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Chapter 78
Translator: Yonnee
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Perhaps sensing the killing intent that Radis was exuding, Luke cried frantically.
“We made a mistwake! We won’t do it agwain! We’ll tuwn ower a new weaf…!”
Radis stared at Luke, who was begging her that they could ‘become her hands and feet’. Then, she looked towards the glowing egg again.
Gorz spoke.
“I-It hasn’t been long since we got that one! We only took it because it looked interesting and I thought we’d fetch a high price for it, Ma’am!”
“As long as you get money, you’d go to the forbidden region, you’d do something you’re not supposed to do, and you even picked up something like this? Ha…”
Holding her chin with one hand, Radis was lost in thought.
Gorz and Luke didn’t seem to be lying.
‘There’s a passageway leading straight to the forbidden region?’
She never heard about this before.
She was proud of how she knew every nook and cranny of Monsterwood, but she had never heard of the existence of such a passage.
But if a passageway like that didn’t exist, these two oafs would have had to go the old-fashioned way and break through the forest of monsters from the outside just to reach the forbidden region and bring back eggs like these. No way they could have done that.
‘Even I wouldn’t be able to go to the forbidden region all by myself.’
Looking between the two sinners and the glowing egg, Radis finally came to a decision.
She soon spoke.
“Lead me there.”
* * *
Feeling like they were on death’s door, Gorz and Luke headed towards the forest, which wasn’t far from the base of the Kingsnake Mercenary Guild.
Of course, this forest wasn’t the forest of monsters.
As they walked through the deserted forest, Radis threatened them.
“If you’re just telling nonsense here, I won’t let you go.”
“It’s nwot nownsense! It’s the twuth!”
Holding the torch, Luke hastily spoke up. Meanwhile Gorz, who was walking ahead with the chest of eggs, opened his mouth as well.
“It’s been more than ten years. At that time, low-level monsters lived around here and were common in these parts of the forest. We were just hiding somewhere around here to catch some wild animals, but then at that time, we saw people in armor walking through a passageway. It wasn’t just one or two people—it was a lot.”
Walking through the thick foliage, Luke pushed aside a group of vines that was hanging between two tall trees.
Then, a small clearing was revealed at the base of a cliff that wasn’t too high up.
Between the crevice, a narrow cave entrance could be seen. It looked like an opening that had been formed after the ground had cracked open.
Gorz explained.
“Those people left their horses here and then went ahead inside.”
“Thwat’s how we smelled some money inswide.”
Gorz gulped dryly.
“But the people who went inside the cave didn’t come back out. No, well, some did, but only two people returned. It was a man in a black cloak and a child.
“A child?”
“Yes, Ma’am. But the rest didn’t return. Out of curiosity, we went inside, too, and what we saw there was shocking.”
Luke lit up the cave with the torch in his hand.
After taking a step into the cave, Radis could see what exactly was shocking.
On the right side, boulders had collapsed so that path had gotten completely blocked, but the other passageway leading deeper into Monsterwood was so far ahead that the end of it was impossible to see.
“Does this path go as far as the forbidden region?”
“Yesh!”
“Yes, Ma’am!”
Then, Gorz dropped his salute and had a servile smile on his lips.
“Then that’s all we hafta…!”
Radis quickly grabbed Luke’s cloak as he was about to run away.
“Didn’t I say I won’t let you go if you’re just pulling my leg here?”
With a frightened expression, Gorz cried.
“Aiyah, we’re not pulling anyone’s leg here, Ma’am! The passageway is just long, but since there’s only one way going there, you can just go straight. The end of it is the forbidden region! You don’t even need a guide or whatever!”
“You’re the ones who took those eggs, so isn’t it right that you’ll put them back?”
Radis took her iron club from her belt and swung it threateningly.
“Huuk!”
Luke cried as Radis hit him with the iron club.
“Goruz! Goruz! Let’s jwus go!”
Gorz seemed to be muttering something under his breath, but he gulped the words back down because he couldn’t fight back.
And so the three of them walked down the dark passageway.
All they did was walk, but it wasn’t that easy.
The road itself was leveled with bricks, but the air was stagnant, moldy and humid enough that it stung their throats.
It wouldn’t have been worse if it hadn’t been for Luke’s torch.
‘I can’t believe there really is a passage like this.’
Radis observed the walls carefully.
Perhaps because it was made a long time ago, but there were areas where groundwater had trickled in and turned into small swamp-like puddles, and there were also some places where the brick walls had been cracked open due to protruding tree roots.
However, only small parts of this passageway were damaged. Most of it was well preserved.
Radis could only think that this might be because of ancient magic.