089 – A New Family Has Arrived! #5
“Everyone, come here…!” Illinois exclaimed excitedly.
Curious about what was happening, I approached Illinois, who was pointing at flowers with her finger.
“There are only white flowers blooming here…! This is a message, and I, Illinois, can tell it’s something important…!”
“Really? There are indeed only white flowers blooming here?”
The “Flower of Truth” that Lee Jin-A mentioned had red petals, while the area Illinois pointed at had sparse white flowers.
How fascinating.
Just as I thought that, Jin-A nonchalantly picked some flowers and tossed them into her bag.
“I’ve looked closely before, but they don’t seem to have any special meaning. They’re just white flowers.”
Does that mean it’s not a clue?
Illinois clicked her tongue.
“It may look that way to ordinary people, but to us Nymphs, it looks different…! This must be the language of fairies!”
Fairy language?
That caught my interest.
Swish.
Illinois took out her smartphone from her bag and raised it.
“Muhuhu, I have this wonderful means of communication known as a smartphone…! However, most Nymphs don’t have smartphones!”
Chattering away, Illinois explained how fairies without mobile phones communicate.
“For ages, Nymphs have left messages by plucking petals or breaking branches…! This is like the Morse code of fairies!”
Morse code!
With Illinois’s explanation, I began to see these white flowers in a new light.
So what do these white flowers signify?
“I think we can understand it better by looking at this garden from a high place…! If we look down at the white flowers from above, I, Illinois, will interpret it for you!”
This underground garden was quite large, with a very high ceiling.
That meant we’d need to rise to an enormous height to get a proper view of it.
“Hehe, I came prepared with a drone for this.”
I was an Awakened who was ready anywhere, anytime.
Carrying various equipment while traversing the Rift was a basic necessity.
The struggles endured while climbing mountains with heavy loads were all for this moment.
Clunk-. Creak, creak-.
I opened my bag, took out the drone, and launched it via the remote control.
Vrooom-.
The drone shot up into the sky.
But then a problem arose.
Something popped out and shot down the drone!
It was a beam emitted from a luminescent stone mounted on the ceiling.
So there were traps in this garden too!
“Are you kidding? My drone! I bought it for over five million won!”
I was furious.
Next to me, Ari shared the same anger.
“How dare you shoot down my senior’s drone! I won’t forgive you! It seems like a trap that activates when something crosses a certain altitude!”
Ari was being surprisingly honest due to the influence of the “Flower of Truth.”
Seeing her genuinely angry about my drone being destroyed lightened my mood a little.
“What do we do? We only have one drone.”
Swish.
As I voiced my disappointment, my eyes landed on the tiger owl Kalilnoi.
If only I could ride Kalilnoi and take photos from above the garden.
Whoosh-!
However, Kalilnoi seemed to avert my gaze, turning her head away.
What a cheeky creature.
“Then again, Kalilnoi can’t fly because her wings are injured. Since this is a place with traps, she could get hurt badly. It can’t be helped.”
Kalilnoi could not fly for more than ten seconds.
Her wings were healing from an injury.
Flying while also avoiding laser traps might have been beyond her capacity.
Pop-.
Then it happened.
Kalilnoi spread her wings, jumped into the air, and grabbed my shoulder tightly with her sturdy legs.
“Whoah-.”
I felt like a squirrel being caught by an owl.
The tiger owl Kalilnoi soared into the air.
Zing-.
A laser shot towards Kalilnoi, but it didn’t seem to inflict any harm to her strong feathers.
“Now!”
I quickly took my smartphone out of my pocket and captured a photo of the garden in one frame.
At the same moment, Kalilnoi landed uneasily, flapping her wings.
━……
After letting me down, Kalilnoi spread her wings sideways.
It felt as if she was saying, “Do you still think I can’t do it?”
Apparently, telling Kalilnoi that flying was impossible had somewhat wounded her pride.
Fair enough.
Anyway!
I proudly showed the photo to Illinois.
Illinois examined my smartphone closely and said,
“Indeed, now I see this garden is a grave…! What this white flower conveys is love, remembrance, and longing…! Those feelings…!”
Since I noticed it since Oinoy’s time, Nymphs were truly remarkable.
They swiftly decipher curses or hidden messages.
“Illinois, you’re amazing.”
“Muhuhu, you could praise me even more passionately…!”
“You’re amazing!”
Swish, swish-.
I affectionately ruffled Illinois’s hair, which was an action Nymphs liked.
Swish, swish, swish-.
It seemed to put Illinois in a good mood, and she stretched her shoulders.
At that moment, Kalilnoi tapped me with her wing.
“Do you want praise too? Good job. Thanks to you, we were able to take a photo.”
Swish-.
I stroked Kalilnoi’s head and chin, and even her wings.
Of course, Kalilnoi quickly distanced herself from me after about five seconds.
What a cheeky creature.
Anyway.
Illinois interpreted the patterns on the flowers in the photo.
“I, Illinois, can tell that this place is a grave of a god named Baldr…! These flowers are a tribute from the daughter of Neph to honor the light of Baldr…!”
Baldr was a name I recognized.
The fixed Rift map in Sejong City that Jin-A and Yu-Ari visited last time was the temple of Baldr.
He was a god of the Elves and symbolized ‘light’ according to what I heard.
It was said that when this god Baldr died, winter came to the elves’ homeland.
“━──.”
Illinois recited some strange incantation.
