Chapter 125: Memory Garden 2

After they all safely(?) arrived at their destination, Woohyuk went up to the tree to pull out the scroll.

The hole was about 3m above the ground.

It would be difficult for ordinary people to reach it, but it was a piece of cake for Woohyuk, who climbed the steep cliff with his bare hands.

'It's a scroll that will allow us to enter the historic ruins.'

It was a very unusual approach.

Perhaps these ruins had something to do with the divine tree.

He had to go in to know the details.

When he reached out his hand into the hole, he caught a roll of paper.

Woohyuk came down to the ground and immediately checked its contents.

[Entry Permit to the Memory Garden]

Type: Consumable

Details: If used in front of the divine tree, you can enter the Memory Garden, the ruins of the Witch Angrboda, for one time only (Note: This is for personal use, therefore a group of people cannot enter together).

‘So many strict rules.’

However, it was obvious for the admission scroll to be for personal use.

In the first place, it was created for the followers of Angrboda who managed the ruins.

It was Alphone who had hid the scroll in the hole in the divine tree.

'A Memory Garden.'

Considering that Angrboda was the Witch of Greed, it was definitely possible that this garden was filled with the precious memories of other people.

Just in case, as he scanned the scroll with the archaeologist's golden magnifying glass, Woohyuk asked Alphone a question.

“Did Angrboda say anything about these ruins?”

“No. I’ve only ever heard about the Hand of Midas.”

Since Angrboda had yet to give her permission to enter the garden, Alphone didn’t have access to the ruins.

Woohyuk thought about it for a while and then spoke again.

“All of you are to remain here. I will go alone.”

"What? That would be too dangerous, My Lord.”

“Yes, I’m also very worried that Lord Asura might get hurt.”

No matter how confident he was, it was still a ruin built by one of the Witches of the Seven Sins.

Leifina and Aris actively tried to hold him back, but Woohyuk shook his head.

“I have an undead army with me.”

He could break through most difficult situations just by summoning his elite undeads.

But he did worry a little bit since the site’s name was bizarre and the method to enter it was odd.

After thoroughly reassuring the two women, Woohyuk walked in front of the divine tree and tore the scroll.

Bang!

Before long, a dazzling flash of light covered his vision.

***

'This place is..’

A garden full of colorful flowers.

Nothing special could be found except for smoothly curved statues.

After taking a look around the area, Woohyuk decided to explore other areas.

'The atmosphere is too bright inside these ruins.'

Usually a damp stone chamber or a dark tunnel welcomed the adventurers.

However, even though it was indoors, the temperature and humidity were properly maintained with a magic device, and sunlight was radiating from a floating crystal.

Even if it were designed by the genius magic engineer Jake, it looked far too sophisticated to be real.

‘Wait, is this Angrboda’s secret garden?’

It must have been the place where her favorite flowers had withered, according to Alphone.

However, if he thought about it, it might have been a lie that Angrboda had made to gain compassion.

When Woohyuk recalled her hypocritical words and actions he had experienced in the past,

“Who, who are you?”

A man's voice rang from a distance.

Woohyuk looked at him with a somewhat surprised expression.

'When did he approach me?'

He hadn’t felt his presence.

There was probably a concealment magic cast outside the garden.

'I have to look around properly.'

There wasn't a need to make a mess from the beginning.

First of all, it would not be a bad idea to use the stranger to get information about this place.

When his thoughts reached that conclusion, Woohyuk spoke to the blonde young man.

“I am a gardener. I was just taking care of the flowers.”

“Oh, I see. I imagine that Ms. Angrboda is very busy these days. She has been managing the garden by herself until today.”

So this place was indeed Angrboda’s garden.

It seemed like after being released from her seal, her tastes and hobbies had returned and she behaved like before.

However, that was perfect for Woohyuk.

After all, all of her treasures were most likely hidden somewhere here, including the Hand of Midas.

“She said she wouldn’t come for a while because of an important task. So I was told to keep an eye on this garden. But even if I don't take care of this place, the garden stays well-maintained due to the magic devices installed everywhere.”

“That’s understandable. These magical devices are the inventions of Aleister after all.”

Aleister's invention?

Woohyuk doubted his ears for a moment.

'I guess he's also interested in magic engineering.'

A genius alchemist and now a magic engineer. He was proficient in many areas.

It could be due to the knowledge gained from the ancient documents taken from Eteria Rodinus.

Woohyuk pretended not to know him and managed his facial expressions.

“But what's your name? It hasn’t been long since I was hired by Angrboda, so I’m not too knowledgeable about this place.”

“Haha, I understand. My name is Midas, the Phrygian King. The forest where this chapel is located is officially my territory.”

Midas?

Woohyuk was once again surprised by his word.

'Wait, is this place Angrboda’s imaginary world?'

He now began to understand why this place was called Memory Garden

She had stuffed her splendid past in here and went in and out of it like a garden.

It was not real, unlike the worlds connected to the Twilight Tower. It wasn’t real, but wasn’t completely fictive either, since it was constructed based on Angrboda’s past memories.

'Though she might’ve made some changes.'

It was highly likely that this imaginary world had been manipulated so that a happy life would last forever by correcting the tragic ending.

It hasn't been long since he had entered the site, so he didn’t know the details.

"I see. I am a demon who has known Angrboda for a long time. My name is Asura.”

