As I reached out to feel the greatsword, the transparent barrier between me and him melted away in an instant.
Then, I finally felt his presence properly.
"Excellent."
It was truly a good sword.
There was no sense of the ego in the sword suddenly speaking to me, or anything special like a strong curse or a grudge.
However, the guy was simply faithful to his role as a weapon.
The sharp blade made of well-refined, high-purity black iron was shining with an elegant dark color. A unique color not seen in ordinary swords. It must have been mixed with stray iron.
—Thump!
I tried snapping my fingers once to test it, and the hardness was incredible. At this level, I could probably withstand a punch with aura and break it.
The iron was already a material that was extremely difficult to handle, but to successfully alloy it with other metals and achieve this level of perfection.
Who on earth could have created such a monster?
"It weighs… more than several people combined. You, you are truly an absurd guy."
The problem was its weight.
I carefully grabbed the handle and lifted it, and it felt incredibly heavy. Not only ordinary people, but even the most skilled knights wouldn't dare lift it without Mana's help.
It felt like it wasn't made to be wielded by people in the first place, like a bad joke.
However, the center of gravity itself was very well balanced. If that's the case, then isn't there only one meaning this irony conveys?
"Just swing the ones that can swing it… So you're saying you'll serve your master?"
How picky, considering it's a sword that can't even speak. Thinking about it like that, I couldn't help but laugh.
—Booooong, boooong!
I swung it a few times in the air as a test, and it felt good. It was a little heavy to handle with one hand, but just right to handle with both hands.
It felt fantastic. It felt like it was made for me from the beginning.
The thought just now made me more certain. Okay, let's take this guy out.
"Anyway, no one else will be able to use this."
It's so pitiful that such a great sword has been sleeping for so many years. That's why I have to show this guy the light.
It's already in excellent condition, so if I leave it to Elder Aitri for maintenance, it will be reborn as a new sword that doesn't even show traces of time.
Before I knew it, I had already naturally thought of a future with this guy, so I carefully put it back where it belonged.
"Just wait a moment. I'll be back soon."
Since I couldn't just wander around with this stuff, I had to go to the 4th floor first.
To access the 4th floor, which was the highest floor, I had to go through a rather cumbersome process.
I carefully cast my magic wave toward the ceiling, and I could clearly feel the presence of the upper floor, but I couldn't find a single staircase or passageway no matter how hard I looked.
The fact that there were so many passageways leading down to the lower floors made me even more annoyed.
"Damn, should I break the ceiling?"
While suppressing my violent impulses, I seriously wondered if I was making a mistake when this was actually the end of the 3rd floor.
—Sparkle!
I took out the polyhedron in my arms and looked at it just in case, and only then did I realize that it was acting as a kind of compass.
In the end, after moving for a long time, guided by the light, I finally arrived at the 4th floor after finding a secret passage hidden in one of the display cases.
—Gooo…
The place we arrived at thus boasted a mysterious atmosphere that was different from the lower floors.
Also, the scale was relatively small.
Up until the third floor, each floor was so large that it would take an entire day to see everything, but here, it seemed like we could see everything in just a few dozen minutes.
However, each and every item here was so enormous that it wouldn't be strange if it were designated as a national treasure.
Could it really be that it was a place worthy of a place only allowed to the royal family?
The relics on the third floor were no joke, but this place was on a completely different level.
"Could that be the heart of a dragon? Something like that is so brazenly displayed…"
[Heart of the Red Dragon Beatrias]
[The tyrant of the West, the light dragon. Designated as a public enemy of the Empire, subjugated by General Arien Lauriel de Alfheim in S542]
The first thing that caught my eye was the heart of a real dragon, not a dragon species. What about the other items?
If even one of the relics on the 4th floor were to be released into the world, the entire Empire would probably be in chaos.
'Alicia. Are you telling me to pretend not to know about these items and steal them?'
I realized once again that Alicia was the only princess of the Empire on this vast continent.
She had a soft face, was sloppy yet cute, and always acted perverted in front of me, but she was clearly a woman born with the most noble bloodline in the Empire.
