Volume 4 Chapter 6 Part 2 (1/2)

Volume 4 Chapter 6 Part 2

Translator: Kurehashi Aiko Editor: Queenie

The corridor here was so bright that Juri-kun’s lamp wasn’t even necessary at this point.

「Say, Juri-kun? How did you even find this place in the first place?」

When I ask him, Juri-kun answers me in a hushed voice after a moment of brief silence without turning back and still being a few steps ahead of me.

「There’s no big story or reason behind it, really. You know, both my parents are long dead now. Just until a little while ago I was staying at the temple so I didn’t have to worry about accommodation and food and all that. There weren’t any real restrictions there, but they would always tell me to stay out of the forest, and that was the only thing that I couldn’t really understand.」

「… Stay out of the forest?」

「Yeah, apparently it has something to do with the fact that this is the uncharted forest or something like that. Didn’t you know?」

「!?」

Really now, it was the part of the forest with the ruins inside it, the very same that the man was currently investigating. So it seems that Juri-kun ventured here out of sheer curiosity because the adults told him that he absolutely could not go there. Just what you’d expect from a small child.

「So while I was snooping around the place, I happened to find that cave and this passage here. Simple, right?」

「–––– I see.」

I kind of understand where he was coming from, but then again, I was reminded that sometimes ignorance could truly be a blessing in disguise. I wasn’t the one who could say anything about being privileged or having a cheat at my disposal, since I happened to reincarnate into an aristocratic family, but that fact alone meant that I grew up in a very sheltered environment. So truth be told, Juri-kun’s knowledge about this world must be greater than mine. Without a shred of doubt.

So what could I possibly say to a boy who was forced to spend his whole day playing around in the forest because he had nowhere else to go to? I couldn’t possibly think of any words that would be suitable here.

We walked for a minute or two in silence before another stone wall rose up right in front of us. Juri-kun placed the lamp on the ground again and started to touch the wall in the same manner as he did before. And just like before, the wall soon moved to the side, revealing the way to go further in. But then Juri-kun suddenly came to a stop.

「Juri-kun?」

“What’s wrong?” I wanted to ask him, but the sight of the next room shaped like a huge dome made me swallow my words entirely.

The walls in this place were completely covered in letters in a strange language that I didn’t recognize. And right in the center of this place, there was a man holding a long staff in his hands, looking straight at us.

「…… Filmina?」

From the sound of this man’s voice, I almost immediately recognize that man to be my husband. Seeing me, the man lowered his staff as he cocked his neck and opened his eyes wide.

「Edi? Why are you here……」

「That is what I would like to know. Why are you here?」

「Umm, that would actually be a long story… By any chance, am I not supposed to be here……?」

I started to speak, and with each of my words the eyebrows of that man were raising higher and higher. That was all the answer I needed in and of itself. There was no need for me to even wonder if those were the ruins he needed to investigate, because they probably were. But I was still wondering how it was possible for us to be here.

While I was at a loss for what to say or what to do, I could see that Juri-kun’s face have become somewhat distorted and twisted by some kind of dark emotions.

「The Black, Wizard……」

I took a deep breath, for it was probably the first time that that man would see Juri-kun. Juri-kun stepped a little bit forward. True, I have never mentioned that my husband was the Black Wizard, but I just thought there was no need for me to do that. As I thought that, Juri-kun got closer and closer to the man.