44
The day we decided to go see the Prometil Temple.
Castian, who was staying at the Lowell mansion and unintentionally heard the news, showed deep interest as expected, but didn’t insist on going along.
“Tell me all about it when you get back.”
He only made that request of me.
I got into the carriage with my father. Since mother stayed behind to watch the house in father’s place, it had been a while since just the two of us went out together.
“It’s been a long time since father and son went out like this.”
“It has. Well, you’re always busy, so it can’t be helped.”
My father, Count Lowell, was someone who had extended his reach here and there with the business acumen he inherited from grandfather, growing the Lowell family even larger. So just managing the businesses he’s currently running would leave no time to rest.
I’m proud of such a father, and sometimes feel a bit burdened by the fact that I have to follow in his footsteps…
As I was lost in thought worrying about the future, father, who had been sitting across from me watching me, suddenly smiled and spoke.
“Why did you fight with Cedy again?”
“……”
“You seemed to have gotten closer lately.”
The reason we fought…
I felt downcast for no reason and just fidgeted with my hands. Thinking about that guy makes my heart feel complicated.
“It’s nothing for you to worry about.”
It’s not something I can confide to father either.
“Hmm.”
I can feel father’s gaze observing me closely. As I rolled my eyes around feeling strangely awkward, father also changed the subject as if he had no choice.
“Would it be alright to keep looking for blind date partners?”
“Ah, yes.”
Since the topic came up, I talked about wanting to add more conditions this time and find someone who meets those criteria. When I emphasized that it should be a woman, father, who must have felt guilty, laughed awkwardly.
Before long, the carriage crossed over into Runier territory.
When we arrived at the site where development work had been halted due to the temple’s discovery, I could see divine artifact specialists from the Lowell family’s merchant group investigating the temple’s interior.
“Well, well! Isn’t this the young master of the Lowell family!”
Then the vice-leader of the Lowell merchant group spotted me and welcomed me with exaggerated surprise.
His face looked vaguely familiar, so it seemed like we had met a few times when I was young.
“Oh my, young master! You’ve grown up well! This is the first time I’ve seen you since you were this small, right? Let me see, your name was Edgar, wasn’t it?”
A bear approaching me warmly…
With his build that seemed close to 2 meters tall and fierce-looking face, I stiffened under the pressure, so father intervened.
“He was too young then, so he probably doesn’t remember.”
“Oh my, I’m called Lionel! Count Lowell valued my abilities despite my commoner origins, so now I serve as vice-leader of the Lowell merchant group. I owe Count Lowell a great debt.”
“I’m the one who owes you.”
“Haha! Oh, Count, you’re being embarrassing.”
The bear is being coy…
Father seemed used to this and passed it off without concern.
“My son wanted to see the temple.”
“Ah, so that’s why you came together!”
Lionel clapped his hands and turned around first, saying, “Come, come, follow me. Watch your step.”
At that, father took the first step and gestured for me to follow, and I stuck close behind the two of them as we walked.
The inside of the temple we entered was dark, but thanks to oil lamps hung everywhere under investigation, it wasn’t so dark that we couldn’t see at all.
“How far has the internal investigation progressed?”
“Sigh… the temple interior is much wider than we expected. Right now we think we’ve confirmed about one-third, but it’s not accurate.”
Lionel shrugged his shoulders with a troubled expression.
I quietly looked around.
The inside of the temple, which gave off a musty smell, felt like it wasn’t a space of this world, giving a strangely overwhelming feeling.
“Hey! The Count and his son have arrived.”
We walked following the oil lamps and went deeper inside, seeming to reach a location where investigation was actively in progress.
When I turned my head at Lionel’s voice greeting first, I saw many merchant group members working busily amid the noisy sounds.
“Welcome!”
“Oh, what? Did the merchant leader’s son come too?”
“Oh my. What a handsome young master.”
They seemed very warm toward me and appeared quite interested. Since they all had good social skills and it was overwhelming to deal with them, I was barely managing to smile when father let out a chuckle and helped disperse some of the attention focused on me.
“Stop bothering the kid, how’s the investigation going?”
“Ah! It’s going well. We haven’t found anything that looks like a divine artifact yet, but we found a room piled with gold. Would you like to see it?”
“Please show us.”
“Yes sir.”
One of the members guided us to the room supposedly piled with gold. I sneaked along with them and was truly amazed when I saw that room.
Golden lumps filling the room…
‘Is this all gold?’
Then how much is all this worth?
While I was touching the golden lumps out of curiosity and looking around the room, I could hear father and the member discussing what to do with the gold. Since gold is widely accepted, they seemed to be discussing how to use this resource.
I quietly slipped away from between the two who were opening a forum for discussion. Lionel, who noticed me, asked if I’d like something to eat and handed me bread, which I gratefully accepted.
“Are you interested in divine artifact studies, young master?”
“I’ve become a little interested recently.”
“Really? How so?”
“Well, an acquaintance I know is interested in divine artifact studies. I happened to read a related book too and found it interesting.”
The acquaintance I know is Castian. The related book refers to what I read when I met Cedric at the library.
Lionel smiled with a pleased expression.
“Haha, it’s good to have broad interests in anything. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me anything! I’m not nobility so I’m weak in general culture, but when it comes to this Prometil Temple, I’m more knowledgeable than others.”
Since he said that, I decided not to decline.
I happened to have many questions anyway.
“By any chance, what kind of god is Prometil? Have you already figured that out? If you were able to figure it out, I’m curious how you found out.”
“Oh my, you seem to have many questions!”
Lionel laughed heartily like a grandfather looking at his grandchild, then approached the temple wall and showed me something.
There was a stone tablet with writing carved into it.
“This is a stone tablet with information about this temple written in ancient language. It says, ‘The one who watches over all things in the world, we call Prometil to this place, so that humans may know wisdom…'”
“Wisdom…”
“Yes. Prometil is the god of wisdom.”
So this is ancient language.
To my eyes it only looks like picture-like writing… Lionel, who could decipher and even read this, seemed newly impressive.
“All temples have stone tablets like this. Through these, we can discover the temple and the god that forms the temple’s foundation.”
“I see. Thanks for telling me.”
“Oh, not at all.”
Lionel smiled proudly.
Just as I was smiling back at him.
‘…Hm?’
I hear a sound calling me from somewhere. More precisely, the feeling that ‘something is calling me’ came over me intensely.
As I turned my head in the direction my heart was drawn to, one of the members who had been investigating the temple called Lionel over to take a look, and he left my side for a moment.
Once no one was around me, the sound calling me to come here, come here, was felt more strongly than before.
‘What is it?’
I felt strange tension and anxiety, but oddly, as if bewitched, my legs moved. Toward the place calling me, toward the place drawing me.
It was a secluded location.
A crack in the temple’s old stone wall.
There… something was glowing brilliantly.
‘A jewel?’
Since it’s buried in the crack of the stone wall, I can’t tell what shape the object is. It was when I unconsciously brought my fingertip to touch it.
[You are an interesting human.]
The voice of some unfamiliar man murmuring quietly.
“…!”
At the same time, a blinding flash burst from it.
“Whoa!”
Startled, I fell backward with a thud.
Rummmmmble!
Even though there was nowhere for wind to pass through, the inside of the temple began to shake frighteningly as if a storm had arrived.
‘Wh-what is this…’
Soon I could feel people, alarmed by the sudden burst of light, the trembling of air shaking the temple, and my scream, rushing over urgently.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
