The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary-Chapter 286: Answering

Proofreader: Xemul

“It’s kind of in bad taste, isn’t it?”

It was not unreasonable for Gula to have such an impression.

The door before them was in a shiny gold color from top to bottom, and sparkled brightly enough to catch all eyes even with the lack of light.

“It’s not made of pure gold, is it?”

The door was a rather large double door, and if it were made entirely of gold, a considerable amount of the metal would be required. Naturally, the funds required to produce such a thing would be enormous, and even though this was a ruin of the Ancient Kingdom, Loren thought that at best it would be a thin layer of gold gilded on the surface. 

But his thought was quickly negated by Lapis.

“I think it’s pure gold.”

Loren looked at her with disbelief, and Lapis lightly knocked her fist on the door in front of them several times.

“It is coated with something, but it is probably all pure gold. It’s worth a fortune, but we can’t just take it off and bring it with us.”

“Were they insane?”

Loren could not comprehend the idea of using pure gold to make an interior double door in a ruin that was used only to enshrine an armor. Perhaps because the Ancient Kingdom was just that powerful, but it didn’t seem to make any sense to him.

“It is human nature, as it has always been, for those in power to want to spend money recklessly.”

In contrast to Loren, Lapis looked at the door with no surprise at all. 

Dia, Gula and Lapis, examined the door, and after standing in front of it for a while talking about how this and that was not present, all three of them finally let out a deep sigh almost simultaneously. Lapis turned to Loren and Nim, who had been watching to see if they had found anything out, and gave a short answer about the results of their study. 

“It’s hopeless. We can’t open it.”

“Somehow I’m not surprised.”

Loren had somehow expected this, given that Konin, an Ancient Dragon, had failed to arrive at the place, but he could not hide his surprise when Lapis told him the fact.

“It is no good. No matter what I do, I can’t lift the spell sealing the door.”

“I was also quite confident in my knowledge of magic, but I have never seen a spell this strong before. This is the type of sealing method that cannot be opened by any means unless you know how to open it.”

Dia’s words made Loren and Nim tilted their heads. Lapis added an explanation, as if she thought they didn’t understand what it meant. 

“This door is sealed by some kind of technique. Normally, we would be able to lift it, but we can’t do anything with the spell used here.”

“It is a contradiction, isn’t it, to have a door that can be locked but not unlocked? By all means, such a contradiction should not be possible, no matter what magic is used.”

“There is something that is needed to make the contradiction works.”

“Is that… a key?”

After listening to the explanatory questions from the other three, Loren gave his answer, and they all nodded.

“This is the kind of lock that can be easily unlocked if you have the key.” 

“But without the key, you can’t destroy or dismantle it.”

“This place must hold something of great value. It sounds simple, but actually very difficult to construct.”

All three of them look frustrated that there was something that they could not dispel, even with their power. Dia, in particular, looked rather grim: it seemed like she was both frustrated and displeased at the fact that her own power as an Elder didn’t work. Loren wondered if it was caused by the feeling of being defeated in a field where she had confidence.

Loren asked Lapis, who seemed relatively easy to talk to.

“So, what’s the key?”

“It’s simple. And like people usually say, simplicity is strength… The key is simply a word.”

Lapis said and pointed to what looked like letters engraved on a part of the door. Loren couldn’t read it. He didn’t even know what language it was in. He looked at Nim, but she immediately shook her head as if saying it was impossible for her too. But Lapis and the other two seemed to be able to read them.

“It says ‘Thou shalt state the answer to the question’.”

“So, the answer is the key?”

“Yes, but we cannot answer the question.”

Lapis shook her head as if there was no hope here, and Loren became curious as to what the question was. After all, they had an Elder, an Evil God, and a demon here. These three beings, considered as powerful beings throughout the continent, had gathered to think about the answer to that question, and still couldn’t find it. As Loren thought that the question on the door must have been a very difficult one, Lapis, whose expression had turned troubled for some reason, read it out loud. 

“The name of the being is the answer. They are both male and female, and they are both old and young. They are taller than the mountains, and their voice is smaller than the flutter of a mosquito’s wings. You cannot take your eyes off of them when they are far away, yet you cannot see them when they are near. Look up and their head is lower than your eye level. Look down and their head is far above you. What is this being?”