Even these unimaginable treasures were nothing more than items in a warehouse that she could obtain whenever she wanted.
"As expected, it was good that I didn't get greedy in the first place."
Leaving behind the strange feeling of something being unrealistic, I decided to focus solely on finding artifacts that Alicia could use.
[Holy Sword Durandal]
[The sword used by the saint of the Celestial Church, Saint Virgil, to defeat the great demon Barbatos]
While looking through this and that, I unintentionally realized that the incident that I had thought was just a myth was clearly a true story because it was even included in the scriptures.
[Codex Justitia]
[The first law code of the Empire. A symbol of justice written by His Majesty the First Emperor himself, and the foundation of the current Imperial law]
I also naturally came to realize that not only relics with material value, but also relics with tremendous historical value were stored here.
"This, I think it would be better to just leave quietly…"
Even though they were looking for items for Alicia, most of the treasures were ones that no one would dare touch.
After looking around a bit more, it was not like there were no items that could be taken away at all.
The relics of the other races, located in a corner rather than the center, were the less valuable relics on the 4th floor.
Of course, from each race's perspective, they would want to reclaim these items even if they had to sacrifice everything.
The glory of their own kingdoms had declined overnight, and everyone had long since knelt before the Empire.
Some races that chose to unite with humans are still enjoying proper prosperity, but other races are barely surviving, hiding in the shadows or unexplored areas.
[Necklace of the Fairy Queen Titania]
[With the blessing of mana, it eliminates danger to the wearer and is granted the mystique of being able to transform into any form depending on the purpose.]
Meanwhile, I finally found an item that would suit Alicia.
At this level, it didn't seem like it would cause much trouble even if I took it out, and it was an item that anyone would nod their head to if it was used by the princess of the empire, not someone else.
—Paht!
As I brought the polyhedron close to the display case, the security barrier made up of several layers was instantly released, and a gorgeous necklace that would suit Alicia was in my hand.
Now, my business here is over.
"I should hurry and leave."
As I had seen before, there were many precious relics, but I didn't want to be greedy.
I felt like if I coveted the items here, I would not be able to die properly.
It was my first time visiting the innermost part of the relic storage, but even if I brought the Duke's successor here, I would probably become a commoner.
In addition, according to the Master, he said that in order to survive long, you need to be able to distinguish when to be greedy and when not to be.
I quickly picked up the greatsword I had left on the third floor after coming down from the fourth floor.
"I have about two hours left, so it won't really matter."
And then I walked toward the exit without any regrets.
.......
After finishing the exit procedure and moving outside, surprisingly, Alicia was waiting for me with her attendants.
The entry time was around 10 AM, so it was still the middle of the afternoon.
'... It was like that earlier, but now you can't show it openly, so you're impatient?'
Moreover, since I left early without thinking much, there were more than a few eyes that were watching the first people who entered and my exit time cleverly overlap.
—Whispering…
Naturally, everyone's eyes were drawn to Alicia, and as she approached me with a big smile, the whispering around them became even louder.
"So the rumors that the two of you are in a sponsorship relationship or something more are true?"
"If that's true, then the princess who has been quiet all this time is also in the race for the right of succession…"
"Hey, let's refrain from making useless assumptions. Do you want to be dragged to the Counterintelligence Bureau and have a nose stew?"
The conversation was so serious that it made my eyes close tightly, but Alicia didn't seem to want to stop it.
So that means she was half-deliberately leaving it alone…
As someone who had to meet His Majesty soon, I just felt suffocated.
Why on earth are you doing this? Did I unknowingly act so disappointingly?
Or is it that you dare to pay the price for leaving the imperial princess behind and eyeing another woman?
"You returned safely, Lord Wolfgang. Did you find what you wanted?"
"Yes, thanks to that..."
"I see. Then please come over here for a moment."
Fortunately, Alicia didn't seem to want to allow others to have a private conversation, so she led me somewhere.
Of course, the more I did that, the more the voices of suspicion I heard around me grew louder, but there was nothing I could do.
I had to walk beside her, feeling as miserable as if I were a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse.
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