It seemed to be a language of fairies I couldn’t understand.
Then, the ground trembled, and a staircase leading underground appeared in the center of the flowerbed.
# # #
When you think of underground stairs, you usually imagine a dark and gloomy ambiance.
However, the underground stairs beneath this flowerbed were beautifully adorned with flowers, radiating bright light like the Garden of Eden.
There was a pleasant scent, and grass covered the floor, making it feel soft underfoot.
After walking for a while, we came across a door.
It was a door decorated with flowers, and I thought the pattern was unique when Illinois spoke.
“I think this is the Door of Truth…! The unclean shall not enter…! Those who tell lies cannot enter!”
A door that liars can’t pass through?
How intriguing.
I approached the door, but flowers rapidly grew, entangling my legs and trapping me so I couldn’t move. When I stepped back, the flowers gently released my legs.
It was fascinating.
Lee Jin-A and Illinois were equally impressively shocked.
Only Yu-Ari could approach the door, which was remarkable.
Ari said, “Why can only I enter? I must be the purest person! I must be the most truthful person! Right now, I am nothing but an honest person!”
Her unusual excitement was amusing.
It must be the effect of the “Flower of Truth.”
“Wait.”
I had an epiphany.
Then I took the “Flower of Truth” out from Jin-A’s bag.
“What are you trying to do?”
Jin-A frowned and looked at me.
I inhaled the smell of the flower.
As I felt a dizzying aroma that was more fragrant than I expected, I approached the door again.
“See? It’s not entangling my legs anymore. This means that only those who are truthful can pass through this door, which means only those who have smelled this flower can go through.”
I thought it was engaging, like a puzzle.
But Ari looked dejected.
“W-What could this mean…! I thought I was the most honest and truthful person! So it was all thanks to a flower…! I’m so disappointed…!”
“Is that so?”
“So, senior, how does it feel? You can’t lie anymore! You can only speak the truth from now on!”
How do I feel about it?
It felt pretty much the same.
“Let’s go through the door. I feel like something amazing is inside.”
Swish.
I stepped through the flower-embellished door.
Inside, I saw something that could be called a statue.
It depicted a man and a woman holding hands, surrounded by beautifully adorned flowers.
“How pretty,” Ari said.
Indeed, as Ari said, the female statue was breathtakingly beautiful.
Soon, Illinois chuckled.
“Neph’s daughter Nanna seems to be the goddess of flowers on foreign soil…! The flower goddess is precisely the kind of woman that fits the condition of Core…! It’s only natural she is beautiful…!”
I see.
Honestly, I didn’t fully understand what she was saying, but I recognized this was the statue of the flower goddess Nanna. Then, the man beside her must be the god of light Baldr?
“I can hardly recognize his face.”
The male deity’s face was so worn down it could be described as smudged.
His eyes, nose, and mouth were all eroded.
Swish.
Lee Jin-A had quietly approached my side.
She touched the statue’s face with her palm.
“It seems too touched and worn out from being touched too much. I feel a strong sense of longing and sadness in this place.”
“Look at this!”
Yu-Ari shouted.
Turning my head, I saw that there was an altar in front of the statue with something resting atop it.
“It’s a ring! It’s shining in gold!”
Just like Ari said, there was a ring on the altar.
With a gold border and flowers intricately engraved on it, it was stunning.
Since it was placed in a location like this, it must surely be something extraordinary.
Swish.
As I reached for the ring, the flowers around me started to wither and scattered into powder. Upon seeing this, Illinois said, “This means it’s a ring that can make flowers bloom…! It seems to be a relic imbued with the power of the flower goddess Nanna…! A truly wonderful ring!”
I could tell it was an exceptional item.
Soon, Yu-Ari expressed her awe.
“If it’s a relic, it represents treasures infused with immense power like the ‘Gungnir’. I can tell this ring has an incredible force within it! It would be something tremendous to take outside!”
Relics.
Great treasures said to be usable by S Rank Awakened.
I felt delighted to have discovered such a thing, but that joy quickly turned into surprise.
Ssssss-.
In the ground where the flowers had withered, something massive was lurking.
It had a long and flat body with countless legs.
Screeeech.
A gigantic centipede—something like that appeared between the withered flowers and roots. With a body so long, it resembled a colossal snake or dragon.
Was it the guardian of this garden!?
━Kaaaaaah-!
Its target was the largest one among us, the owl Kalilnoi.
Kalilnoi flapped her wings, but injured wings made it hard for her to take flight.
━Hoo, hoo…!
“Danger!”
I instinctively dove between Kalilnoi and the giant centipede.
Bang-!
A massive jolt crashed into my body, as if I had been hit by a speeding subway train.
But it was bearable.
“Ugh-. That hurts. Damn it. How can it suddenly appear like a centipede? Did it break free after being sealed among the roots…!?”
Looking at the torn part of my thigh solid suit, it seemed at least an A rank monster.
Yu-Ari was an old B rank.
Lee Jin-A was a solid C rank.
Illinois was just Illinois.
Would this group be able to defeat that giant centipede?
No. We had to do it.
“Whatever, let’s give it a try!”
Throbbing-.
At that moment, a burning pain shot through my thigh.
I quickly realized that I had been struck by the centipede’s ‘poison.’
“Crap!”
“Senior, it seems you’ve been poisoned! I can treat you! I’m a healer! Please let me heal you…! I have to suck out the poison now…!”
