Vol 4. Chapter 43: Ignorant People

“It can’t be wrong. The positions of the twelve major tick marks match too.” Vinny looked at the painting directly in front of them after they came down the stairs. In the painting stood a griffin on a cliff, head high and chest out. Its gaze was cold and razor-sharp, looking down at something below. Lightning split the sky.

“And griffins are literally the symbol on the war banners of the Tyrelis Ancient Empire.”

“So... that means?” Milian thought for a long time, then her expression turned into sudden enlightenment. After she understood what Vinny meant, she immediately started looking around in a panic. “Then isn’t this really bad?! We’re trapped inside a giant clock face! Won’t we get shredded by the clock hands?!”

“...” Vinny pinched the bridge of his nose. “Milian, sometimes I really want to crack your head open and study what kind of structure is inside.”

“Do you know why this place was designed like a clock face?”

“Why?” Milian didn’t understand.

“Because the emblem and flag of the Tyrelis Ancient Empire is a clock face. And the royal family of the Ancient Empire—the House of Carillian—has a ‘holy favor’ tied to time.”

“Besides that, every time the Tyrelis Ancient Empire built or occupied a city, it constructed a towering clock tower in the center as a symbol that the city had been brought under Tyrelis Empire rule.”

“And in that clock tower’s clock face structure, besides the basic tick marks, hands, and dial, there’s a golden relief above the clock shaft—made with a unique Tyrelis Empire technique. Every time the hour and minute hands align at the twelve o’clock position, the relief opens to both sides, releasing a two-headed eagle whose two heads face different directions, and it plays a segment of piano music.” As he spoke, Vinny raised his head and looked at the pattern on the ceiling.

“And that relief position corresponds to the relief on the clock face.” Vinny glanced at the pattern on the floor beneath his feet, matching the ceiling’s pattern. “On the Ancient Empire clock tower dial, that relief can open when the time comes.”

“Who told you all that?” Milian looked completely confused. “How does someone who falls asleep in history class all the time—even sleeps through it—know details that deep?”

“That’s because you don’t know,” Vinny said, shooting Milian a look. “This young master is naturally learned and talented. It looks like I’m sleeping, but actually I know everything the teacher says.”

Of course Vinny wasn’t going to say he’d learned all of that from Aesphyra.

“Tch! Keep bragging.” Milian snorted. “So what—you’re saying the floor can open too?”

“Maybe.” Vinny looked up at the ceiling, then down at the pattern on the floor.

“Don’t tell me we have to solve a puzzle??” Milian clutched her head. “That kind of thing is the worst.”

“Relax. It won’t be annoying for you,” Vinny said. “Because I can’t force you to use something that doesn’t exist and has never been used.” He continued studying the relief on the floor.

“Hey!” Milian snapped, irritated.

“Enough. Stop arguing.” Vinny suddenly said. “Looks like we saved ourselves a lot of trouble. We don’t need to solve anything.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because someone already completed most of the puzzle.” Vinny lifted his head and swept his gaze over the oil paintings around them.

“Huh??”

“Milian, these oil paintings were looted clean back when the demon race invaded,” Vinny said. “Different demons took them, sold them off. A lot of them have damage and scratches—you can tell they passed through many hands. But if these sixty paintings scattered all over the place... how did they gather back here?”

“You mean...?”

“Unless someone did it on purpose.” Vinny thought. “That person would’ve spent more effort than we can imagine—paid an enormous cost in time, energy, and money—collecting these lost oil paintings for who knows how long.”

“If Gaflei Fort really hides some massive Ancient Empire secret, then these paintings weren’t just made by the top painters of that era. Afterward, the top enchanters and craftsmen of the Ancient Empire must’ve turned them into keys—keys that are all indispensable, all irreplaceable.”

“If even one is missing, that secret would never see the light of day again.”

“Is... is that so?” Milian looked like she half understood and half didn’t.

“And now these sixty complete Ancient Empire paintings were finally collected by that person—or by that organization.” Vinny continued. “So that person came here, solved the mystery, arranged the paintings into the correct positions and order, and mounted them one by one.”

“Before that, the frames in this underground room should’ve been empty. No paintings hung at all.”