“Yes, of course you are a demon. Your entire body is radiating such thick demonic energy, so it’s no surprise.”

That was the reason why Midas spoke politely to Woohyuk from the very beginning.

Woohyuk nodded and continued to ask guided questions.

“Is your business going well? There must be quite a lot of gold in production these days, right?”

“We’ve increased our areas of trade, and everything is going well. In recent years, we brought in long-distance traders and exported the gold to the eastern cities of the Holy Apherian Empire.”

Back when Midas was alive, there was only one country on the Eeth Continent: Aperia.

However, during the War of Gods and Demons, it was divided into the west and east like Rome in actual history.

The west kept its original name of Apheria, and the east was renamed Theresia after the founding queen's surname.

Thus, the city in the Far East of the ancient Holy Apherian Empire to which Midas was referring to was currently located in the Theresian Empire.

“Be very careful. You might end up transforming the Queen and Princess into gold with the slightest mistake.”

“Haha, don’t worry. I am still single. And Miss Angrboda took away my family’s heirloom, so I can’t use it without her permission.”

Indeed, there were some changes compared to the true past.

historical

Two things had been revealed so far.

It was the fact that Midas was unmarried and that the Hand of Midas was in Angrboda’s possession.

'Then she must’ve hidden it somewhere here.'

In fact, the Hand of Midas was useless because the Phrygian royal family line was severed.

So, instead of carrying it with her, it could be used as a medium to maintain the imaginary world.

He had to find it to get his rewards and exit this world.

“Is your lack of self-control that bad? How bad is it if you need to get Angrboda’s permission to wear a mere glove?”

“.. That's a misunderstanding. Ms. Angrboda is trying to avoid the worst case scenario, because she values me more than anything else in the world.”

“But would this worst case scenario ever happen? If you act in moderation, it won’t ever happen, right?”

Woohyuk continued to question Midas to find out where the Hand of Midas was hidden.

Midas's face turned red as if the strategy had worked.

“How can I make you respect me? I would have lightly disregarded those words if you were a stranger, but I can’t pass it off lightly because you are Ms. Angrboda’s acquaintance.”

“Show me your self-control by wearing the Hand of Midas.”

“B-but.. I need Ms. Angrboda’s permission to...”

Midas hesitated and blurred his words.

Woohyuk sighed inside and took out Jake's pocket watch.

'It would be faster to simply hypnotize him.'

It would be troublesome if their relationship turned sour because Woohyuk had pushed Midas a bit too far.

Midas could also realize that something was suspicious about him.

As Woohyuk approached him, Midas took a few steps back.

“Wha... Wha, what are you trying to do right now?”

“Testing your self-control. We demons use this watch to evaluate humans.”

Jake's pocket watch swayed from side to side in front of Midas's eyes in a pendulum motion.

Midas spoke again in confusion

“Do, do I just need to stare at this?”

“Yes. The longer you stare at this, the stronger your self-control is.”

“That’s a lot simpler than I expected. Then I will prove myself right now!”

He was a simple guy.

He was comparable to the librarian at the Royal Library of the Izuna Kingdom.

The Phrygian Kingdom may have been destroyed back then because it was being ruled by a simpleton like this.

‘There was an internal rebellion if I remember correctly.’

He didn’t remember the name, but a certain count massacred the Phrygia royal family and founded the Dane Kingdom.

Funnily enough, Woohyuk had destroyed the Dane Kingdom with his own hands.

Before long, when Midas was hypnotized and lost his focus, and Woohyuk immediately ordered him.

“Tellme to where the Hand of Midas is.”

"I.. don’t know.. the exact location.. either."

“Then, take me to the area where it’s most likely to be located.”

“I.. understand...”

Midas turned and left the garden.

Woohyuk followed him and looked for anything unusual around him.

'Nothing really catches my eyes.'

All of the witch's chapels had the same architectural style and structure.

Because it was a place to summon Lilith during the era of extinction, they couldn’t build them half-heartedly. They had to keep the designs constant with the other chapels.

So, Woohyuk could roughly guess where the Hand of Midas was hidden.

‘Objects unrelated to Lilith cannot be placed in the central hall where the altar is located. So it must be one of the four stone chambers located diagonally to the central hall.'

The stone chambers where the garden was located was on the bottom-left of the central hall.

Therefore, there were still the chambers on the top left, top right, and bottom right. The place where Midas was headed to was probably one of them.

“Is there any monster that guards the interior of the chapel?”

“Once.. Manticore... Wanders around... the inner corridor...”

A manticore had the appearance of a lion with large wings and a scorpion tail.

A monster a rank lower than Charybdis.

However, it wasn’t an opponent to underestimate due to the various debuff spells it could use, while the scorpion tail could shoot out poison darts.

“Does it move around clockwise or counterclockwise?”

“Counterclockwise..”

Then he had to walk around the inner corridor counterclockwise.

If he moved clockwise, he would have no choice but to bump into the Manticore.

All of the interior stone chambers were connected by an interior corridor, so there was no other way to get there.

When Woohyuk exited the garden at the bottom left of the central hall with Midas,

“Kraaaaaaaaaah!”

Manticore, who was passing by, greeted the two of them.

'This shitty luck.'

There was a concealment magic inside the stone chamber, so he couldn't detect the monster’s presence.

Observing the Manticore leaping at him, Woohyuk brandished Verserios.