“What’s making my heart race?”
Exploring something new is always a thrilling experience.
And it was no exception for Artemis, who approached the iron door of Rio’s tomb with a rather excited tone.
Artemis grabbed the handle of the iron door and pulled with all her strength.
Thud, thud.
The door didn’t budge, as if locked into place.
Only sand and dust, accumulated from the weight of years, fell away with the force of her tugging.
“What is this? Should I pull or push?”
This time, she leaned forward with her right foot back, gripping the handle and pushing with all her might.
Thud, thud.
But this, too, seemed to not be the answer, as the iron door refused to move.
Frustrated, Artemis kicked the door and stepped back.
She then sauntered over to me, pointing at the door as if tattling on it to the teacher.
“Tch! What is this thing? We encounter an obstacle right from the start, huh? This might count as an adventure, but…”
“…”
“What? Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Hmm~ No, it’s nothing.”
Oh gods.
What am I supposed to do with this Artemis?
Now I understand why Apollo bluntly called Artemis ‘stupid.’
“Move over.”
I gently nudged her aside and stood before the iron door.
Creeeeak, clang!
Then, by pulling the handle [sideways], I easily opened the iron door.
That’s right.
The iron doors of Rio’s tomb weren’t a sliding but a swinging door.
As I stared blankly, she tried to avoid my gaze,
“What, what! Why does a swinging door have a handle in the first place!”
Embarrassed, Artemis turned red and took her frustration out on the handle.
Had she observed the groove beneath the iron door, she would not have wasted her efforts pulling and pushing.
Let’s just consider this another lesson learned for our goddess.
“Thirty years ago, when this dungeon was discovered, the exploration team probably installed the handles to make it easier to open.”
“So, does that mean everything inside has already been explored? And the treasures are already gone?”
“Your brother said no one has reached the end of this tomb, right? There must be some trap or maze. Let’s go inside.”
“Alright.”
Since the exploration team’s departure, Rio’s tomb has remained untouched by human hands.
The sandy floor at the entrance was eerily clean, without a single footprint.
As we stepped inside with the excitement akin to walking on the first winter snow,
Apollo’s words were carved into the wall as promised.
<Rio. I rest here. It's dangerous to enter. Still, I wish my final truth to be taken by the wisest.>
Though some characters were worn away, it was definitely as Apollo had told us.
At the entrance, remnants of the exploration team’s glow sticks and supplies lay scattered, from which we picked up a few necessary items.
I quickly pulled out a portable torch from Liam’s bag.
“Fire Stick, could you light this torch for me?”
“Fire Stick?! What, you trying to kill me?”
“If you do what I say today, I’ll develop a new dish at the temple and offer it as tribute.”
“…Fine, give me the damn fire.”
The mention of new food made her salivate, though she glared at me suspiciously, as if sensing that something was amiss on Ark’s palm as she snatched the torch.
Taking an arrow from her quiver and drawing its tip along the iron door, sparks flew and the torch caught fire instantly.
With the torch in hand, I handed the lamp to her, and we prepared to descend into the underground.
“Hmm…”
She drew back upon gazing down the dark sloping staircase, its end unseen.
I tilted my head in wonder, and as I looked, she shone the lamp down the stairs.
“Ark, you go first.”
“It doesn’t matter to me… Why?”
It wasn’t out of obvious fear; I was curious about her reasons.
“Just a heads up—when you follow behind, you might imagine some scary monster and suddenly hug me.”
“Was I really that kind of person?”
“Did you forget the camping ghost story incident? Anyway, if you pull any nonsense, I swear I’ll kill you.”
She extended a tightly clenched fist towards me as a warning.
What am I supposed to do?
What exactly does she think of me?
It seems she doesn’t like the idea of being alone in this narrow, dark cave, illuminated only by the torch and lamp, with a man.
“To the entire world, all men are suspicious, but it’s foolish to be wary of me.”
“Isn’t that the opposite? Don’t you like me?”
Artemis herself boldly and shamelessly blurted out the embarrassing statement without blinking an eye.
Perhaps because she doesn’t fully grasp the weight of such affection, she said it so nonchalantly.
Who would have thought I’d hear such a line, tailored to catch someone off-guard, in this other world.
However, I’m pretty good at making awkward statements myself.
“I feel safest when I like someone.”
“Why?”
“Because I can protect you from other guys. And I already have.”
“Ugh!”
She must be recalling the scene where she was dismissed by Eros and I saved her, or maybe the time during the promotion celebration banquet when I helped her escape Ares’ advances.
“Will this help you understand the sincerity of my platonic love for Zeus a little?”
“Sh, shut up!”
Her face turned red with surprise, and she tapped me on the back, telling me to keep walking without looking back.
Despite wondering how she was looking at me from behind,
I decided it was better not to turn around and faced the staircase instead.
Through the corner of my eye, I noticed her silhouette sharply swaying from the lamp’s flickering light on the mud wall.
Had we descended about a hundred steps?
A flat expanse came into view, and as we stepped down, a long straight path awaited us.