“So in its current state...” Vinny inferred, “...the mystery of Gaflei Fort has most likely already been solved.”

“Even the flying-bird relief patterns on the ceiling and the floor—I checked. Both of those reliefs can be rearranged and moved. They were probably assembled into this ‘two birds’ shape by that person. Before we came, the reliefs were probably completely scrambled, so you couldn’t tell what they were at all. It would only make people think it was some meaningless star relief.”

“That would mislead intruders—make them think the final solved image would be some special constellation with meaning.”

“A-ah...?” Milian stood there listening, stunned and confused, with a blank expression that basically screamed I don’t understand, but it sounds amazing.

“Ah! So—right now, this room has already been solved by that person??”

“I think so.” Vinny stared deeply at the oil painting directly in front of them—the one that depicted a majestic, terrifying cliff-top griffin. The griffin in the painting looked alive. Those cold, sharp eyes almost felt like they were watching the two of them.

“Then... where is the one who solved it? Where did that person go? Did that person take something from here?” Milian pressed on.

“I think the core of the mystery has been solved.” As he spoke, Vinny looked at the three small golden hawk sculptures standing on the relief. “But it’s still missing something.”

“These three hawk sculptures don’t exist on the ceiling relief,” Vinny said.

“So?” Milian still didn’t get it.

“These three hawks are all different lengths and sizes. Their positions are different too.” Vinny said. “Milian, inside a clock face—what comes in threes, and has different lengths?”

“...You mean the hands?” Milian said slowly.

“Exactly.” Vinny’s tone turned firm. “Do you remember what I said? On the Ancient Empire clock tower dial, the relief opens at exactly twelve o’clock, plays a segment of piano music, and a two-headed eagle pops out—its heads facing different directions.”

“And now the two-headed eagle is here, and the sixty tick marks have been installed in the right order and positions. So what condition is still missing for this relief to open?”

“That’s it.” Vinny began rotating the three hawk sculptures, turning their directions by hand. “We have to align the hour hand, minute hand, and second hand to twelve—meaning all three hawks must face the griffin painting directly in front of the stairway.”

The moment Vinny rotated the last hawk—the one representing the hour hand—to face the griffin painting ahead, a rumbling roar burst out, like a mechanism that had been carefully designed and left silent for a hundred years was finally being pulled again.

Milian’s eyes went wide. With her sharp senses, she could feel countless waves of magical fluctuations spreading out all around them.

The ground beneath their feet began to shake.

Vinny knew that judging by how complex this puzzle was, the secret hidden in Gaflei Fort might be shocking. And with the Ancient Empire’s personality, it would absolutely never let someone who entered the wrong code walk out alive.

In other words, there was no margin for error. One chance. If his direction was wrong, they were finished.

Given the Ancient Empire’s level of civilization and its development of Soulcaster magic, even a few Master-realm experts who input the wrong “code” probably wouldn’t be able to leave—let alone him.

Soon, accompanied by the “CLICK-CLACK, CLICK-CLACK” of turning gears, magic arrays appeared one after another across the walls—large and small, all different.

“These magic arrays are...?!” Milian was speechless. The inscriptions carved into those arrays—she couldn’t understand a single one, not even with elven expertise.

To put it simply, a magic array could be formed from countless magical formulas arranged in a unique way, made compatible with one another. But Milian realized she couldn’t understand even one of those formulas—let alone an entire array built from a pile of formulas she couldn’t read.

That alone proved how terrifying the Tyrelis Ancient Empire’s mastery of magic truly was.

Milian, who understood magic arrays, was hit with an overwhelming shock. And even Vinny—who didn’t really understand arrays—felt the shock just as strongly.

Vinny didn’t know what they were doing or how deep and complex they were, but instinct still told him they were anything but ordinary.

Just looking at them made his head throb slightly.

It was like a mountain of filthy, tangled code written by countless veteran programmers—complex, obscure formulas mixed with symbols of all sizes. An outsider couldn’t understand any of it; just staring at it made your scalp crawl.

While he was stunned, Vinny also let out a breath.

At least this proved his guess was correct. The mystery had been fully solved.

This Ancient Empire secret that had slept for hundreds of years—today, it was finally going to be opened.

“What... what is happening?!” With the violent shaking, Milian felt like she could barely stand.

