However, if a history that exists in one place doesn’t exist in another, it could only mean that it had been manipulated and hidden.
Who had hidden the Archmage Abloff? According to Taeyon, he hadn’t done anything bad and was a great figure who had left behind magnificent achievements.
“I want to know about that person.”
He had a gut feeling that he needed to.
“When we get to the castle, I’ll find you the book. It’s probably in the library.”
“Yes, thank you!”
“Let’s stop talking here. The safe zone has ended.”
Taeyon said, blocking Kaniel’s chest with his arm. Come to think of it, there were no more traces of collapse or destruction.
“Wait there.”
Saying that, Taeyon crouched down and felt around the floor, then tapped it with the back of his hand. It made a hollow sound.
That meant there was some kind of mechanism inside. The question was, what kind of mechanism? The range of possible traps was too broad.
Just the types of traps they’d seen on their way here numbered in the dozens. From traps where stepping on a specific brick would cause a giant scythe to fall from the ceiling and slice vertically through whoever stood there, to traps where the floor rotated and dropped you onto sharp spears below, to traps that poured out hot steam to scald people, and so on…
Just as Taeyon was about to throw something on top of it, he stood up from his position.
“By the way…”
It was when Kaniel opened his mouth to ask something. Taeyon suddenly grabbed his forearm and pulled him behind himself while turning around and drawing his sword.
Kwang!!
The sound was far too loud to be just two swords clashing, and a spear was now embedded in the spot where Kaniel had been standing just moments before. Dust rose hazily from the broken floor.
“How dare you impersonate a knight of Oblyad!”
Once again, a short spear came flying.
The short spear hurtled through the dust like a shot. But this time too, when Taeyon raised his sword, it was deflected and stuck into the floor. One on the left, one on the right—Kaniel’s hair stood on end at the short spears positioned side by side.
So in the end, they were going to pay the price for silently receiving the dispatch and pretending to be a dispatched knight. He should have spoken up instead of staying quiet, saying they shouldn’t impersonate anyone.
Kaniel was trembling with belated regret when—
“Wait, I’m…”
“I’ll show you what happens to knight imposters!!”
Taeyon tried to say something to the knight who had rushed up right in front of him, but the opponent’s voice was formidable. The spear shaft wielded with the giant’s entire body fell threateningly.
The iron spear seemed to bend.
How should he block that? The deliberation wasn’t long. Taeyon raised his scabbard and blocked the spear head-on.
Kang!
Taeyon’s knees bent as if to absorb the shock.
The sandy dust was clearing. Taeyon tried to say something once more, but this time too, his words were drowned out by the giant’s voice.
“Hryaah!”
When the giant subtly changed the direction of force on the spear, the center of gravity shifted and the spear began to slide. If not careful, Taeyon’s hand would be crushed.
Eventually, Taeyon clicked his tongue and deflected the spear. The forceful spear struck the floor directly, raising dust once more.
Kwang!
Having been frozen stiff behind Taeyon’s back until then, Kaniel snapped to his senses at that sound.
He’d seen Taeyon fight several times before, but those had all been battles against monsters. Seeing him fight a beastkin—and what’s more, a beastkin who appeared to be a knight—the pressure felt completely different, and he’d frozen for a moment.
‘I, I need to do something.’
What magic should he use to help Taeyon? Would it even help? What should he do?!
The mage with almost no combat experience was still half in a panic state even after coming to his senses.
Just then, Taeyon urgently grabbed Kaniel and took a step back.
The floor was breaking apart. Starting from where the giant had struck with his spear, cracks spread across the floor, the fissures reaching farther and farther.
It was dangerous. The thing he’d been worried about was happening.
This was on top of a trap. Naturally, the floor’s thickness was thinner than other places, and there would be a trap installed beneath it. At this rate, they’d either be skewered on iron stakes or fall into a snake pit.
Taeyon firmly held onto Kaniel and jumped, stepping on the unstable floor. However, stepping on the breaking floor couldn’t give him much propulsion, and more importantly, the trap’s area was wider than expected, so even the landing spot’s floor was crumbling.
