

Eventually, the Mappa Go arrived at the spot right above the lake.

We looked out of the window at the frozen surface.

Fule immediately raised her voice.

“Huh? Is this…”

Below the ice, there was something dark writhing slowly.
It was something that we had seen many times before.

“The black miasma…”

We had seen it in Sheorl and Arancia… It made living creatures go mad and plants die…
Arancia had become a barren wasteland because of it.

Rienna spoke sadly.

“So it exists even in a place like this…”
“The whole bottom of the lake. How horrifying… Still, at least it has not leaked outside.”

As Fule said, it was sealed completely underneath the ice.

“…Do you think these towers were built to keep the black miasma sealed in?”
“It must be. And it seems like they are working well.”

I did not know when they were built, but it must have been done by a civilization with incredible technology.

It could not be Sheorl… Otherwise, Shiel would have told me about this.

“So the miasma can be frozen…”
“That is a surprising discovery. In that case, we better not do anything to this tower and lake without more information.”
“Aye. We should search the area a little more. And then leave it alone.”

In Sheorl, we had Mel, who could cleanse the miasma. However, we did not know how much was resting here. So it was best to avoid it.
If there was a human settlement nearby, it could turn into quite a disaster.

I said with a nod, and Fule looked disappointed.

“And I thought we had acquired a new valuable resource…”
“We should be satisfied with the knowledge that the black miasma can be frozen and sealed away. Besides, there might be something else nearby.”
“That’s true. Perhaps the tower builders have a town! Mappa, let’s search this area now!”

Mappa nodded, and then the Mappa Go began to search the area around the mountains.

However, there was nothing of note.
We even searched farther out, but the results were the same.

Ultimately, we did not discover who it was who had sealed away the miasma.

And since we did not know what would happen, we could not break the towers. I decided to leave an investigation of the lake to Baris. And like that, we left it behind us and continued our journey to the south.

Next Chapter

One thought on “Cave King – 262

  1. Someone found a bad hole, froze it and built magical towers to keep it frozen. Hm, not the smartest idea ever but decent. Depends on circumstances, as merely freezing something bad (that probably doesn’t die in cold) is mere delay tactics. Maybe a group of mages found a bad source and created that to seal it away, and then died or got too busy to come back (unless it’s something recent).
    Thanks for the chapter! Awesome translation! May God bless you!

Leave a Reply