Chapter 115
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
Chapter 115: The Iron Trial (1)
***
Malta led Damien to a workshop located inside the Church.
As expected of the Church, which was also famous for its blacksmithing, the scale of the workshop was enormous.
Church members were constantly carrying iron and coal, and the sound of iron being hammered could be heard from all directions. Flames blazed from hearths placed here and there.
It boasted a size comparable to a small town. It was indeed a place that supported a huge group like the Church.
“Come this way!”
Malta took Damien to a corner of the workshop.
“This is where you will face the Iron Trial!”
Damien looked at Malta with a face that said.
“What are you talking about?”
There was nothing here. The only thing was a large iron plate on the floor.
“Hmm, don’t judge by appearances.”
Malta grabbed the hammer hanging from his waist. It was a hammer used for hammering iron.
When Malta lightly hit the iron plate with the hammer, the center of the plate opened and began to slowly open.
Damien looked down under the iron plate. Then, a large and spacious room was revealed.
The room was filled with old and rusty weapons.
“The Iron Trial is a test created by our ancestors who first joined the Church.”
Malta opened his mouth and explained.
“You’ve heard the story that we dwarves can hear the voices of metals, right?”
It wasn’t for nothing that dwarves were famous for their blacksmithing skills.
In addition to their natural blacksmithing skills, they had many special abilities that other races did not have.
Hearing the voice of metals was one of them.
Of course, that didn’t mean they could hear direct thoughts.
It meant that they could tell the purity, properties, and condition of the metal.
“Our ancestors thought that even if an excellent knight couldn’t hear the voice of iron like us, they should have the ability to choose good metal.”
If other knights had heard this, they would have protested that it was nonsense.
However, it wasn’t a completely unfounded claim.
In fact, knights with excellent talent instinctively knew a good weapon.
It wasn’t that they had any special abilities. They simply found it by instinct.
The interesting thing was that their instincts were incredibly accurate.
“That room is filled with weapons that the blacksmiths made for practice and discarded. They are all but scrap metal, but… there is exactly one weapon made of a rare metal.”
Damien looked down at the room. They were all covered in reddish-brown rust. It seemed impossible to distinguish them by appearance.
“Once you go inside, the internal mechanism will be activated and the door will close. To open the door again, you need to find the weapon made of rare metal and insert it into the slot over there.”
Looking at the wall that Malta was pointing to, there was a fairly large hole in the wall.
“Then the mechanism will activate again and the door will open, and you will pass the test.”
Malta asked Damien, who was quietly looking at the scrap metal piled up in the room.
“Is there a time limit?”
“No. It’s unlimited.”
“That sounds easy.”
“Easy? Hahaha, that’s why you people like you are never able to pass this trial.”
Malta said with a very meaningful smile.
“So far, thousands of paladins have challenged the Iron Trial to obtain the legendary Holy Sword. But do you know what happened? They were trapped inside all day and eventually gave up on the test and came out! Begging and begging to open the door!”
Malta seemed to be convinced that Damien would not pass.
“Oh, by the way, be careful. There are a lot of rusty nails down there, so it’s dangerous even to fall. In fact, there was a guy who stepped on the wrong foot and had a big hole in his foot…….”
“There it is.”
Damien said abruptly. Malta narrowed his eyes.
“What are you talking about? What is where…….”
“Isn’t that it?”
Damien pointed to a dagger lying in the corner.
On the outside, it was covered in red rust like the other weapons, and the blade was even chipped.
But Damien could tell. The weapon made of the rare metal that Malta spoke of was that one.
“……Huh?”
Malta turned to Damien. His large pupils were shaking violently as if an earthquake had struck.
“W-what……? W-w-what……?”
A knight with great talent can recognize a great weapon. This was also true for Damien.
However, even for Damien, it was not easy to find a weapon mixed with rare metal among so many weapons.
So he used another ability.
In Damien’s previous life, there was a Master Class called Weapon Master among those he fought.
He was a man who used a variety of weapons, as befitting his title.
The realm that the Weapon Master reached was called ‘All Weapons Beloved’.
When one reached ‘All Weapons Beloved’, one could communicate with weapons. Furthermore, one could further amplify the abilities of the weapon.
It was thanks to ‘All Weapons Beloved’ that Damien was able to find the weapon made of rare metal right away.
“W-what are you talking about? There’s no way it could be discovered so easily. Stop talking nonsense and look for it more carefully.”
Malta said, dripping with cold sweat.