“This is…”
Taeyon turned his gaze to the floor. The broken floor was exposed, and beneath it was a deep, gaping hole.
“Kaniel, listen carefully. Don’t move.”
As their bodies began to fall, Taeyon turned his body to lift Kaniel upward and held him tightly.
“If, if you do this, Taeyon will—!”
“My body is much sturdier.”
“What does having a sturdy body matter when falling from this height?!”
Kaniel, who had shouted loudly, half-crying, stretched his hand toward the floor. He was poor at flight magic. In a dangerous situation like this, it would obviously fail again if he tried. He should have practiced beforehand. No, this wasn’t the time to be regretting. He needed to use magic, magic!
“<Wind to push up the rocks…!>”
Originally, this was magic used at construction sites. A gentle wind would lift rocks upward, and people waiting above would receive them and stack them in appropriate places, applying adhesion magic. By repeating this, they’d build towers.
Whiiing—the wind that blew lifted Taeyon and Kaniel’s bodies upward with a whoosh. However, perhaps because he’d activated the magic in an unstable state, it couldn’t lift them all the way up, and the two began to fall again as if floating. The falling speed gradually increased.
Then eventually, from about four stories up, the magic broke.
“Hyaaak!”
Humans were so fragile that if unlucky, they could die from falling even one meter. At four stories high, and with no cushioning material like trees to softly catch them below, the result was obvious. Kaniel squeezed his eyes shut.
In contrast, Taeyon thought this height was manageable. He readjusted his hold on Kaniel and landed, flexibly bending his knees in time with the fall.
Thus, amazingly, the two were able to descend below the hole without any injuries. It was a situation where they would have been seriously hurt if they’d lacked either Kaniel’s magic or Taeyon’s sturdy and flexible body.
“Are you okay…”
Kung!
Taeyon was about to ask Kaniel, who couldn’t open his eyes, when the giant fell beside them. He seemed to have hit his back squarely on the floor, groaning “Uugh,” but nothing seemed broken. Apparently, Kaniel’s magic had reached the giant as well.
“Kaniel, it’s okay now. Open your eyes.”
“Huuk…?”
His eyes moistened, Kaniel tremblingly opened his eyes. It really was the ground. He was dumbfounded, unable to understand how they’d survived.
Then he saw the giant squirming on the floor and became frightened again.
“That, that person! What if he attacks again?”
“Wait here for a moment.”
“What? What are you going to do?”
“Have a conversation.”
Saying that, after setting Kaniel down on one side of the floor, Taeyon approached the person rolling on the ground and kicked the giant without warning. The giant rolled and then raised his head.
“You impersonating bastard… Young master?”
“I told you not to call me that.”
“T-Taeyon-nim.”
“Yes, now you recognize me.”
“Why are you here, Taeyon-nim?”
“I was investigating because there was a disappearance problem. But you suddenly attacked me.”
“I heard someone was claiming to be a knight and received work… Ah, so that was you, Taeyon-nim.”
The dust-covered man jumped up and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. He’d only just realized that this situation had occurred because of his own misunderstanding.
However, it was already too late for regrets.
They had fallen from that great height into a deep pit that even beast feet couldn’t possibly climb out of. And that wasn’t all. They’d even faced a crisis of falling to their deaths.
“So, how are you going to resolve this situation now?”
The large man rolled his eyes, glanced once at the high hole above, once at the young man worrying from a distance, and once at Taeyon, who was tilting his head sideways in front of him, then politely bowed his head.
“I can’t resolve it. I’m sorry.”
“How long are you planning to go around causing problems you can’t solve?”
“I’ll fix it!”
“That too… Haah.”
Kaniel was shocked that Taeyon was angry. For the past few days, from when he’d descended to the surface until just now, Taeyon hadn’t shown anger even once.
It wasn’t as if Kaniel hadn’t caused accidents either. Hadn’t he once released magic power in his hand and nearly caused a disaster by summoning squirrel monsters? Even then, Taeyon had only said something like he couldn’t take his eyes off Kaniel, but hadn’t gotten angry.