“I have never heard of such a thing.”

Nim said with honesty after hearing Lapis. 

“I have never heard of it either. There are too many contradictions in the question. I have never heard of such a contradictory being in this world.”

“I wonder if there is hidden meaning behind the contradictions? But… we’re asked to answer this question while having no clues at all.”

If Dia could answer the question, she would be able to open the door. Since she was unable to release the spell, she was eager to outwit those who had created it and open the door by regular means. However, the question was so cryptic that even Dia had no idea what it meant.

“Is the answer ‘No answer’?”

“Then my answer is, there is no such thing in the world!”

As soon as Gula said that, her body was blown straight back. 

Because of the suddenness and force of the blow, Loren and the others were delayed in their reactions for a moment. When they hurriedly looked back in the direction to which Gula had been blown, they saw her sticking to the entrance door of the ruin, which had been closed before they knew it, her arms and legs spread wide. She seemed to have been hit by a considerable force. She remained stuck there for a while before eventually peeling off and falling to the floor in the same posture. 

“If you give the wrong answer, you get a penalty. This is tricky, isn’t it?”

“If you look closely, you can see that the entrance door has been reinforced with some spell.”

Lapis thought bitterly that, if the entrance door was reinforced to withstand the impact of something flying in and slamming into it, its creator must have been very confident of the lock on the inner door. This trap was not placed at the entrance door probably to ensure that the intruder would be killed by being caught in it at the inner door and blown back.

“Shall we give it a try again? My answer is, there is no answer to that question.”

As soon as she said this, Dia’s body was sent flying backward. 

Despite the fact that Dia was an Elder, one couldn’t help but think that being slammed into the entrance door with such a force would cause serious injuries to her small body. Nim almost let out a small scream, But Loren moved first and caught Dia’s body with his own. He was not able to kill the momentum of the blow, however, and he fell back a few steps. But because Dia’s body was small and light, neither of them was injured. 

“Oh my, I’m sorry. I didn’t think you would catch me, Loren.”

Dia’s body was quite small compared to Loren’s. She could easily fit in his arm. 

As if to cover up the fact that she had given the wrong answer, Dia, scratching her head in embarrassment, landed on the floor from Loren’s arms, and with a face full of motivation, poked Lapis from behind, who was about to give some answer herself.

“Will you do the same if I am blown back, Loren?”

“Stop it. You’ll hurt Loren.”

“I’m not that heavy.”

“I don’t know how much you weigh, but even I was blown away with enough force to give Loren quite an impact. If you, who is bigger than me, were to be blown away with the same force, wouldn’t the impact on Loren be incomparable?”

Naturally, Loren would be willing to catch Lapis if she was blown away. However, the impact he felt through the jacket he was wearing as protection when he caught Dia was quite powerful, and he wasn’t sure if he would be able to catch Lapis, who was much bigger than Dia, if she came flying at him with the same force.

Understanding Loren’s thoughts, Dia stopped Lapis. Lapis seemed to be quite dissatisfied with this, although she could understand the logic behind.

“Isn’t it unfair if it’s only Dia?”

She glared at Dia resentfully, and Dia responded with a nonchalant face.

“I was prepared to be slammed into that door over there, just like Gula was. I didn’t think Loren would catch me.”

“Loren is a good child. If he thinks it’s dangerous, he’ll put his body on the line.”

“But I was just bounced off the door and he didn’t catch me?”

Gula said while crawling back to them, and Loren bowed his head lightly as if he had done something wrong.

“I’m sorry. You were blown away so fast, I couldn’t react.”

The only reason he was able to catch Dia was because Gula had been blown away before, but from Gula’s point of view, that was still not a fun story.

“I won’t be able to rest my mind until I find the answer and open this door.”

“Even so, who do you ask?”

“Do I ask the other Elders for help…? No, the disadvantage would be too great…”

“I would ask my tribe’s elders for their wisdom, but my homeland is too far away.”

While the girls were racking their brains to find a way to come up with an answer, Loren, who was looking at the golden door, slowly opened his mouth to ask Lapis to confirm one thing.