Chapter 458: The Basement’s Messenger (1/2)

“Is it a basement?”

Called by Regulus 45, Jin and his friends returned to look at the stairs that appeared on the floor.

“… It seems that there was some kind of special barrier that I wasn’t aware of even after Regulus 45’s preliminary investigation.”

Jin came to that conclusion as he investigated the entrance to the staircase.

These kinds of hidden rooms and passages could be easily found using a “sonar” and the like. The barrier that was hiding these stairs must have been a very advanced one.

“I will go down first to see if there is any danger.”

Regulus 45 sounded eager to go as he dove down the stairs that appeared on the floor. The sound of running down the stairs became quieter and quieter.

After waiting for about 5 minutes without saying anything, the footsteps were heard again and Regulus 45 came back.

“There’s no danger. It’s a very interesting place.”

After his report, it was decided that it would be quicker to just go down and see for themselves.

“Okay, let’s take a look.”

They went down the stairs in this order: Regulus 45, Reiko, Jin, Hanna, Saki, Stearleana, and Elsa.

Surprisingly, there were Ether Lights stuck on the walls, which started to emit light as soon as Jin and his friends approached them. Considering that they weren’t triggered when Regulus 45 came downstairs alone, they seemed to have been set to react only to humans. It was a very advanced device.

After about 50 steps down, they arrived at the basement.

There was a door at the end of the stairs, and when Regulus 45 opened it…

“Oh!?”

“Amazing!”

“T-This…”

“What’s this?”

“…Whoa.”

…Each of the five of them had a different reaction.

What was waiting at the other side of the door looked like a sea of stars.

Though it was actually a huge mural and ceiling painting that imitated the starry sky.

A dim starlight was shining. The room seemed to be hemispherical. It was like a planetarium that had gone out of order.

“Welcome, everyone.”

A voice came out of somewhere.

“Who’s this?”

“I was left here to tell the facts of what happened here to those who would come here after such a long time.”

“…An artificial intelligence?”

“You may perceive me as such.”

To put it simply, it was an entity similar to Laojun. Though its main function simply seemed to be to relay a message.

“What are these facts you speak of?”

“The reason behind the disappearance of the people of the Lenard Kingdom.”

It was a shocking fact. There seemed to be a very specific reason for the disappearance of the people of the Lenard Kingdom. Everyone seemed to want to know more about it.

“Please tell us.”

“Of course. That’s why I exist.”

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The story they heard from that mysterious voice was astonishing.

“234 years ago, an unknown epidemic broke out in the kingdom. It was named ‘Magical Exhaustion Fever‘.”

“Magical Exhaustion Fever…”

Just recently, Jin and Elsa had been suffering from a difficult illness. It seemed that there had been a large outbreak in the past as well.

“The plague started in the north of the country and gradually moved south. The mortality rate was high and inevitable in the beginning. The bodies of those who fell victims to it were burned, and the kingdom’s population was cut in half.”

For better or worse, there were no diplomatic relations with the neighboring kingdoms of Klein, Celuroa, and Egelia, so it seemed that the plague didn’t turn into a pandemic.

“While still looking for a cure, the people of the Lenard Kingdom considered the possibility of escaping the country. Since the plague was moving southward from the north, they decided to escape to the south. The entire country had begun to construct a huge ship.”

Jin wondered if they had made it in time, but the voice soon continued speaking.

“But the ship seemed to take too much time. So they instead evacuated to the sky.”

“To the sky!?”

“Do you mean… Above the clouds?”

“To be more precise, to the moon. There was a magic circle in this Lenard Kingdom, left by someone many, many years ago.”

A Magic Circle. The Magi Formula would be arranged in a circle, so to speak, a magic circuit composed only of the Magi Formula. Its effect could be amplified by circulating magical power in a ring shape, but it was difficult to handle, and was a magical technique that had become obsolete in modern times.