Chapter 2: Ken

In an unnamed eerie subterranean ruins, the thief Ken is trying to discover the treasure. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

In his experience, this relic can even be traced back to the Great Dark Ages of prehistory.

Almost nothing is known about this era.

However, the artifacts found in such ruins are usually very valuable, as the remaining prehistoric remains are extremely scarce due to the passage of at least 20,000 years and the destruction of an unknown cause at the time.

This rarity was enough to turn a broken cane used by a beggar at the time into a priceless treasure.

And the artifacts unearthed in these ruins are not only cultural relics, almost all the artifacts have been unearthed in these places.

As a result, various myths invariably define the Great Dark Ages as a time when the gods inhabited the earthly world.

¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ――――――――――――――――――――――――――

Struggling to sneak to the lowest level of the completely dark ruins, Ken breathed a sigh of relief and took a break.

The fact that he didn't encounter aliens and demonic beasts shows that his good luck continues.

Fifty years old is too old for a thief.

Although his skills are becoming more and more mature, and his experience is getting more and more sophisticated, the loss of strength and the weakening of his body make Ken feel more and more powerless.

So he moved the idea of stopping after doing a big deal.

By chance, Ken and a few bold and clever peers steal one of the most mysterious, powerful, and rarest types of people in the world, the magician.

After careful planning and investigation, the thieves infiltrated the temporary home he had just bought while the mage was away.

The treasure room is filled with magic traps.

But these magical mechanisms are nothing too remarkable in the eyes of this master thief.

He easily invaded the chamber with his companions.

Seeing the treasures in the secret room, even Ken, who claimed to be well-informed, began to sigh: it is no wonder that people say that the Master is the richest man in the world.

Many rare and expensive gems, magical metals, materials, and magical artifacts were casually placed on tables and cabinets in the secret room, and there were no chains.

This is just a treasure trove in the mage's temporary abode.

But Ken ended up taking very little.

――――――――――――――

"The best treasure must be kept in the innermost part of the room."

Ken has always thought so.

So when Ken's peers began to carry things around him, Ken walked into the innermost part of the chamber alone.

So he found the damn thing.

A circle made of gems and a black pearl in the middle of the circle that shone faintly.

The unusual arrangement and the eerie glow of the pearls made Ken determine the biggest goal of his trip.

But when he picked up the jewel, a terrible wail suddenly sounded.

It was as if it were coming out of his soul.

It's a magic trap again.

After picking up the black pearl and pulling a few pieces of magic silver and gems that were placed next to the pearl in the shape of a six-pointed star, Ken left his accomplices and fled.

Even the inquiries of his companions were deaf.

Because he had a hunch - after all, this was the residence of a powerful mage, and the trap to defend against should not be as simple as the magic trap of the big road goods at the door.

Therefore, there is a greater danger of staying any longer.

Ken was able to live to be fifty years old as a thief because he was not overly greedy.

He knew which was more important, treasure or life.

As if to test his hunch, he had only run a few hundred steps before he could clearly hear the explosions and screams.

Without looking back, Ken continued his escape.

――――――――――――――――――――

Maybe it's true that the richer the person, the more stingy he is.

The mage, an old man with a white beard, was chasing after the inconspicuous-looking black pearl.

Fortunately, Ken is a really good thief, and his ability to escape is not unabated because of his age.

With a wealth of experience, Ken always managed to escape before the other party found him.

But every time he didn't have to take a break, the other party appeared near him again.

The mage is as difficult as the legend says.

Gradually, Ken moved away from the city.

Dozens of days later, he fled into the Lost Swamp in a panic.

Extremely lucky, he didn't encounter any danger, and even fell into an underground ruin by mistake.

The old man never appeared again, perhaps giving up.

After all, even the mighty mages would retreat from the swamp's bottomless mire, year-round fog, strange poisonous insects, and dangerous monsters and aliens.

――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

Although he was nearly exhausted from his life on the run and the intense exploration just now, Ken was still excited.

Because perhaps he was the first visitor to this mysterious site for tens of thousands of years.

After taking a few sips of water, Ken pulled out the black pearl and began to look at the space in front of him with its glow.

While thieves love and adapt to the dark, it is impossible for the human eye to see objects in complete darkness.

It's already the end.

This is a room made up of mottled walls that have long been discernible in their original colors.

Most of the room had collapsed, and there was even standing water and fungus on the floor.

But Ken didn't pay much attention to that, there was only one thing in his eyes.

Coffin.

Many delicate crystal coffins with metal bases.

Most of these coffins have been damaged, shattered or buried, and contain only fragments of human bones.

But these fragments of coffins alone are priceless.

Let alone......

There was also a complete coffin and a corpse in an unknown liquid inside.

The body of a well-preserved black-haired young male.

A corpse that doesn't look at the tubes stuck in his body can even be mistaken for the corpse of a living person.

"A magic crystal coffin that can keep a corpse for more than 20,000 years, this is definitely an artifact!"

Ken was ecstatic.

I believe that those big people, no matter how stingy they are, will accept them at a commensurate price.

Not only money, but even a knighthood.

After that, build a manor, buy some land, and even buy a few ridiculously expensive elf female slaves to live the rest of their lives in style.

Maybe he will go down in history as an adventurer......

Ken began to thank the desperate stingy old man who chased him.

He even decided to return the damn black pearl and send a dozen bigger ones when the time came.

"Although you may have been a big person in your lifetime, the dead don't really need a good funeral gift...... Leave the artifact to those who need it more. ”

After muttering a few words to the young man in the coffin, Ken carefully rubbed the coffin fixed on the ground.

He's looking for a way to move it.

Because he was afraid of damaging this rare treasure, he didn't achieve results for a long time.

But what Ken has is patience.

Finally, he fumbled for a protrusion in the metal base—a protrusion that seemed to be able to be pressed down.

After hesitating for a moment, Ken moved his hand and pressed it.

The coffin did not move.

When Ken began to consider whether to try it with brute force, the coffin made a very soft feminine voice.

It was a rhythmic syllable, one after another.

Ken thought it was a spell.

He had heard the epic poems of bards, and it was said that the longer a mage chanted a spell, the more powerful the magic became.

I wonder if the "chant of the coffin" is the same.

Ken, who was cautious by nature, took a few steps away from the coffin.

Although he felt that it might be dangerous, he stayed.

At first, he felt that the voice was soft and pleasant, as if it was not dangerous; Second, even if there is danger, a coffin that cannot be moved, what can it do to him?

After all, few people can resist the temptation of such a treasure.

The spell was really long, six hundred syllables.

A door fell silently behind Ken, and Ken, who was all focused on the coffin, didn't even notice it before it fell.

Temperatures plummeted.

By the time Ken wanted to leave, it was too late.

Ken was relieved to find that he couldn't shake the closed door.

As a thief, you can die in a place full of treasures, and you can be considered to have died a well-deserved death.

Looking at the frost that hung on his body at an extremely fast rate, Ken said the last words of his life.

"It's really an artifact......