Chapter 17 - Chapter 2 : Alliance #8 (1/2)
Chapter 17 - Chapter 2 : Alliance #8
He didn’t know it at first. Just like Carack, he had thought of them as pictures.
However, when he tried to read the characters, he could.
'What the, what is this? I can learn characters and languages like this?’
Of course, it was only level one, so it was likely he couldn’t interpret complex documents. However, just having the ability to decipher text by looking at it was really enormous.
'Doesn’t that mean I don’t need to worry about foreign languages now? Isn’t that right?’
He had the ability to learn what he saw! Then he wouldn’t have to go through a lot of difficulty!
While In-gong was busy screaming inwardly, Carack, Caitlin and Seira were staring at him blankly.
Carack spoke first,
“Uh...Prince. Can you read this?”
Why would he say that he couldn’t read it when they already heard him?
Anyhow, In-gong returned to reality thanks to Carack and nodded.
“Uh, yes. Just a little bit.”
“Amazing.”
Caitlin - her golden eyes shone like a morning star.
Moreover, it wasn’t just Caitlin.
”I am impressed by Prince Shutra’s broad knowledge.”
Seira was also clearly impressed.
'What the? Is it that rare for someone to know dwarf characters?’
The dwarves still lived, so it wasn’t an ancient language.
‘I just need to say that I took a book and taught myself.’
Carack switched the topic while In-gong was thinking.
”Then Prince, what does this say?”
Caitlin and Seira’s eyes turned back to the writing. Thanks to Carack, their somewhat uncomfortable gazes shifted from In-gong to the characters.
“Wait a minute.”
It was only level one, so his reading comprehension wasn’t that fast. There were some words that had cryptic meanings.
'Is this explaining how to use it?’
In-gong read it three times before pointing to a character that had a metal plate protruding from below it.
”Noona, can you insert a little bit of magic power here? My magic power is clumsy.”
He didn’t know how to use it at all. However, he couldn’t ask her to hit him with magic power at this time.
“Understood.”
Caitlin nodded and inserted magic power into the metal plate. A blue light then shone between the engraved characters and a 3D hologram consisting of blue lines appeared in front of In-gong.
“Jishuka Mountain Range.”
Like Carack said, it was a 3D hologram with a bird’s eye view of the Jishuka Mountains. In-gong read the letters that appeared with the bird’s eye view and pointed to different areas.
“We are here. The Portal Three is over here.”
Portal Three was in another mountain but there was something strange about the response. Seira’s face turned excited.
”Does that mean there is a dwarf cave there?”
“Uh, why?”
In-gong was surprised by Seira’s words and Carack who was familiar with In-gong quickly said,
”Prince, in front of that mountain is the Red Lightning tribe’s main force. This mountain is right behind them!”
In-gong was able to understand now. Seira asked again,
”Prince, is this still working despite being degraded?”
“Perhaps?”
In-gong looked at the letters that came up near the bird’s eye view. The letters showed that the portal was lacking magic power but no other problems.
Only magic power was required to operate the portal. It meant the passage to the rear of the Red Lightning tribe could be used.
”Princess.”
Seira called out to Caitlin. Her voice and eyes were mixed with various emotions.
Caitlin sent Seira a stern look and shook her head slowly. She then placed her hand on In-gong’s shoulders and declared,
”Shutra, this is your merit. I’m not officially here.”
Seira sighed but Caitlin never looked back.
In-gong was able to guess the reason why she was sad.
The strategic value of the dwarf portal was very significant. It was evident that a huge reward would be given to the first discoverer.
However, Caitlin had declared she wasn’t here and kept her promise.
”Noona, just...”
”It is your merit. You would have reached here even if I wasn’t present. You also figured out its usage. I don’t want to be a liar. Don’t you remember what I said in the first place?”
It wasn’t just a courtesy. Caitlin had truly come along to protect him.
In-gong nodded eventually.
“I understand, Noona. Thank you.”
Caitlin laughed and covered herself with the hood again. Seira had a severe frown on her face but followed her master’s actions.
“Shutra, let’s return to Chris oppa once we have confirmed that the portal is working. A more serious investigation into this cave is needed.”
They had to inform that main army of the existence of the portal and secure it as soon as possible. In-gong already had a lot of merits, so there was no big difference if Chris and Caitlin’s troops were committed to protecting it.
”Okay, then please do it again here.”
In-gong pointed to the crystal ball in the centre of the magic circle.
Caitlin nodded and touched the crystal ball, immediately inserting magic power.
&
It was already late at night when In-gong returned to the base. In spite of that fact, In-gong and Caitlin immediately headed to Chris’ tent.
”Oppa will be really surprised.”
Those were the only words Caitlin said and they made Chris shift his gaze to In-gong.
”Hey, what is it?”
”I’ll explain it.”
In-gong coughed and spread his map of the cave on the desk. Although it was unfinished and only drawn to the middle, Chris immediately found the value of the map.
”We can hit Kairam from behind.”
Kairam was Kaichin’s brother and the leader of the Red Lightning army currently confronting Chris.