The End of Your Arrogance - Chapter 23.2

“Good to know I have a skilled magician at my side.”

When Rene cast a spell, pure white light embraced the two of them. Suddenly, the door opened and Nazz entered. The basket in his hand smelled of delicious bread.

“There was so much to eat, I-”

Seeing the two engulfed in bright light, Nazz exclaimed urgently, “Your Highness, where are you going?! It’s dangerous alone! As the leader of the knights, I have to protect you-!”

“Hurry up, Nazz, or I’ll leave you behind.”

Nazz tossed everything he was holding onto the floor and jumped between them. Before he could even catch his breath, they disappeared.

***

Three people appeared out of thin air. Inside the building was nothing but darkness. They tensed up, unable to see anything.

Ilya and Nazz simultaneously drew their swords from the sheaths on their waists. The two looked around them, waiting to hear something. After a while, Ilya whispered, “I think it’s just us.”

When Rene cast a spell, a small fireball appeared in the air. Nazz looked around carefully and said, “This is the second floor. There’s a set of stairs over there.”

Ilya and Nazz moved slowly, on guard. Rene cautiously followed. When they went down the stairs, a wide hall spread out in front of them.

“Huh? Is this a shrine?” Ilya murmured. As the magic light moved in the air, they could faintly see their surroundings.

Two thick cylinders could be seen beside the stairs they had descended. Intricate letters that looked like pictures were packed into the cylinders.

There were two more identically shaped cylinders in front of the hall. At the end of the small staircase between them, an altar could be seen.

“Did the fanatics get together and perform an exorcism or something?”

Nazz turned white as a ghost at Ilya’s words.

“Oh no, there can’t be animal blood or something like that, right? I mean, I have a weak stomach!”

“Stop blabbering and move.”

The three of them walked towards the altar, all nervous.

“What’s this smell?”

When they arrived at the foot of the stairs to where the altar was, Rene covered her nose with her hand and muttered.

“Rene, are you okay?”

“Yes, it’s not so… bad. Ugh.”

“Stay here. Nazz and I will check the altar.”

The two climbed the stairs to what appeared to be an altar. They looked at the red marks clinging to the marble with anxious gazes.

“This is… blood, right?”

Nazz’s voice shook slightly. Ilya nodded.

“Either it’s human blood, or animal.”

They searched the area.

“What is that?”

Ilya pointed at a protruding part in the middle of the altar. Nazz tilted his head.

“Rene, I need you for a moment.”

Rene shuddered and came up. Soon, the magic lamp illuminated the area Ilya was pointing at.

“It looks like a handle. The engraving on the top is a large bird…” Nazz, who was squatting and looking at the protruding part of the altar, said.

“You idiot! That’s an eagle.”

Rene, who was squatting beside him, scolded Nazz. Her eyes twinkled as she looked at the handle. She put her hand on the handle as if possessed and turned it a little to the left. It happened so quickly that Nazz didn’t have time to stop her.

“Don’t touch things without-”

Just like that, the sound of something being pulled upward resonated through the hall.

“Aaah!”

Nazz and Rene pulled away. Ilya raised his sword with the momentum to pierce through whatever would come out.

After a while, what appeared in front of them was a white coffin without a lid. Ilya and Nazz rushed forward to it at the same time.

“Oh, my goodness! Why is she in here?”

Nazz exclaimed in despair. Rene stepped up and asked, “Why? Who is it?”

Ilya glanced at the coffin and sighed heavily.

“Michelini Luten, the only daughter of Count Luten who went missing a while ago.”

Lying in the coffin, surprisingly, was Michelini Luten, who had disappeared on the way home a while ago. She was lying in the coffin, wearing a white dress and holding her hands together.

“I-Is she dead?”

Nazz was pale. As he had asked, there was no color on Michelini’s face. The fiery red hair she was so proud of looked like it would crumble at any moment. After looking inside the coffin for a while, Rene said, “She’s still alive. Get her out of there.”

Nazz shivered and pulled her out of the coffin.

“Why is the woman who took off her clothes and rushed into Your Highness’s bedroom here?”

Rene took a look at the handle on the altar again. She put her hand on the knob and turned it again, this time to the right.

Crash!

In an instant, the floor split in two and swallowed the three, no, four people without a trace.