Damien scoffed. There was no way he could be wrong after confirming it with ‘All Weapons Beloved’.
“Then I’ll go get it.”
“Wait! Wait! Hey!”
Damien threw himself down into the room. He avoided the rusty nails and landed safely.
“Damn it! This is a scam! A scam!”
Malta shouted from above. Damien lightly ignored Malta’s shouts.
As soon as Damien fell down, the entire room began to move.
As if a hemisphere was being covered, the hole Damien fell through was blocked by something.
Pitch-black darkness came. Soon after, a light source appeared from the ceiling and illuminated the room.
“Hey, hey! How about we renegotiate now? I’ll give you the best of the best intermediate holy swords!”
Malta’s anxious cries came from outside.
“If you don’t like the intermediate holy sword, I’ll give you an high one! So please give up……”
Damien ignored Malta’s cries and approached the dagger.
He grabbed the dagger and approached the slot on the wall.
“Is this really the right place to put it in?”
The dagger seemed too small for the slot, but Damien hesitated for a moment before inserting the dagger into the slot.
Click.
The mechanism started to work with the sound of something fitting into place.
“With this, the legendary holy sword is mine.”
Even Damien couldn’t help but covet a treasure like the legendary holy sword. Damien congratulated himself with a satisfied expression.
That’s when it happened.
His wrist holding the dagger became hot. It felt like it was on fire.
Damien was startled and looked at his wrist. Erebos, which had turned into a tattoo, was emitting a dark aura.
“What is this…….”
Suddenly, the entire room shook. There was a rough noise, and the entire wall began to rotate.
“Is this also part of the Iron Trial?”
It was possible, but his instincts told him no.
Erebos wouldn’t have reacted if it was the Iron Trial.
More than anything, Malta’s voice coming from outside solidified Damien’s thoughts.
“What is this? The m-mechanism is malfunctioning! I’ve never heard of it having this function!”
Something was clearly wrong.
Damien immediately heightened his senses. He sharpened his five senses to prepare for any unforeseen events.
Gradually, the vibration stopped. Then, the wall on the opposite side opened wide.
Beyond the wall was another space. Damien headed there.
As he entered, walls and floors made of stone came into view.
Intricate magic circles were drawn all over the space. Damien shifted his gaze and examined the magic circles.
“Why is there a place like this in the basement of the Church?” The magic circles drawn on the wall had the function of sealing and hiding the object inside.
The magic circle was incredibly complex and elaborate, suggesting that it was intended to seal something very important.
Suddenly, Damien’s gaze stopped. There was a corpse sitting in a corner.
“That is…….”
The corpse had turned into a mummy, indicating how long it had been there. The skin and flesh were discolored, and the lips were dried up, revealing all the teeth.
However, the reason Damien was really surprised was not because of the mummy.
It was because of the piece of iron stuck in the mummy’s chest.
The piece of iron was quite large. It had blades on both sides. It looked like the tip of a greatsword had been broken off.
Damien, who saw it, muttered blankly.
“Erebos…….”
A fragment of the cursed sword Erebos was right before his eyes.
***
Erebos.
A sword of unknown origin.
The Church has classified the fragments of Erebos as extremely dangerous and has issued an order to seal them immediately upon discovery.
In his previous life, Dorugo spared no time or resources to restore Erebos.
He recovered all the fragments sealed by the Church and searched for the fragments hidden all over the continent.
Even with all that effort, he was only able to restore it to 70%.
“To think there was a fragment here…….”
And the fragment before his eyes was one that Damien knew Dorugo had not discovered.
He could be sure of it. After Damien conquered the Church, Dorugo found two fragments. Neither of them looked like that.
“What on earth happened? How did a fragment of Erebos end up hidden in the basement of the workshop?”
Judging by Malta’s reaction, it was highly likely that even the blacksmiths on the ground didn’t know the true identity of the fragment.
“……I can’t figure it out no matter how much I think about it.”
It was a question that wouldn’t be answered no matter how much he pondered it.
Damien approached the mummy to retrieve the fragment.
Suddenly, a rough wave erupted from the fragment.
The stone fragments and dust scattered on the floor disappeared as soon as they were touched by the wave.
It was the power of corrosion, one of the abilities of Erebos.
An ordinary person would have lost their life just by being touched by the wave.
However, Damien’s body had been acknowledged by Erebos. He was unaffected by the corrosion emitted by the fragment.
Damien approached the mummy and reached out to grab the fragment embedded in its chest.
At that moment, the mummy grabbed Damien’s wrist.
***
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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