Chapter 72 - Signs of Life?
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Gawain had been awakened by the noise outside while still drowsy in sleep.
The sounds of soldiers running and shouting roused him from his dreams, mingled with cries of “the rock ball has come alive” and several footsteps that sounded like they were heading to his tent. Gawain who hadn’t been deep in sleep instantly sobered up. He grabbed a piece of clothing and put it on himself while directing his shout outside. “What has happened?!”
Knight Philip’s voice came from outside the tent. “Your Excellency— there’s something wrong with the rock ball you brought back!”
What did ‘something wrong’ mean?
The always clever and capable young knight had used such an unclear description that Gawain instantly realized that the situation might be rather complicated. Hence, he swiftly straightened out his clothes, picked up the Sword of Pioneers which he constantly kept with him, and lifted the screen to walk out of the tent.
At present, there were about two more hours before daybreak. The horizon showed no signs of light; however, the burning fire pans and torches everywhere chased away the darkness in the camp. Once Gawain stepped out of his door, he sensed a figure suddenly wriggling by his feet. Right after, Amber appeared from the shadows. The half-elf girl hadn’t had the time to change into her usual leather armor; instead, she was lightly dressed in a set of normal garments. She blustered noisily while leaving the shadows, “What’s happening, what’s happening? I was sleeping. Why.. Ah, ah! I’m stuck, I’m stuck! Give me a hand—”
Gawain was in a cold sweat when he gripped the collar on Amber’s neck and lifted her out of the shadows. It felt like she was as lithe as a cat. “A shadow master like you would actually get stuck in her own Shadow Walk?”
“I was in a hurry and not totally awake.” Amber looked slightly embarrassed, so she quickly diverted the topic. “What’s wrong?”
“Something seemed to have happened to the rock ball I brought back,” Gawain said casually and motioned for Knight Philip to lead the way in front while he followed behind the knights and soldiers with Amber. “Let’s go have a look together.”
Upon hearing that it was such an issue, Amber instantly yawned. “Ahhhh, I’m going back to slee—”
Halfway through her words, she was already pinned under Gawain’s armpit and taken away.
The single tent at the south of the camp was surrounded by soldiers and militiamen. A ring of people formed a defense line within a dozen meters of the tent. The burning torches had the area as bright as daytime, and the civilians in this southern part of the camp had been awakened by the stir here, but almost none dared to walk out of their tents to check the situation. Most huddled in their tents in fear; it would be considered good if they even had their heads out of the tents for a look.
By the time Gawain rushed over with this half-elf struggling fiercely under his arm, Heidi was already present. She drew magic runes in the air and set up protective wards with weakening effects around the tent. When she saw Gawain, she could not help but look slightly stunned. “Ancestor, you are..”
Gawain put Amber down. “This rascal’s senses are more acute than ours in the night, but she wasn’t willing to come.”
Amber protested on tip-toes, “You can’t do this! You almost strangled me!”
However, no one listened to her complaints..
“How is the situation inside?” Gawain looked towards the tent and noticed that it was a deserted zone between the tent and the defense line as if one would be in great danger if one got close to the rock ball. “Are there casualties?”
“No casualties, but two militiamen and a soldier are trapped inside.” Heidi had an odd expression. “They’ve been.. ‘attracted’ and kept there.”
“Attracted?” Gawain faltered for a second. “Like a magnet attracting metals?”
“Similar, but very strange.” Heidi recounted the situation. “At the start, it was a militiaman who noticed that the enchanted equipment on them seemed to have suddenly lost their magical powers. Then, their weapons and armors were pulled toward the rock ball. However, not all metals would be attracted. The rock ball seemed to be making a selection. Some people remain unaffected when they walk near it fully armored.. As we weren’t sure what other changes might happen to it, I forbade anyone from going near it for now. Only the druid called Pittman is inside checking on the three anchored men.
Selective attraction? And it even affected the magical powers? With these properties, it was totally unlike a magnet.
Gawain pondered for a moment. He removed his Sword of Pioneers and handed it to Knight Philip at his side. Then, he tapped Amber’s shoulder. “We’ll go in and take a look.. Leave all the metal products on you behind.”
“W—Why am I going too?” Amber instantly looked frightened. “In such a dangerous situation, shouldn’t a knight like you be going first?”
“Yeah, so in a while, I will be walking in front, and you are to follow.” Gawain nodded. “Unless you don’t want your salary for this month anymore.”
Amber gritted her teeth. She threw the metal items that she carried with her with an expression that she was ready to risk everything — two small daggers, two talismans, a small and exquisite pendant, the pocket watch belonging to the old butler in Viscount Andrew’s household from the neighboring Tanzan Town..
Speaking of that, why hasn’t she returned this?!
Gawain’s eyes swept past the pocket watch and stared fixedly at Amber, only speaking up after the latter got goosebumps from his look. “How about your coin bag?”
Amber immediately covered her own waist in horror. “That is an absolute no!”
Gawain continued to stare right at her.
A few seconds later, Amber finally pulled out her coin bag with great reluctance; she held its contents in her palm and counted them again and again. Eventually, she handed them to Knight Philip beside her. “Let me tell you, I’ve gotten a clear count of them! If one is missing when I get back..”
