The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 236

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 236

Soon they found the treasure vault located in the deepest part of the Mushroom Swamp.

It was a cave dug beneath the gorge, where glass shards, gems, iron weapons, magical device fragments, and other glittering or magic-infused items were haphazardly piled up.

Since it was a cave, it hadn’t been directly hit by the deadly poison spores, so everything remained intact without melting, but with toxic gases seeping in and the spore-melted swamp beginning to overflow, it wouldn’t last much longer.

Rita, who had dismounted from the Black Dragon, hurriedly looked around inside. The artificial spirit that had already explored this place with its clone emerged in the form of a butterfly to guide her.

[Guidance: This way, user.]

In a corner of the cave was a pit dug separately into the ground, lined with mushroom shells. The pit, large enough for a big dog to fit in, was filled with something glowing.

Crystals that shimmered with gentle light from within.

From low-purity ones that appeared whitish and cloudy like firelight seen through a frosted window, to high-purity ones that sparkled more brilliantly than a lit chandelier. From ones as small as peas to ones as large as ripe pomegranates.

Natural mana stones.

Depending on the purity of magic they contained, even a single blueberry-sized stone could buy a small citadel—a whole pile of such treasures was stacked there.

Rita gauged the piled mana stones and let out a hollow laugh.

She had roughly expected this given the scale of the Gremlin’s Nest and the environment of the Black Forest, but she couldn’t help being surprised by the quantity and quality that exceeded even her expectations.

It was enough wealth to establish a nation and still have plenty left over.

Moreover, the brilliant golden crystal rolling around on top looked like something she recognized.

One of the treasures of the Kairam Royal Family that she had studied while learning about the imperial family from Lindsey.

The treasure that served as the motif for the ‘Black Dragon’s Eye’ brooch given as an imperial reward at the Frontier Festival shooting competition—the original of her crude glass bead brooch.

The true ‘Black Dragon’s Eye.’

It was a pair of large golden gems, with a legend attached that they were crafted from the eyeballs extracted from the Black Dragon’s shell that remained after the Coronator was born.

‘These crystals are the actual ‘Black Dragon’s Eye,’ aren’t they? They look exactly like the illustration Lindsey showed me. So this is where they were discovered? They weren’t just gems but mana stones?’

The sudden appearance of a national treasure made her head spin.

Natural mana stones of this size and purity that emit such light would be difficult to even price. Their value would obviously exceed the total production of most nations.

There was even another golden crystal of similar size and purity.

‘A pair of gems like two eyeballs, the Black Dragon’s Eye… But right now Gid has no eyeballs. So these mana stones really are the true ‘Black Dragon’s Eye.”

Even if these were just gems, they’d be worth a national budget, but to think they were mana stones—no wonder the Kairam Imperial Family made commemorative brooches to show off while hiding the real ones and never showing them.

‘I heard they only bring them out for the Emperor and Empress’s wedding.’

It was a custom created from the story that the first Coronator and Emperor after the founding married and each took one of the ‘Black Dragon’s Eyes.’

‘I’ll have to create a plausible situation later to give these to those two. Maybe claim they’re the eyes the Black Dragon had lost…’

After taking a short deep breath, Rita took out the leather pouches she had folded and brought, and began dividing the mana stones among them.

She carefully placed the largest pair of ‘Black Dragon’s Eyes’ in one pouch and tucked it deep into her bosom.

The fairly large but dull-colored, low-purity mana stones she set aside separately to use as food for the Black Dragon.

She also classified and selected the moderately-sized, high-purity ones that sparkled like cut diamonds into another pouch.

‘I have a separate use for these.’

Finally, the remaining hundreds of small mana stones, ranging from thumbnail-sized to bean-sized, she roughly scooped up by hand and divided between two pouches.

One she planned to use as her emergency fund or emergency food for the Black Dragon, and the other she intended to give to the Prince.

Though it was just a small pouch that an adult man could hold in one hand, the value of the mana stones inside would be enough for about 300 people to travel in luxurious cruise-like conditions for two months.

‘Even with money, it’ll actually be a grueling march rather than a cruise due to the Empire’s pursuit… but it’s much better than having no money at all.’

Rita loaded all the mana stone pouches except the national treasure pouch tucked in her bosom onto the Black Dragon’s back. Then, riding the Black Dragon, she headed out of the Mushroom Swamp.

At the gorge entrance, after repeatedly casting detoxification magic on herself and Gid and shaking out their clothes to completely remove the poison, she climbed up to the hill where the group was waiting.