Vinny felt it too—like beneath the bricks and stones there was some gigantic creature writhing, dragging the masonry along with it, while they were trapped inside this small “box,” swaying and trembling along with that enormous thing.

The pressure was unmistakable—the kind that could trigger a stress response on instinct.

Vinny braced Frostfang and watched the surroundings closely. Not long after, as magic beams flickered like a closing curtain, the wall in front of them vanished like melting snow, revealing a wide staircase.

It worked.

His guess was right.

“This is...?” After the shaking stopped and she steadied herself, Milian stared blankly at the stairs that had appeared.

“Let’s go, Milian,” Vinny said. When he felt the ground stop moving, he walked in front. He didn’t rush down immediately—instead, he tossed a small stone down the steps. He watched it roll all the way down. When nothing happened, he finally spoke to Milian again.

“Get ready. I think someone is already waiting for us up ahead.”

“Someone? Who?” Milian’s heart tightened at the thought.

In a place like this—who would be waiting for them?

“Who knows.” Vinny shrugged. “Right now, I can’t guess who he is. Or who they are.”

“...” Milian didn’t speak. When she saw Vinny go down the stairs, she silently drew her longbow and followed behind him.

After they went down, Milian suddenly felt the light behind them dim. She also heard gears turning. When she looked back, she realized the wall that had vanished had reappeared, sealing their retreat and cutting them off.

When they reached the last step, Vinny and Milian arrived at a place like a temple. Square stone pillars supported beams all around them, and under their feet was a spell array packed with magical inscriptions—flashing an eerie red glow in the pitch-black darkness.

It looked like a boss arena in a game.

“There’s someone ahead!” Milian sensed something and immediately warned him.

Vinny tightened his grip on his spear.

Because visibility was low, he couldn’t see what was going on ahead.

The spell array beneath their feet blazed with harsh red light. In front of them, a hunched figure rose from a stone seat.

Vinny narrowed his eyes. By silhouette, it was a cloaked person whose face couldn’t be seen. On the hood was a symbol like a red eyeball. Under that eerie red glow, the symbol seemed to shine too—so from a distance, it looked like a monster with one enormous eye.

“Who are you?” Vinny asked, spear raised.

“This day... has finally come.” When the cloaked figure saw Vinny and Milian come down, it seemed to lift its head and let out a dry laugh. “I waited. I finally waited.”

“Why are you nervous?” The cloaked figure took two steps forward. Its movements were extremely strange and unnatural—like something that wasn’t human imitating how humans walked. Even the tone of its voice was like that. The entire scene was grotesque to the extreme.

Vinny felt like this person’s words weren’t even aimed at them.

“We all walk upon this great and sorrowful mountain of corpses. Why are you nervous?” The cloaked figure spoke again in that bizarre cadence, saying things that were impossible to grasp.

“Ignorant and blindly obedient ones—do you wish to obtain true knowledge?” When Vinny and Milian didn’t respond and only grew more wary, the cloaked figure spoke again.

“Ignorant people are often ignorant without realizing it,” Vinny shot back. “Have you ever thought about what you look like in other people’s eyes? Bronze Blood.”

“...Bronze Blood?” The cloaked figure didn’t take Vinny’s words seriously at all. “You mean those pitiful worms who converted to a god of fraud and greed?”

“What—at this point you still dare do it but won’t admit it?” Vinny mocked. “You won’t admit you’re a member of Bronze Blood?”

“The god of fraud and greed, Erunes, has never shared any truth or true knowledge with its believers.” The cloaked figure fell silent for a moment before speaking.

“So you’re not with them?” Vinny raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t matter. You all look the same to me.”

“No.” The cloaked figure said instead. “Those pitiful worms are your kind.”

“Oh?”

“You raise weapons at me because you are afraid,” the cloaked figure said slowly. “And fear comes from the unknown—from knowing nothing about this world. That is why you are afraid.”

“But I am different.” The cloaked figure’s voice remained calm. “Whether it is you, or Bronze Blood, you know nothing about this world, nothing about the gods. If you possessed even a little wisdom, you would understand you are not that important.”

“And what you face now... is merely a dying body that cannot even kill a chicken—something with no threat to you at all.”