“I swear by the honor of a knight! I will guard the belongings that other people have handed to me!” The young knight immediately held his head high and declared loudly. In the end, Amber was startled. “Hey, hey, you don’t have to shout so loudly. Actually, there isn’t much money in there..”
“Ancestor, I’ll go with you..” Heidi took half a step forward but was stopped by Gawain.
He looked at Heidi’s eyes and said, “Keep guard here with Phillip. That ball might be able to affect the flow of magic. You instead won’t be of any help if you get close to it.”
Heidi nodded and retreated with a bow. “Then, please be careful.”
Gawain sighed to himself: What wonderful attributes of a wife.. Should he find a time to ask when she planned to get married?
As an unrelated thought passed through his mind, Gawain led Amber, who looked as though she was facing a formidable enemy, towards the tent.
In front of the tent, he used his Danger Detection ability to check the situation inside. Roughly determining that there were no threats to them, Gawain lifted the screen carefully.
The first thing that came into sight was the big ball placed in the center of the tent. It looked completely unchanged, still coarse and rock-like. However, three fully armed men were amusingly stuck around the rock ball.
A militiaman, a squad leader of the militia, and an official soldier.
He also caught the figure of the little old man. Pittman was indeed, as Heidi had said, taking care of the trapped soldiers here. When Gawain lifted the screen, the little old man was squatting down in front of the squad leader and speaking amiably. “.. So your situation is evidently due to bad luck. Do you really not want to try the changing-of-luck rite of the druid sect?”
“Since when did the druid sect have a changing-of-luck rite? Don’t try to bluff my soldiers here.” Gawain stepped into the tent on wide steps and then lowered his head, glancing at the three soldiers. “Who was the first to be trapped?”
The three soldiers stuck to the rock ball were already in an extremely dispirited and nervous state. After that, a verbose little old man came here and promoted the changing-of-luck rite to them. They were essentially on the edge of breaking down, and Gawain’s sudden appearance instantly eased up all of that. Regardless, the encouragement that the legendary pioneer knight could give them was immense (although only this legend knew how false he was). The three of them promptly exhaled deeply as if they’d been rescued. Then, the squad leader with a full beard tilted his neck to the side with some effort. “Reporting to Your Excellency, Locke was the first to be trapped. At that point, I was standing at the side with my armor on, but I did not get attracted, so I was very curious as to why. In the end, just as I was feeling curious, I was suddenly pulled in..”
The third soldier sighed dejectedly. “Your Excellency, I was attracted when I came to check on the situation.”
Gawain lowered his head and surveyed the soldiers’ condition. He found that the rock ball had indeed attracted their armors; there was also a longsword stuck to the top of the rock ball. But what was odd was that on the ground beside the rock ball was a metal ring that fell off from an armor, yet that metal ring showed no sign of being attracted.
Gawain picked up the metal ring and rubbed it on the rock ball. He did not sense the slightest amount of magnetic force.historical
Just then, the druid Pittman who was beside them spoke up, “I checked earlier. This isn’t a pure magnetic force. Moreover, it was as if their armors had been ‘welded’. They are in the state where they can’t be moved at all, so they can’t be freed either.”
It seemed like this fellow who was promoting his changing-of-luck rite still did some proper business.
“It sounds like the effect of a certain magic..,” Gawain mused and then turned towards Amber. “Try from the shadows. See if you can get rid of the effect.”
The shadows existed together with the real world but on a different plane. As such, the shadows were very suitable for disrupting the magical power operating in the real world or even carrying out cross-dimensional damage. This was why the rogue profession had the most skills for undoing magic traps and breaking seals. And as a pet of the shadows, Amber was a master in this aspect.
He brought her here just so she could deal with this type of situation.
Amber no longer made trouble at this point. Instead, she nodded and very seriously utilized her innate ability.
Her body became hazy and illusory. Her entire being had entered the space between the real world and the shadow realm. Some blurred shadows extended from beneath her feet and gradually blended into one with the shadow around the rock ball.
And as Amber began the process of unsealing, Gawain tried to push the rock ball. He found that it wouldn’t budge an inch.
“Wasn’t this thing practically weightless in the first place..” He frowned, wearing a puzzled look. “Even with the added weight of three people, it’s impossible that even I can’t move it.”
“This is where something is wrong.” Pittman nodded. “I heard of the scene when you brought this rock ball back. A person could easily move it with just one arm, but now.. I reckon it’s as heavy as an isometric black gold marble. The abnormally light weight from before might have been a magic effect. This now is its true weight.”
Pittman’s voice had just fallen when Amber suddenly ‘leaped’ out of her shadow state and fell onto her butt. “Ouch—”
Gawain quickly reached out and pulled her up. “What’s going on?”
Amber also looked utterly confused. “I don’t know either.. There seems to be a layer of an odd energy field around this ball. I’d just extended my consciousness over, and I was directly thrown back—”
“Wait a minute!” Pittman suddenly said loudly. “It showed signs of life earlier!”