Soon she saw people sitting huddled together with wide eyes and gaping mouths.

As Lillieta approached, they jumped to their feet. Jurlene fired questions at her in a high-pitched voice.

“Knight! What was that meteor shower you showed us earlier? Is that magic too? There’s such magic in the world? You really came from another world, didn’t you? Otherwise it doesn’t make sense!”

“Sir Knight, what exactly did you just do? Even seeing it with my own eyes, I can’t understand… Please, I beg you for an explanation.”

The Captain of the Self-Defense Force interjected with a trembling voice. Mage Allen was half-dazed, calculating something under his breath, while Priest Dorin was clasping his hands in prayer.

The Captain of the Guard’s lips twitched as if he wanted to pour out questions, but he dutifully waited for his lord, Prince Elision, to speak first.

Sion asked with a pale face, trying to remain calm.

“The miracle you just showed us, Sir Knight… was that really magic? Even the ancient elves wouldn’t have used magic of such power…”

“Please understand it as a type of magic and my unique technique.”

Rita gave a simple excuse, then added something that suddenly came to mind as she was conscious of the pouch in her bosom.

“I have to be able to do this much to become the ‘Black Dragon’s Eye.'”

“The Black Dragon’s… Eye?”

“It’s a title used where I lived to refer to someone recognized by the Black Dragon.”

Sion looked back and forth between her and the Black Dragon standing behind her with wide blue eyes.

The Black Dragon with empty eye sockets. The person called the Black Dragon’s Eye.

His mouth fell open in bewilderment.

“Ah… so that’s how it was. So Sir Knight, you… exist in place of the Black Dragon’s eyes… and that’s why you see revelations?”

“Wow, so that’s why the Black Dragon had no eyes? No wonder! You weren’t just friends with the Black Dragon! So the ‘Eye,’ the Knight, sees the future that the Black Dragon should see instead? And that’s the revelation? Wow… the Black Dragon’s eyes are golden!”

Sion’s interpretation was followed by Jurlene’s admiration.

She hadn’t meant to include such meaning, but the situation was strangely fitting together.

‘I just thought of it suddenly because I discovered the Black Dragon’s eyes… I wanted to be called by a term that identified more with the Black Dragon than the title of Knight, thinking it would leave less of a mark in mythology.’

The interpretation was better than the dream.

Since it wasn’t a practiced deception—no, plan—she felt that adding more words carelessly might expose her lies. Rita just smiled faintly, then pulled out a pouch to change the subject.

It was the pouch containing half of the small mana stones. She held it out to Elision.

“This is part of the treasure obtained from the Gremlin’s Nest according to the Black Dragon’s revelation, and it’s your share.”

Sion received the pouch she offered with a bewildered face and opened it.

“…!”

Having been a prince of a nation, he could immediately gauge the value of the mana stones in the pouch. It was an amount that far exceeded his imagination and expectations.

An indescribable expression appeared on his face. A face where shock, emotion, and astonishment couldn’t be distinguished. His lips moved and he barely managed to speak.

“Are you… are you saying you’re giving all of this to us? Truly? Without any… compensation at all?”

“Didn’t I say I would arrange funding for you?”

Rita replied nonchalantly.

Sion couldn’t continue speaking for a while. His shoulders shaking, he opened his mouth haltingly with a voice trembling from something overwhelming.

“This… this isn’t simply funding, it’s equivalent to all our lives. The Black Dragon… has come to save us, illuminating our future with those shining eyes.”

“…!”

Rita felt like she had seen a phrase similar to what she just heard in the founding mythology. The artificial spirit turned her feeling into certainty.

[Information: This was among the recorded sayings left by the founder about the Black Dragon. ‘To us who were in dark despair, the Black Dragon came like salvation and illuminated our future with those shining eyes.’]

It was proof that things were proceeding in the right direction. Rita smiled with a much more relaxed heart.

“I will continue to help you all. Until the day the revelation is fulfilled.”

“…Thank you, Black Dragon’s Eye. Truly, truly… you are our miracle.”

People who were puzzled by the Prince’s dramatic reaction slowly approached and peered inside the pouch spread open in his hands.

Soon sounds of people gasping for breath could be heard one after another. The priest called upon god and the mage’s legs gave out as he sat down on the spot.

It was the moment when Lillieta’s fabricated ‘revelation’ was incorporated into mythology.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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