The tunnel was straight, so we could easily keep watch ahead and behind as we continued forward.
A large cavity, the size of a living room, appeared.
The troubling part? There were four entrances on the opposite side of the cavity!
Moreover, the entrances were marked with numbers from 1 to 4, from left to right.
“What is this? Which way should we go?”
Artemis pointed at each of the four entrances with her fingers, asking.
I closed my mouth because I couldn’t think of an immediate answer.
The only thing we could tell was that since the glow sticks embedded in the walls and ceiling ended here,
the exploration team 30 years ago likely gave up and turned back at this point.
“Let’s investigate the cavity first.”
“There won’t be anything special…”
As it turned out, Artemis was right.
Besides the glow sticks on the walls and ceiling, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
So, did we have no choice but to enter the four entrances one by one?
What if it’s a maze?
What if one of them leads to a monster’s den?
We only have a three-day supply of emergency rations and materials.
We must be cautious.
However, I couldn’t think of any clever solutions.
“Hey, what’s this? Ark, come here.”
Just as I was pondering what to do,
Artemis sitting crouched between the second and third entrances waved me over.
“What? What is it?”
“Look. This isn’t just plain mud.”
“Really?”
The spot Artemis pointed to was covered with a rectangular cloth, like a doormat.
It was a thin, yellow ochre-colored cloth that blended perfectly with the earthen floor, making it go unnoticed.
“It seems they covered something to hide it.”
“I think the same. Let’s lift it.”
Gripping the edge of the cloth, we lifted it, causing sand and dust to slide off like a slippery slide.
I brushed away the swirling dust with my hands, and eventually, the hidden letters on the ground were revealed.
“What is this?”
“Just a moment.”
I held the torch closer to the ground.
And there it was—a single puzzle and a set of incomprehensible numbers.
“Would you step aside for a moment? I’ll copy it.”
Rios used a knife-like tool, carving the problem into the ground in relief.
But how could anything last intact for 500 years?
Some parts were worn away by natural erosion and footsteps.
However, due to the wise exploration team member who covered the carved problem with cloth to preserve the scene,
I was able to accurately transcribe everything onto parchment without any confusion.
After covering the ground again with cloth, I looked at the parchment together with Artemis.
[3 1□15926535]
– The square inside the number indicates the correct entrance number.
But as soon as Artemis saw the problem, she scrunched up her face.
“What is this? Is it even written correctly?”
“Yeah. Even though some parts got erased, the original form was still clear. This is accurate.”
“But what is it? The sequence of numbers is all over the place. How are we supposed to figure out the number inside the square from this?”
Artemis’s complaint mixed with annoyance made a lot of sense.
I myself had been trained since elementary school in such math problems, so I was quite familiar with them.
Numbers like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 following a simple consistent rule,
and more complex ones like 1, 0, 1, 2, 4 with concepts of negative and squared numbers where you need to apply additional reasoning.
The solution method is very straightforward.
You just need to find the underlying rule of how these numbers are arranged.
Still…
The problem set by Rios had…
Bizarrely, no rule of any kind!
[3 1□15926535]
“Three… One… Five… Again, Three… One… One… Five…”
I stared at the numbers on the parchment, muttering to myself as if they’d burn holes through it.
Artemis, already losing interest, leaned against the wall with her back.
Apollo must have known her nature to get bored quickly, which is why he allowed her to come along with me.
“Artemis, it’s fine to rest, but let’s switch the lamp and the torch.”
“I don’t want to. Ash and sparks keep falling from the torch when you hold it.”
“Oh! I’m solving the problem here. Let me see it more clearly with the lamp!”
“Why are you getting so moody! It’s hilarious, seriously!”
“I wasn’t moody…”
“It’s because the problem won’t solve, isn’t it? Besides, there are no rules here. It’s hopeless.”
…Hopeless?
Hopeless?
Because there’s no pattern in the sequence of numbers… Hopeless?
Just in case, I rechecked the parchment.
[3 1□15926535]
The odd spacing between the first number ‘3’ and the second number ‘1’.
The problem inscribed on the dirt floor that had weathered 500 years of time.
Ah… That’s right!
It has to be that!
“Artemis! You were right!”
I eagerly ran to her and grabbed her shoulders with both hands.
She opened her mouth wide in shock, thinking I had relaxed my guard while leaning against the wall.
In the empty underground cave.
In the dimly lit cavity illuminated only by the lamp.
An impromptu couple.
The sound of our breathing and heartbeats echoed like thunder.
She blushed furiously, reading something from my bright smile, and began violently shaking her head left and right.
“You… What are you doing?”
“I knew it! You pervert!!!”
“Huh? Pervert? No, no… I just wanted to thank you for helping me find the answer!”
“…What? W-wait, wait! …You mean you figured out the answer?”
At the mention of “answer,” Artemis stopped shaking her head and opened her eyes wide.
Then she quickly turned her head and asked me with her darting eyes which entrance to enter among the four.
In response, I confidently pointed my thumb at the last cave entrance.
“Ahh. We should go through the fourth entrance!”
